Reindeer Day

We were all excited that today was our last day together in 2008! We are excited that the holidays are finally here! Our word of the day today was "could". It was a rule breaker, because we couldn't hear the "l". It is related to "would" and "should". It is also used in contractions! Later in the morning, we had a math logic poster lesson. Mrs. Myers showed us four Christmas tree pictures. We had to use her clues to eliminate one poster with each clue. At the end, we knew the tree that she was describing. It was fun. We were all excited to have our holiday lunch party together. Mrs. Myers played holiday music. Some of us sang. We ate on the floor "picnic" style or at a different friend's seat. Mrs. Myers gave us a holiday treat to eat. Then, we played two holiday games. We played "pass the candycane". It was like hot potatoe. Instead of getting out, if you were the person with the candy cane when the music stopped, you got to go to the middle of the circle and act out a holiday noun. Then we got to guess your word. It was funny. Then, we played "hide the candy cane". We used clues to guess who had it! After our party, we had a reindeer quiz. Then, we read a reindeer nonfiction book and checked our quiz. We learned so many facts. With a partner, we typed one fact and glued it to our reindeer art project. At the end of the day, we watched Arthur's Christmas/Hanukkah movie and had a Roundtown holiday sing-a-long. Have a very happy holiday!!! See you in 2009!

Three Days Until the Big Day

It was a different morning for our class today. Mrs. Myers was home with her daugher Madeline, who was sick. We had a substitute named, Mrs. Forney. Our word of the day today was "way". It was rule follower, because it belonged in the "hay of -ay". This word is a homonym for the word weigh. In math today, we practiced subtraction using dominos. We learned to subtract horizontally and vertically. We word as a class and in small groups to write subtraction equations. The rule to remember is "big number first". After lunch and recess, Mrs. Myers came to school. We read a story called Rock Star Santa. It was about a very different Santa. We had to listen to the story without seeing the pictures and visualize how we saw the Rock Star Santa. It was hard, but we listened carefully to the words in the story to make a picture in our head. Then, we drew our picture and wrote words that were important from the story. Last, Mrs. Myers read the whole story to us and showed us the pictures. Our Santa's were close to Rock Star Santa. In writing workshop today, we learned about Christmas Around the World. First, we heard the story, Jingle Bells, about December celebrations in other countries. We talked about our own traditions we have in our homes, too. Last, we used the Smartboard to see celebrations in other countries and learned about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. At the end of the day, we had phys. ed. We also got gingerbread homework to be due on January 6. We are going to have a great time decorating our projects at home. We also got an early Christmas gift from Mrs. Myers. Our coupon books are awesome. We are going to eat together tomorrow. We will have a special holiday party over lunch!!!

PS - Check out the pictures from our holiday projects. The boys and girls worked so hard on the Polar Express fantasy train ride stories, Christmas similes, possessive packages for 's, and Christmas sense stories.

It's Friday!

Our word of the day today was "no". It looks like "on" backwards. It was a homonym for the word "know". The word "no" was a rule breaker with a twist, because the "o" says his name without a "magic letter" to help. In the morning, we had two special visitors. Mrs. Myers' daughter, Madeline, visited and did morning meeting and word of the day with us. Mrs. Craig was our second visitor. She listened to us sing some of our song and poetry folder songs. After library, lunch, and recess, we heard the story, Three Bears' Christmas. We compared this new version to the story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We also made lots of predictions as we read, but the author tricked us sometimes. Ask us how the story was tricky. Then, we went to second grade to meet with our computer buddies. We learned how to use the draw program to made a snowman to match our Frosty acrostic poems from last week. Then, we came back to our classroom and finished our learning and art centers. For writing workshop today, we brainstormed the five different ways we can write a "grab the reader" beginnings. (setting, question, quotation, something important, onomatopoeia). Then, we listened to the beginning of lots of holiday stories. Mrs. Myers had us move to the area of the classroom that showed the kind of beginning the author used. Some books had two different kinds of beginnings. At the end of the day, we earned a Dr. Suess movie. It has been a long week with lots of indoor recess. With Christmas just around the corner, the boys and girls earned an extra reward. We will continue our holiday theme next week!

Lot of Holiday Cheer

Our word of the day today was "number". It was a rule follower. We heard the bossy r sound in it. We also know that the "u" should stay short, because there are two consonants after it! It was not a popular word family. Some of us got to play Dynamite with Mrs. Bashada in the hallway. In math today, we estimated candy canes in our estimation jar. We looked at ten in the jar and estimated that 25 would fill the jar. Then, Mrs. Myers put some in the jar. We knew our estimate would be between 10 and 25. We did a great job and had three winners - Evan, Madison, and Abby. After lunch and recess, we heard a story in Mrs. Lauber's classroom. We heard, Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve. It was by Jan Brett. After the story, we worked with a partner to retell the story by ordering the picture event cards. We made this into a little book to share with you tonight. Then, it was time for centers. We worked on the body in the art center. After centers, we had a writing workshop lesson. We practiced nouns, adjectives, and similes for the holidays. First we wrote a noun on our wipe-off board. Next, we wrote a simile about the noun. Last, we typed the simile on the computer with a partner from Mrs. Lauber's class. We will be hanging our similes on stockings in the hallway. At the end of the day, we had guidance. Miss Anderson came to discuss the green circle. We learned about empathy. We have stay at homework to share with you from Miss Anderson. If you get a chance to stop in at Roundtown, please check out the awesome writing and projects in our hallway. A special thanks to Mrs. Pressley for all of the artwork she donated to help us share our class projects with Roundtown.

Holiday Fun

Our word of the day today was "see". It was a verb. There is another word "sea" that is the homonym. That word is a noun. Both words are rule followers, because the "e" has a vowel pair who hold the "magic wand". It was a popular word family. In math today, we finished our holiday centers. We had more subtraction practice. Please check my mail to see how we did. When we finished our centers, we played "around the world" with addition facts. After lunch and recess, Mr. Seibel came for a while, while Mrs. Myers had a meeting. He read us the story, Auntie Claus. It was a great story. The little girl, Sophie, in the story changes from the beginning to the end. We discusses how and why Sophie changes how she acted and felt from the beginning to the end of the story. Then, we had reading workshop and guided reading. During this time, Mrs. Rishel took groups of students in the hallway. We practiced word wall words and shot baskets to earn points . We will play this game in the morning meeting. Then, we had centers. After centers, we had writing workshop. In writing workshop, we heard the story, Pussycat's Christmas. The cat in the story used his senses to describe his Christmas Eve. Then, we wrote stories to describe our Christmas Eve using our senses. We will hang our story "ornaments" on a Christmas tree in the hall. We finished our day with art class!

A Snowy Day

Our word of the day today was "go". It was a rule breaker with a twist, because the "o" said his name without another vowel, but this happens in a lot of other "o" family words. We saw that many of the "o" family words look like "ow" or "oe" at the end. In math today, we went to two math centers. There are four centers and a bonus center. We had numberline subtraction. We jumped backwards to match cards. We did growing patterns with Mrs. Myers. We used Hershey kisses to make growing patterns. We had a graphing center, where we sorted and graphed different kinds of Christmas cookies. At the last center, we used Christmas tree math mats and Christmas balls to show subtraction sentences. We drew and crossed out the balls. Our extra center is dice subtraction. After lunch and recess, we read the Mooseletoe story. We stopped at the problem part of the story and wrote our own solutions. Then we listened to the real solution and wrote about it. Guy had the correct solution. After that, we went to our second grade computer buddies. We practiced using the drawing program on Microsoft Word to color, draw, move, and write text. We can try this at home! Then, we came back to our classroom and had making words. We made three and four letter words using the letters, e, e, n,r,s,s, p, t. Then we made the super-jumbo bonus word - presents. Maddie had it first. At the end of the day, we had centers. We are making a reindeer in the art center. YEAH SNOW!!!

December Holidays

Our theme this week is December holidays. Our word of the day today was "write". It was a rule breaker, because the "w" was silent. It had a homonyn, "right". It was very popular, so we listed the words on the kite of "ite". We also listed words on the the "light of -ight". In math today, we practiced subtraction on the numberline. We used Mrs. Myers' giant numberline and we each had a turn jumping a subtraction equation. We got to jump backwards!!!! At our seats, we used cubes to jump the equation. We had races and Mrs. Myers jumped, too. The rule to remember in subtraction - The biggest number must come first!!! After lunch and recess, we went to Mrs. Lauber's room to read the story, Mrs. Claus Takes a Vacation. After the story, we went back to our classroom and worked in groups of three or four to organize the events on a GO map. Last, we practiced retelling the WHEN - WHO - WHERE. We also practiced deciding the important vocabulary to include when we shared each event in our own words. Then in was time for new Christmas centers. In games center one, we practiced our consonant blends - gr, cr, fr, br. We put decorations on the correct blend tree. We had to color the code on the worksheets. In games center 2, we matched the contraction "nose" to the reindeer's antler's that had the two separate words. In the sentences strip center, we put holiday words in alphabetical order by the second letter. We also practiced writing adjectives to describe each noun. In the writing center, we practiced proofreading a nonfiction story about the holidays. At writing workshop today, we learned about "'s". This is called a possessive. It means that something belongs to someone. We wrote holiday possessives by giving presents to our friends and family. We will be making a possessive present tree outside the classroom. (ex. Mom's necklace) At the end of the day, we watched a holiday movie about Kwaanza and Christmas.

Polar Express Party

Today was our Polar Express Party Day! Our word of the day was "more". It was a rule breaker, because it had a decoration "e". It was a popular word family, and there were many ways to spell the -ore family. This word is an adverb. In math today, we practiced subtraction using Polar Express story problems. We used the strategy "act it out" to act out subtraction problems. We highlighted the important information from the story problem and wrote the equation. At the end of the lesson, we worked in groups to create and act out our own subtraction story problem. After lunch and recess, we finished the Polar Express movie. Then, we went to centers. In the art center, we finished our crayon resist by watercolor painting. Then, it was finally time for our Polar Express Party. We made a train in the hallway and Mrs. Myers punched our tickets. We listened to songs from the Polar Express soundtrack. We drank hot chocolate and ate candy canes. Then, we listened to the Polar Express story being read. At the end of the party, we played two games - The Conductor Says and Pass the Bell, like hot potato, but with a character trait twist. Ask me about it at home tonight!!! At the end of the day, we had our special sharing. Mr. Seibel listened to our special sharing, too. It was a great day, but very busy. Our theme next week will be December holidays. Sorry there are no pictures on the blog. Mrs. Myers' computer crashed and lost all of our pictures!

One More Day!

Our word of the day today was "two". It was a homonym word for "to" and "too". It was a rule breaker, because the "w" was a decoration and the "o" said "oo". It was a adjective. After lunch, we read the story, A Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett. We compared this new story to the Polar Express. We can finish the venn diagram for bonus tonight. Then it was reading workshop and guided reading time. Finally, we had writing workshop time. We finished our fantasy train ride stories. At the end of the day, we had a special treat. We watched the first half of the Polar Express. Please remember to wear pajamas. Bring you slippers, so you have sneakers for phys. ed. We can't wait for our Polar Express party!

Board the Train

Our word of the day today was "look". It was a rule follower. We learned a new rule about "oo" as a vowel diphthong. It can say a different sound than "the boo of oo". The "ook" family was popular. In math today, we estimated how many bells were in our estimation jar. There were 65. Elle, Anna, and Abby were the closest. Mrs. Myers was too. We all had a smart guess, because we all guessed over 40 using clues from the jar. After lunch and recess, we did a poetry activity. We sequenced a poem about Polar Express by thinking about the events in the story. Without even looking at the poem, we had all the events in order, except for two. We practiced reading the poem. Last, we highlighted the consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh) and our verbs with endings. (ing or ed). Then it was reading workshop time and guided reading. After that, we had a BIG writing workshop project. We filled out a GO organizer to brainstorm the events in the beginning, middle, and ending of our stories. We added similes and content using our senses. We will finish our stories tomorrow. They will hang in the hallway with our awesome Polar Express train designed by Mrs. Pressley. We also have boarded the train with our window sillouettes. At the end of the day, we had center time. Mrs. Myers opened the art center. We are doing a three day crayon resist of our favorite illustration in the Polar Express book.

A Fantasy Train Ride

Our theme this week is the Polar Express. Our word of the day today was "time". It was a rule follower, because it followed the CVCe pattern. It was a popular word family. We listed the words on the board. It rhymes with the contraction "I'm". In math today, we introduced the concept of subtraction. We brainstormed what we thought we knew about it already. We learned the words "minus" and "difference". We also learned that subtraction is like going "backwards" or "taking away". We learned the most important rule of subtraction - Start with the BIG NUMBER FIRST". In groups, we learned to subtract using bells. Mrs. Myers gave us jingle bells and bowls. We made equations by starting out with the big number of the jingle bell set. Then, we took away a smaller number of bells and hid them under our bowl "cave". We counted how many "were left". It was fun. At the end, we got to work with a partner to be the teacher or the learner. After lunch, we finally got to hear the story The Polar Express. It was so magical. After that, we compared a real train ride to the fantasy ride on the Polar Express. We used a venn diagram. We recorded some answers for you to see in our mail tonight. Then, we had reading workshop. At writing workshop time, we learned a new part of style. It was called similes. We learned that we can make a better picture in our reader's head by adding similes to our stories. A simile describes a noun or a verb by adding an adjective or adverb and a noun. (The hot cocoa was as rich and thick as melted chocolate bars). We listened for similes in the Polar Express story. We wrote our own similes at the end of the lesson. We will use them in our "Fantasy Train Ride" story on Wednesday. At the end of the day, we had a center tour. Our new centers are Polar Express centers. In the games center, we are sorting consonant digraph pictures onto train cars and putting contraction words on Santa's reindeer's bells. In the writing center, we are writing a letter to a character in the Polar Express. In the sentence strips center, we are matching nouns and adjectives from the story. Tomorrow, we will have the art center opened!

More Fantasy Stories

Our word of the day today was "into". It was a compound word. It was a rule breaker, because the "o" said the "oo" sound. After recess, we had math with Mrs. Lauber's class. We used the Smart Board again to practice our number sense on the hundred's chart. We practiced counting, finding numbers, adding on ten, and ordering numbers using less and greater. You can try the same activity at home on your computer, by visiting my links section. After lunch and recess, we read the story Probuditi, by Chris Van Allsburg. It was really a fantasy story with a surprise ending. We worked in groups on GO maps. We really practiced telling the "when-who-where" so it sounds like a story and not a list. Ryan showed us how to add motions to our "when-who-where" to help us remember where to look on the green triangle of the GO map. Then, we heard a second Chris Van Allsburg story. It was called, Zathura. It was a sequel to the story Jumanji. Many of us have seen the movie and were excited to hear the book. It was also a fantasy story that could never happen. Next, we had reading workshop time and guided reading. Then, it was writing workshop time. Some of us tried to write holiday stories about things happening at home for the holidays. Others tried to write a Chris Van Allsburg style story that had lots of fantasy. We even tried to write a story like Jumanji and Zathura. Mrs. Myers is still typing our autobiographies. At the end of the day, we watched a movie. Have a great weekend. Check out the newsletter and Polar Express Party invitation in our mail. Next week's theme is The Polar Express.

Allsburg Fantasy Day

We started reading a new Chris Van Allsburg book, called Bad Day at Riverbend. Ask me about the surprise ending. We learned that Chris Van Allsburg's writing style is the genre called fantasy. Our word of the day today was "him". It was a rule follower. It followed the CVC rule. This word is a pronoun for a boy's name. After recess, we had book exchange. Then, it was time for math. Mrs. Myers showed us a hundred's chart on the Smart Board. We practiced using the different rows and columns. We raced to find numbers. We practiced finding greater, less, and it between numbers. We also learned how to add 9, 10, or 11 on the hundred's chart. We counted by 1's, 2's, 5's, and 10's. We will used the Smart Board tomorrow to do some different hundred's chart games. If you are interested, please visit my hundred's chart link on my teacher page. After lunch, we read our second book, The Sweetest Fig. It was really fantasy. Ask me why! We retold the story on a GO map in our groups. Then, we went to Mrs. Weikert's class to have computer time with our second grade buddies. We typed an acrostic poem called FROSTY. We used each beginning letter to start a focused sentence about Frosty. We also had time to practice our typing program or visit some other school links. Back in our classroom, we had writing or reading workshop. We had a choice, while Mrs. Myers met with us to type our autobiographies. At the end of the day, we had phys. ed. and read Junie B. Jones.

A special congratulations to Anna's Yankanich's family on the birth of a new daughter. We were all so excited to hear the news. We would like to collect some data about our own births. Please send in our birth weight and length tomorrow for a data collection activity.

Biographies and Autobiographies

Our word of the day today was "like". It was a rule follower, because it followed the CVCe rule. It was a popular word family. We wrote the word in the family on "the bike of -ike". We had library, lunch, and recess. At library, we read the book Jumanji, by Chris Van Allsburg. After lunch, we read the story, The Z was Zapped. It was an alphabet book, full of alliteration. Alliteration is when all the words and sounds in a sentence begin the same. After the story, we worked with a partner, to write an alliteration sentence. Check it out in tonight's mail. Then it was time for reading workshop and guided reading. Some of us have a book to share at home tonight. Then, we started writing workshop. We finished our autobiographies. We will be typing them tomorrow with our second grade computer buddy. At the end of the day, we played more letter and sound games. Mrs. Myers taught us the game, "What's Missing". There were nine words on the board. We practiced reading them. Then, we hid our eyes and Mrs. Myers hid a word. When we turned around, we had to write the word that was missing. We did this with one word missing, two words missing, and three words missing. Then, we played the game with our own key ring and a partner. Try this out at home. Just a reminder, used book exchange is tomorrow!

Chris Van Allsburg

Our theme this week is the author, Chris Van Allsburg. Our word of the day today was "make". It was a rule follower, because it followed the CVCe pattern. We used our "magic e" wand. The -ake family was very popular. We wrote many words on the "cake of -ake" for our clothesline. We also read the story, Jake Bakes a Cake and listened for the -ake family words. After recess, we had music, lunch, and recess again. After that, we read our first Chris Van Allsburg story. It was called Two Bad Ants. We practiced predicting using the clues in the words and the pictures. We had a predicting partner who we shared ideas with. We were great at using the clues, just like a real detective. Then, we had reading workshop and Mrs. Myers took two groups for guided reading. Then, it was time for writing workshop. We brainstormed on an organizer for our autobiography. We used a hamburger organizer. We also brainstormed our "Grab the Reader" beginning and our "WOW" ending. We will write our stories tomorrow. At the end of the day, we played two word and sound games. The first was called "Word Ladder" . We practiced changing one letter in each word on the ladder to make a new word. We went all the way down the ladder twice. The second game we played was "HEART". We played three rounds with word wall and clothesline words. We even used all the words in our room for round three. We had three finalists - Grace, Thomas, and Elle. Elle was our winner today! We had a busy day. More Chris Van Allsburg tomorrow!