October/November Wrap-up

Happy Halloween ~ Happy Thanksgiving!

I think that we would all agree that the past couple months have just flown by!! We have been pretty busy in Room 220. In October, we finished up the Global Read Aloud activities and had fun at our Fall Festival Parties. We were very excited to be able to 'skype' with another classroom, Room 7, from a school in Cleveland where a friend of mine teaches. To say that the students enjoyed the activity would be an understatement....they LOVED it. The students were excited to see into another classroom and were very attentive when those students were sharing their 'mixed up chameleon' creations. We created our own mixed up chameleons too and some of the students were able to share them as well. 


In addition to 'skyping' with Room 7, we also had the opportunity to skype with a college children's literacy class from Arizona. Again, the students amazed me with their attention as a couple of the college students and the professor read a couple Eric Carle books. Some of the students even shared their mixed up chameleons again. I will be working on more 'skyping' opportunities for after the first of the year. 


The students have been working really hard in reading these past couple months. We really have been focusing on the standards of listening to text and being able to answer questions about the text. Please reinforce this skill at home as you read with your child. I often send home visuals for each of the books/themes which you can use to give your child choices or help support their verbal answers. If there is a book your child really enjoys and you would like visual to go along with it, let me know and I can send them home.



I will be posting the December newsletter this week. I will also send a hard copy home as well. There are going to be some changes ofter the first of the year. We will be starting a new curriculum. I will create a separate post about what that will look like and how our classroom might look a little different after the first of the year.

~ Melanie

A busy end to September.....

And what??? It is almost the end of October!!

We have been very busy in Room 220!! To conclude September, we learned a little bit about Johnny Appleseed, discussed apples, and made applesauce with the help of Ms. Morris. This time of year is always my favorite because there are so many fun activities to do and the students are so motivated and engaged during the cooking activities. Ms. Morris and I have been doing this unit together for over 10 years and each year we are amazed at the students and how much they enjoying participating in the recipe process....and of course, enjoying the yummy treat at the end.

Here are a couple pictures from our applesauce afternoon! I will be printing and send additional ones home with the students soon.

Z wearing his Johnny Appleseed hat.

D showing H the picture of honey.

D helping peel the apples.

M running the blender with the switch.

October brought us into the Global Read Aloud author study of Eric Carle. We started with the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar where we focused on the vocabulary: caterpillar, butterfly, apple, pear, plums, strawberries. The students enjoyed participating in various sequencing activities and using the 'talker' to help tell the story. All the students agreed that they liked this book.

Here are a couple pictures of our creations relating to The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

matching the fruit to days of the week

our own very hungry caterpillars

string fruit beads

helping our friends string fruit beads

The next week, we read the book Have You Seen My Cat? It was a great story for predictive text and we were able to learn about different types of cats, but the excitement for this book wasn't there as with other books. The did many group readings of the story using a variety of AAC devices. The best part of the week was when the students created their cat masks. Although the loved the masks, it was almost unanimous that the students DID NOT like the book.

Here are a couple of our favorite 'cats'!

Keep a look out this weekend for another update! We have some exciting new to share!!

~Melanie

We Remember!

Today we took time to discuss a little bit about 9/11 with the students. I kept it very simple and brief. We read the story New York's Bravest by Mary Pope Osborne as a way to introduce firefighters and being brave. We talked about how this day made people very sad, but we are thankful for all the brave people who help us each day.

To compliment our Dot Day (well, really Dot month) activities, we create red, white, and blue marble painting as a symbol of our remembrance of this day.

Dots and names continued!

This past week, the students had a great time creating colorful circles using an iPad app called SpinArt+ to create colorful 'dots' as we continue to read The Dot by Peter Reynolds. The students also helped take pictures of the beginning of our Dot Day art gallery. We will be adding to the gallery each week with various activities. We will be displaying work from Mrs. Keck's class as well as work from art class. Below you will see several of the the students SpinArt+ creations!

  

 

This week we will continued with our Dot Day activities. The students LOVED (and I mean LOVED) painting with watercolors this week. We will be assembling our watercolor dot projects this week and displaying them in our gallery. I will add pictures as our art gallery grows so that you can see the amazing creations. I will also work on including more watercolor painting into the classroom! To compliment the Dot Day activities, the students brought home visuals to discuss the students. The visuals provided a structure to explore the characters, setting, problem, and resolution to the story. I will post a link to the visuals within the week.

I am still working on narrowing down our class schedule. The afternoon is quite a long 'work' time for some of the students, so I am working on arranging our schedule to allow for a afternoon break.

If you look at the page menu at the top of the web page, you will see a tab for "In Pictures ~ Room 220". This will take you to a picture blog that the students will help update. My goal is to allow each student to take a picture each week and post to the blog. Keep an eye out for updates to this photo blog as well. Monthly newsletters will also be sent home. They will provide a overview of the months activities and important dates. The newsletters are also posted online for your convenience (and in an effort to save paper). I will also be sending home a form to collect email information so that updates and newsletter can be emailed home.

Have a great week!
~Melanie

Name recognition, following directions, dots....and more dots.

On Reading this week, we will be focusing on name recognition - both of students' own names as well as peer names. We will be going a variety of activities such as name songs and playing a matching game. I will also be doing some reading assessments with each of the students.

In Math, we will be working on counting up to 10 during calendar. We count the days in the week, friends at calendar, who is buying lunch, etc. We also are working on the days of the week and knowing the sequence of the days of the week (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday...)

For Science and Social Studies, we will be doing more activities relating to the book The Dot. As we read the book, we are completing art activities that are similar to Vashti (main character in the story) and we are creating a Dot Day art gallery outside out classroom. I didn't take a picture of the first section of the gallery yet, but I will take on this week and add it to this post. We are looking to collaborate with other classrooms. If you are a teacher interested in sharing Dot Day with us, please comment below!

Here is a nice animated video of the book The Dot which we will be using in class as well as reading the book over the course of the next couple weeks.

REMINDERS:

• Return internet safety/photo-video permission form ASAP whether you give permission or not. I am working on getting some things set up for "Dot Day" (actually more like Dot week) and would love for the students to participate. 
• If you have not turned in your emergency medical forms, please do that ASAP. Updated contacts are needed each year.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact me. I am available between 8-9am. If you call during the school day, please leave a message and I will get back with you as soon as possible.

Thanks!

Melanie