More Groundhogs

Our word of the day today was "get". It was a rule follower, because it was a CVC word. Today's word belongs in the "et" family. It was very popular. We wrote the words on the "net of -et". After lunch and recess, we read the story, Gretchen Groundhog Predicts the Weather. We remembered that a noun is a person, place, or thing. Then, Mrs. Myers wrote a list of nouns called proper nouns and a list of nouns called common nouns. Then, we did an "I notice" about the list. We noticed the proper nouns all began with capital letters. Then, we decided all the reasons a noun could be proper. We sorted more words from the story at our seats. Then, we had centertime. We visited our third center of the week. Instead of guided reading today, we read yesterday's language arts story. It was called Groundhog Gets a Say. We filled out the first two columns on a KWL chart - what I know about groundhogs and what I want to learn about groundhogs. Then, after the story, we filled out the "I learned" column. We learned so many neat facts about groundhogs. Ask me to share them with you! After that, we had a math lesson using data. Mrs. Myers gave us the data for the last 14 years of Punxatawney Phil's Groundhog Day results. We graphed the data on a bar graph. We also learned that he has been predicting the season for the last 122 years. We are still working on our true math statements. We also predicted the results for 2009 using this data. We mostly think he will see his shadow, because he usually does. He might not, because there is pattern in the data. In writing workshop today, Mrs. MYers read us the story, Wake Up Groundhog. Mrs. Myers did not read the ending. We talked about all the ways to end a story with a WOW ending. We learned that a WOW ending must be focused. We had two surprise endings, one feelings ending, one sequel ending, and one questions ending. We shared our new endings and then Mrs Myers read us the real ending. Don't forget tomorrow is Jersey Day at Roundtown!

Two Hour Delay

We had a very busy day, because we had a two hour delay in the morning. We were excited to FINALLY have a little snow. Our word of the day today was "day". It was a rule follower, and we read the word family on the "hay of -ay". This word is a noun. In language arts today, we read the story, Wake Up Groundhog. It was about a girl groundhog named Phyllis. After the story, we met with a partner and brainstormed character traits to describe the groundhog. A character trait is how a character looks, acts, and feels. We wrote down three character traits for each category to describe Phyllis. Mrs. Myers checked our papers and found out that we were really confusing "looks" with "feels" and "acts". Later in the day, we tried this activity again. Check the back of my paper to see the difference. We can explain it to you now! We had centertime, where we visited our second groundhog center. We also had math. We read the story, Go To Sleep, Groundhog. It was about a groundhog that had trouble sleeping. We watched how time changes in the story. (by months). We also brainstormed a list of other ways time changes. (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, centuries, seasons). At the end of the story, we put the months in order and did a math worksheet about months and seasons. After recess, we had a guidance lesson about telling and tattling. Ask me all about it! At the end of the day, we worked on our groundhog newspaper articles. What a day! We hope school is open tomorrow! Check my mail tonight for the 100th Day of School news!

Groundhog Week

Our theme this week is groundhogs. Today we were trying out a new daily schedule. Our day began the same. Our word of the day today as "did". It was a rule follower, because it was a CVC word. The word family today was -id. It was popular! We can use the word in the contraction "didn't". After recess, we had reading workshop and guided reading. Also during his time in our schedule, we will have game time with our group. Today after reading workshop, we played dice word game. We rolled a die and had to find a word in the room with that many letters. We recorded on our game sheet. We will keep playing until we get a winner. After lunch and recess, we had language arts. We read the story, Substitute Groundhog. Then, we worked on retelling the story using pictures. We worked in groups with Mrs. Lauber's students. Each group had a picture from the story. We wrote about that story event on a sentence strip. Then, we put ourselves in order from the beginning of the story to the end. Last, we read our sentences strips in order to retell the story as a group. Then it was centertime. We had four new groundhog centers. In the games center, we are sorting word wall words into "rule breaker" and "rule follower". In the sentence strips center, we are sorting words with consonant blends into the group they belong (blends with "s", blends with "t", etc..) In the writing center, we wrote a letter to a groundhog of choice. We also learned to address an envelop. The last center was the poetry center. We practiced reading a groundhog poem. We each had a turn to be the leader. Then, we found nouns and verbs in the poem and listed them on our sheet. At writing workshop time, we read the story, Geoffrey Groundhog Predicts the Weather. We learned how to write a newspaper article using the "W" questions - when, who, where, what, why, how. Tomorrow, we will finish our stories and add an illustration. At math today, we worked on subtraction groundhog story problems. At the end of the day, we had art!

Fact Day

Our word of the day today was "long". It was mostly a rule follower, but it depends on how you say it. We learned that we need to remember the "ong" chunk for many words. It was a popular word family, but for some strange words. In math today, we practiced fact families again. We used our fact family "house" mats. Mrs. Myers gave us three numbers and we independently made a fact family on our mat. We are doing really well and tomorrow with work with a partner and play some fact family games. After lunch and recess, we used our Martin Luther King fact posters from yesterday to make a timeline on the front carpet. We ordered our facts using the date at the top of our fact. Then, Mrs. Myers read the timeline of facts to us. After that, we went into the hallway and used the BookFlix program from Martin Library on the Smartboard. We listened to the fiction story, Martin's Big Words and the nonfiction story, Martin Luther King. We used the Smartboard to practice new vocabulary words and played two games using facts and vocabulary from the story. Then it was reading workshop time. After that, we had writing workshop. We wrote an acrostic (name) poem about Dr. King. Please look in my mail today. I will share it with you. It was full of facts and opinions about Dr. King. On the back, we wrote a new fact we learned today. At the end of the day, we watched a movie about MLK. We will use the facts we learned today to complete a fact and opinion chart tomorrow morning!

Martin Luther King

Our word of the day today was "find". It was a rule breaker, because there was no "magic letter" to make the "i" say his name. The word "fined" was a verb with a ending. It is a homonyn. It was not a popular word family. In math today, we learned something new. It was called a fact family. We learned that a math fact is a true equation. A fact family uses three numbers. Using those numbers, we write two addition sentences and two subtraction sentences. After we wrote our fact family on the mat, we became "house inspectors" to see if we had the all of the parts of the family. After lunch and recess, we heard the story, My Brother Martin. It was written by Martin Luther King's sister. We listened to the story of MLK as a boy and made connections to own lives on a venn diagram. After that, we had reading workshop time. Then, we played two games. First, we played "hearts" to practice spelling word wall words by heart. Next, we played the "word exercise" game to practice reading and spelling words. In writing workshop today, we used the computers to type a date and a fact about Martin Luther King from history. Then we drew an illustration. Tomorrow, we are going to sort the facts into a timeline of MLK's life. At the end of the day we had phys. ed. I was a very busy day!

Inauguration Day!

It was an exciting day today in our classroom. We were all excited for our new president to be sworn in! Our theme this week is the inauguration and Martin Luther King, Jr. We learned today that the two themes are very connected. Our word of the day today was "now". It was a rule follower. We practiced the difference between "ow" in cow and "ow" in snow. During our lunch recess, we watched the inauguration. We saw Joe Biden be sworn in as our vice president. Then, after recess was over, we all watched Barack Obama be sworn in as president. We also listened to his first speech as president. We were amazed at the huge crowd of people in Washington DC. Mrs. Craig even watched from our room. After the speech, Mrs. Myers read us a story with photos from other inaugurations. We learned that there are many parts to the inauguration. Ask me what things Obama did today for his inaugural events. After this, Mrs. Myers read us a story about Barack Obama. We learned lots of new facts. We recorded the facts on a sentence strip with a partner and shared them at the end of the lesson. Ask me to share three facts with you tonight. Then, we had reading workshop, but today we read with a partner from the Barack Obama and Martin Luther King books. Later, we had a spelling test. Finally, it was time for writing workshop. We were very excited to meet the Obama family. Mrs. Myers showed us pictures of his wife and daughters. Then, we wrote a letter to Sasha, Malia, Mrs. Obama, or President Obama. Mrs. Myers is really going to mail them to him. We were very curious about what it would be like to have a dad as the president, live in the White House, or get to go to the inaugural balls with the Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus. We hope to get a letter back from them soon. After the last recess, we read the story, Happy Birthday, Martin. On the easel, we compared Dr. Martin Luther King to Barack Obama. They were the same in many ways. Ask me how they were the same and different. It was a really busy day!

A Blizzard of a Day

Today seemed like a blizzard! We were so busy ending our marking period. Our word of the day today was "oil". It was a rule follower. We learned the new sound "oi", which was a vowel dipthong. We learned that the sound "oy" also says this same sound. We had music and lunch later in the morning. After lunch, we had a Smartboard lesson. Mrs. Myers showed us the Book Flix site on the York County Library's website. We listened to the story A Snowy Day. Then, we read the story, Snowy Weather Days. It was a nonfiction story with new vocabulary words. Then, we played two games that matched the stories. We can visit this site, if we have a library card. It has lots of great books. Then, we had math. Mrs. Myers gave us some of the math district assessments. Then, it was time for writing workshop. Today, we worked with a partner in Mrs. Lauber's class on the laptop computers. We showed them how to use the drawing tools to make a winter scene. Then, we wrote a simile sentence about our picture. Some of us did not finish our simile, so we are going to finish it for homework. At the end of the day, we finished our fourth center. We also finished our art center. We even had sharing! We are excited to see what happens on the big football game on Sunday! Mrs. Myers and three friends say, "GO RAVENS!" Six of us say, "GO STEELERS!" Four of us say, "GO EAGLES!" have a great, long weekend!

Winter Connections

Our word of the day today was "who". It was a rule breaker, because we can't hear the "w". Also the "o" says the sound of "oo". This word is a question word sometimes. In math today, we practiced place value. We played game to practice place value with a partner. It was called, I have... Who has... After the game, we did a math worksheet to practiced writing and drawing tens and ones. After lunch and recess, we read a story called, When will it Snow? It was a good story for making connections. We made BIG connections to Martin's feelings in the story. We made a chart on the easel of the feelings and then picked one to explain on our worksheet. We had a short reading workshop. Then, we stopped to practice writing to 100. Mrs. Myers met with some of us to count by 2's, 5's, and 10's. Then, it was centertime. At the art center, we could add the arms. Tomorrow is our last day of centers. In writing workshop today, we talked about the writing "plan" we should use every time we write a story. We tried it out in our journal writing. Everyone is finally finished with their "Gingerbread Adventures". Look for them to be posted in the future as a podcast! We ended the day with art!

Winter Fun

Our word of the day today was "call". It was a rule breaker with a twist, because the "a" said the sound of "short o". We know this, because it is part of the "ball of -all". It was a popular word family. The word call is a verb. In science today, we sorted winter vocabulary words into five groups - animals who like winter weather, activities in winter, how to travel in winter, what I wear in winter, and months that it snows. In math today, we worked on place value. We practiced writing two digit numbers and sorting the tens and ones. We used tens and ones blocks and mats with a partner. We also did a math worksheet. We are doing well. After lunch and recess, Mrs. Myers read us a story called, Frog in Winter. We listened for the main idea and supporting details. It was so easy. We recorded our answers on a paper. Then, we had reading workshop. At phonics time, we read Chicken Soup with Mice and Rice. We brainstormed words in the -ice family. Then, we told -ice family riddles. We also read, The Wild Toboggan Ride. Then, we brainstormed words on the "sled of -ed". After music, Mrs. Myers read the top 10 similes for winter that we wrote yesterday. We also had centertime. Today the art center was open. We are making a 3D snowman. Where is all the snow???

Winter Week

Our theme this week is winter! The weather is definitely cooperating. The word of the day today was "been". It is not the word "bean". It was a rule breaker, because the "ea" said the sound of "short i". The homonyn for this word was "bin". In math today, we practiced place value. Our new vocabulary words were "number, digit, place value, tens, ones, hundreds". We used rods and cubes on the board to make numbers. We wrote on our wipe-off boards. We also drew rods and cubes on our wipe-off boards to match the numbers Mrs. Myers wrote. At the end of the lesson, we practiced counting cubes into sets of ten. Then we counted our "tens". In language arts today, Mrs. Myers read the story, Three Snow Bears, by Jan Brett. We compared this story to the traditional story of the Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Then, we met with a partner and shared three things that were the same and three things that were different. Then, we had a quick reading workshop time. Today we got new centers. In the sentence strips center, we were connecting verbs to verbs with endings. We drew on the back. At the games center one, we had to match a snowman's hat to a word family picture. When you record, you have to write two more words from the family. In games center two, we sorted snowballs with pictures into short vowels words and long vowel words. We circled the correct word and colored the pictures. The last center was the writing center, we had to fill in missing sounds in a story. We drew a picture to match the words. Art center will open tomorrow. In writing workshop, Mrs. Myers read Stella, Queen of Snow. We practiced adding style to our writing. We listened for similes in the story. Then, we wrote winter similes of our own. We learned to use both the words "like" or "as" to write a simile. We also did journal writing today. We ending with two winter movies - The Snow Plow Patrol and A Snowy Day.

Yummy Gingerbread

Our word of the day today was "water". It was a rule breaker, because the "a" did not make it's sound. It was a noun. In math today, we worked in groups of four. We worked with some of Mrs. Lauber's boys and girls today, too. We traced one member of our group on large, brown paper. Then, we decorated it to look like a gingerbread man. After recess, we learned how to measure the gingerbread man using an inch ruler. We even learned how to use two rulers to measure long things. We measured the gingerbread man's head, hand, buttons, nose, mouth, and some other parts. You can see how big my gingerbread man was when you look in my mail today. After lunch and recess, we read a new Jan Brett story, Gingerbread Friends. We stopped three times during the story and Mrs. Myers had us predict what would happen next. We wrote our prediction down and then drew the "clue" we used to make our prediction. Next was reading workshop. Mrs. Myers finished reading with everyone today. At centertime, we had "make-up" day. For our fun Friday choices, we used the computers to make a gingerbread man, decorate a gingerbread house, and read a gingerbread story. We also could play a dice game to build a gingerbread man. If you visit Mrs. Myers' teacher page, we can play the games at home from her links page. At writing workshop time, we worked on the writing our gingerbread adventures. Mrs. Myers helped us get to our "WOW" ending. During writing, we took a break and made gingerbread. Mrs. Myers gave us each a cup of gingerbread mix. We added water and stirred it with a popcicle stick. Mrs. Myers cooked them. After phys. ed, we ate the gingerbread. Most of us liked it! We liked the gingerbread theme! Next week's theme is snow and snowmen. We hope it snows this weekend!

More Gingerbread

Our word of the day today was "first". It was a rule follower. It had a bossy r sound and a consonant blend. It was an adverb and adjectives. In math today, Mrs. Bashada pulled groups of students to help us practice our subtraction facts. Some groups used blocks to subtract. Other groups played "around the world". After lunch, recess, and library, we heard a new story about gingerbread. It was called, Bad Boys Get Cookie. We listened for character traits of the characters - how they look, act, and feel. We listed character traits in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Then, we had centers. Most of us finished our fourth center. As a bonus, we worked in groups on the laptops. We used the drawing tools to create gingerbread men and houses. We printed them. There will be more bonus gingerbread centers tomorrow. We also worked during centertime to fix old centers, until they were perfect! In writing workshop today, we continued to write our gingerbread adventures. We checked our "grab the reader" beginning, when -who- where, and character traits. Then, we tried it out!. We wrote our adjectives, similes, and phrases. Then we jumped into our action. Mrs. Myers conferenced with us as we wrote. At the end of the day, we had reading workshop and a handwriting contest. For the contest, Mrs. Myers put a sentence on the board. We had to write it on our paper. Mrs. Myers will pick the top five writers. They will earn a prize tomorrow. Mrs. Myers will announce the winners at morning meeting tomorrow.

Gingerbread Girl to the Rescue

Our word of the day today was "than'. It was mostly a rule follower, because it was on the "can of -an". The "a" does say a funny sound. This word is a comparing word. It is sometimes confused with "then". In math today, we did gingerbread logic posters. Mrs. Myers read us clues and we crossed off the gingerbread person that did not match the clues. After lunch and recess, Mrs. Myers read, The Gingerbread Girl. It was a new version of the story. After the story, we wrote and drew about our favorite version of the story and gave three reasons why it was the best. Then, we had reading workshop. Mrs. Myers is still reading with us one at a time. At 1:10PM the power went off for about 20 minutes. We worked very quietly in the dark. We had a phonics lesson on soft g. This is when "g" makes the sound of "j". We sang the "soft g" song and did a paper. Ask me to sing the song tonight. Then, we had writing workshop. We worked on writing our gingerbread adventures with a grab the reader beginning and a when- who- where sentence. At the end of the day, we visited out third center. We hope it is not rainy or icy tomorrow!

Gingerbread

Our word of the day today was "my". It was a rule follower. We found that this word was on the "cry of y" on our clothesline. We also hung up "the my of Myers" to help us remember the word. The word "my" is a pronoun. In math today, we went into the hallway with Mrs. Lauber's class. We worked in groups to make pictographs out of our glyphs. We were graphing what part of the gingerbread man we eat first. We took the data and made a bar graph. Then we wrote true math statements using the word "difference". After lunch and recess, Mrs. Myers read the story, Gingerbread Baby. It was by Jan Brett. We worked in two groups after the story to write down the things that were the same as yesterday's Gingerbread Boy story. We also had a group to write down the things that were different from the yesterday's story. Then, we had a quick reading workshop. We were using our new packets. Mrs. Myers was reading with students one at a time today. We can use our Rah Rah or books at home to finish our old packets for bonus beans! Then, we had center time. We went to our second center of the week. At writing workshop time, we started brainstorming for our gingerbread adventures. We wrote similes, adjectives, and phrases about our gingerbread we decorated from home. We also drew the "when, who, where" for our story and shared it with a partner. Tomorrow we will continue writing our stories. We hope that the weather cooperates, so we can finish al our gingerbread fun tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

Welcome back everyone! We are so excited for the year 2009! Today was a day to start fresh! We were working on improving our word habits, neatness, and behavior. Mrs. Myers even moved our desks into a new shape. Our theme this week was people. It was a rule breaker, with a twist. The only rule breaking part, was the "decoration e" on the end. It was not a popular word family, but it was a noun. We were quick to see the "eo" vowel pair. In math today, we made a gingerbread man glyph. A glyph is an art project that collects data. We collected data about gingerbread and winter. Tomorrow, we will make some pictographs using our glyphs. There were very messy and fun! After lunch, we read our first version of the The Gingerbread Man. In this version, they were new characters and a new ending. Ask us how the fox eats the gingerbread man. After this, we took a tour of the new reading workshop packet. We were very excited for new activities. Our old packets are in our mail today. Finally before music class, we had a making words activity. Instead of working as a whole group, we worked with a partner to make words from the letters. Then, we shared the words and Mrs. Myers wrote them in lists of two, three, and four letter words. Then, we made the "super-jumbo-bonus word". It was the word "escapes". After music, we had a new center tour. We have two games centers. The first one is putting gingerbread boys in short vowel "ovens" to match their missing sound. The second one is a "when-who-where" retelling center. We were sorting and writing. In the magnetic letters center, we are using gingerbread men on cookies trays to make word family words for -ake, -ack, -ike, -ick. Last, at the listening center, we are listening to a video on the internet of Jan Brett reading and sharing how she wrote and illustrated the story, Gingerbread Baby. Then, we made a personal connection to the problem in the story. It was a great day back!