March is Reading Month!

Thank You Wealthy PTO!

This month we welcomed author, Denise Brennan-Nelson to our school.  

She told us how she thinks of ideas for stories, 

 where she writes them down

 and how she uses friends to help her make her writing 

even better.  

Wow!  

That sounds just like what we're doing in writing workshop!

Here are a few photos of her visit😊

She showed us her first book, Buzzy the Bee

It took several tries to get Buzzy's expression to look just right.  

She emphasized the importance of making sure the words and pictures matched.

She asked us about our ideas for a sequel to her popular book, Tallulah.

We're excited to see if she uses any of our ideas

 for this little mermaid.

What a fun way to begin our day!  

Thank you Wealthy PTO, for bringing a real author to our school!

Graduating Into Avid Readers!

Graduation Day for these incredible readers!

They have utilize several reading strategies, 

 increased their reading stamina

and can conduct a book talk with a partner.

I am so proud of their persistence and love for reading.

They are soon to become Avid Readers!!!

Before you know it, 

they will be wearing these gowns for real!

Celebrations in February

We celebrated our Valentine's Party on February 14.

Many thanks to all the parent volunteers for making 

this such a special morning.

Valentine Foxes

 Building with candy and toothpicks

Writing Valentine notes to Clark's Retirement Home

Try picking up a heart candy with chop sticks

I Spy game

Creating magnetic locker signs

Brightstar Theater Assembly

Thanks to our wonderful PTO, we were treated to a live

production of African folktales.  The children heard tales

from several African regions.  Everyone enjoyed the colorful costumes

story lines and instruments.

There was even a time for audience participation. 

One of our friends was selected!

Thanks again Wealthy PTO 

for this educational performance!

100 Days Smarter!

On Wednesday, February 13, we celebrated our 100th day of school.  

While old man winter sure tried to delay this celebration, 

it was worth the wait!

100 Hersey Kisses were hiding around the classroom 

waiting for little fingers to pick them up 

and place them on our number grid.

 We hurried to place them on the grid 

before they began to melt in our hands.😁

 Found them all by mid morning!

Ten inviting math centers were set up around the classroom 

to help us practice counting to 100. 

Build with 100 Keva blocks or...

 ...100 cups.

 Color groups of ten objects to make 100.

 Roll a dice and move your marker 

until you reach 100.

 What would you buy with $100.00??

 Coloring in certain numbers on a 100 grid 

to reveal a secret message.

 Understanding how 100 numbers 

"link" together.

 100 Legos can turn into...

 100 paint dots to look like gumballs.

A great day to celebrate being 100 days smarter!

Snowing, Going, Gone!

In science today, I asked the question,
what happens to the volume of snow after it melts?After a variety of answers, most indicating that the snow would turn to water, we decided to find out.

Grab your coat, boots and head outside with a cup to get scooping!

We placed our cups of snow on the table inside and 

marked the snow level with a green line.

Then we measured the height of snow and 

recorded the number in our science journals.

In a little over an hour, we returned to the cups and "Wow!" 

What happened?  The volume of snow was sooo much less.  

This was a big surprise!

We recorded our observations, added a red line to show the water level and concluded 

that the volume of snow decreases dramatically when it melts.

Next question: 

How does the weight of fluffy snow compare to the weight of melted snow?

Stay tuned 😊

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

How Can You Make A Positive Difference?

Today we celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with several meaningful activities at school.  Dr. King reminds us that each of us can make a difference for someone else.  One way to do that, is by making a personal connection. 

We began by making personal identity webs

 that highlight pieces of ourselves.  

Such as a favorite book or song.  

Our family members, favorite animals and foods.  

Lastly, what we feel is unique about ourselves. 

We created an identity web for Dr. King as well 

focusing on his character traits.

Then we read a book that helped us understand 

the power of sharing stories about ourselves 

in order to connect with others.  

These connections are what links us together.

Next we decided to display all our identity webs on the table 

and use Post-It notes to make a personal connection with someone else.  

Sometimes it was a sibling with the same name.  

Or a love of cats or favorite tune.  

The expressions on the faces of the recipient and the giver were 

priceless!

 Then we started  creating our own unique quilt piece. 

These pieces will be combined with the whole school 

to show how we are uniquely beautiful together.  

We think Dr. King would have been pleased.

As we reflected on our story and Dr. King,  

we each chose a single, powerful word 

and added it to the back of a painted river rock. 

These will be placed somewhere in our community on Martin Luther King Day 

to make a positive connection to the reader.  

Look for our stones as you walk along.  Today, begin with...