Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Pilgrims!

Eels, turkey, squash may be on the menu!

A short and busy week is behind us, but we fit a lot of work and fun into it! We completed our Adventures of a Pilgrim writing, which gave us the chance to write from the point of view of a pilgrim child. They were so inspired by the books we read about pilgrims, and the online Plymouth Plantation site videos, and their writing reflected that enthusiasm. I know you will love reading about all the experiences 'they had' back in 1620!

Writing about the Thanksgiving feast in 1620

 Of course there was all kinds of excitement on the days we completed our Thanksgiving scene dioramas. It was a great chance to show off creativity as the kids thought of animals and food they could make from clay to add to their scenes!

Look what we made!

So many tiny details

We made a tiny campfire too

Look at that basket of food!

Do you like the little house?

Almost done!

Let's put this right...here!

Can we get this home on the bus?

Best day ever!

We wished Adele a Happy Birthday today for her weekend birthday coming up!

Parent Conferences will be on Wednesday, December 6th, and the signup is online at signup.com. An email and letter went out, and the spots are filling up quickly. If you have any difficulty signing up, feel free to send in a note and I can sign you up.

Enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend and safe travels for all those off to see family!

Mrs. Dagley

A famous American - Squanto!

Squanto and friend!

Writing about Squanto

There is nothing like a real life story full of adventure, and reading about Squanto and his adventurous life held everyone's attention! Reading how he sailed to England at age 14 and lived there for 9 years, learning to speak English along the way, and then about his return trip and subsequent capture to be sold as a slave in Spain, fired everyone's imagination. Luckily he had help escaping, returned once again to Plymouth, only to find that his tribe had perished from a sickness. 
This paved the way for him to join the Pilgrims who had suffered as well all through the first winter. He taught them invaluable hunting and planting skills, was an interpreter between them and other tribes, and was instrumental in helping the Plymouth colony take root. The kids wrote a 'newspaper' style article telling of his life. Some went home today and others will on Monday.

Loved these books!

Write all about it!

What a life story!

Next we moved on to learning about the Pilgrims and have started a writing booklet called, The Adventures of Pilgrim _____. The first day we wrote from the point of view of a pilgrim child leaving on the Mayflower. What would we pack? How would we feel about leaving friends behind and heading off to a new land? Today we wrote about arriving in Plymouth and told all the work and jobs we needed to do. They are so motivated to write on these real life scenarios!

 Best of all, we started our shoe box Thanksgiving dioramas! Today we glued down the grass and sky, added a paper Mayflower, a 3-D cabin, and some people.

Busy writers

These are hard working 'pilgrims'!

On Monday we will use clay to make tiny Thanksgiving foods and animals. We will even have a small Plymouth Rock with the year 1620 painted on. They are loving the project! (And I cleared one mess of shoe boxes out of the attic!) 

Some sample writing completed!

Our class library scene

 We have needed those creative outlets after taking and getting ready for more math tests. We completed Topic 4, and the results went home today. The benchmark test for trimester 1 is Monday.

One exciting activity in math this week was the introduction of.... calculators! We all had individual calculators which we used to correct addition problems, and we learned how to practice skip counting on them as well. The delights of the lowly calculator are not to be underestimated!

During their computer/tech. specialist this week, the kids used all sorts of building materials to create homes suitable for a hibernating animal or for people. Look what fun they had using their imagination, and thank you Mrs. Muraca!

Homes from wood

Homes from bricks

Homes from legos

Homes from small wooden blocks

Homes from Lincoln Logs

 We enjoyed reading about woodland animals during centers
this week. We made words by matching ice cream cone vowels to ice cream toppers, and it was fun to sit with friends at the story CD center.

Making words

Reading about wolves

Listening center

 I sent out an email about parent/teacher conferences. I am using signup.com. which is very convenient as it allows you to choose your best time to stop by. Conferences are on the early release day on Wednesday, December 6th and take place throughout the afternoon and into the evening. I sent a hard copy too, making sure the info got out and... (oh no!) the link on the paper differed from that on the email! A correction went home today. Hope to see you there or to have a phone conference.

Next week is a short one, so no homework. You will love reading the kids Pilgrim booklets though. They are very industrious writers!

Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs. Dagley
 



 

Thank you Veterans!

Ready to cheer for our Veterans!

It was very exciting to meet the service men and women who paraded down our hallway on Thursday. The halls were lined with all the students who cheered, waved flags, and sang along to patriotic songs as the veterans walked by. We also heard a few answer interview questions on the morning news. The text we read, Veterans: Heroes In Our Neighborhood, had beautiful illustrations depicting a current neighborhood job of each veteran in the story, contrasted with an illustration of what they once did when in the navy, air force, army, or marines. 

Despite another short week, we were busy writers in Writer's Workshop this week. One day we each chose a 'gold star habit' to focus on while writing. Some chose using lower case letters, using the lines to place the letters correctly, remembering capitals or periods, or being aware and changing reversals as their goal while writing. Another day, we wrote about favorite activities in autumn and decorated the tree at the top of the page with fall colored tissue paper. We were also inspired to write a sleepover invitation after reading Porcupinie's Pajama Party. Our writing collection is growing!

A fun chapter book read- aloud!

Writing about favorite fall activities

Gluing on the tissue paper

We are proud of our writing

 

My light is up on the ceiling!

In learning about how light travels, we brought out mini mirrors and flashlights. Turning the lights off in the classroom added to the fun as each partnered group experimented with what happened to the light when it was shining on the mirror. The kids noticed that light bounced off, or reflected when they aimed the light at the mirror only to see the light reflect on the ceiling! They also held up word and number cards in front of the mirrors and saw that the images were reversed.

The light on my mirror has reflected to my face!

We introduced two book series this week that brought plenty of laughs and that we completed reading response papers for. One was Scaredy Squirrel and the other was Duck At The Door. There are several more books in both series that we look forward to reading!

Welcome, Max!

Squirrel is always prepared for anything, or is he?!

What math strategy shall we use? That is a question each child is deciding now that we have been introduced to so many methods of solving addition and subtraction problems. We are using mini posters of each strategy and volunteers are each choosing one they feel comfortable with to solve the same problem. Will they...draw circles for each number, circle the highest number and count on, use a part/part/whole model, a ten frame, a number line, a doubles plus 1 strategy, or will they make a ten to solve problems whose sum is greater than ten? Here are some of our volunteers showing each strategy.

Choosing a strategy

This Wednesday we return to the library. Many children have returned their books to the class already, but if yours is still at home, send it in any time between Monday and Wednesday. 

Thanks for the shoe boxes that are coming in for our Thanksgiving diorama. I'm heading up to the attic to get some I've saved as well. 

Looks like a chilly, frosty day, but at least it is sunny. Enjoy!
Mrs. Dagley

Whooo is that in the night?!

Oh no! bats are on our heads!

We read about nocturnal animals too!

As the days get shorter and the dark encroaches, we find it's a great time to learn about nocturnal animals. We told some exciting adventures of nocturnal animals some of us have seen, and wrote about it in writer's workshop this week. Tyngsboro has plenty of raccoons, skunks, bats, opossums, and even a coyote or two. Everyone immediately had an opinion on which animal they would like to spot - for me it's a flying squirrel. Maybe someday! We made bats as part of the nocturnal fun.

More bats ready to fly!

Despite the short week due to power outages (it lasted past the point of mere inconvenience for me!) we had plenty to do. We welcomed an author, David Hyde Costello, who helped us write a collaborative story. He illustrated the pictures the kids decided on using a projector so everyone could see the process. We also enjoyed his website where he has a video of a paper mouse, car, and marble run that he made all the parts for. 

David Hyde Costello

Illustrating the kids' story!

We participated in a couple of investigative science activities this week by determining how much light passes through various objects around the school. We set off on a school hunt and came up with this:

Lockers are opaque!

This window is transparent!

This window screen is translucent!

Fire extinguisher case is transparent!

This glass case is transparent!

This fabric sheet is translucent!

The lego wall is opaque!

Bubble wrap is translucent!

A fish tank is transparent!

Whiteboards are opaque!

Water fountains are opaque!

Bulletin board displays are opaque!

This wooden pumpkin is opaque!

Laminate around this cut-out is transparent!

 I have been so impressed with the vocabulary that the kids are comfortable using when they label items as transparent, translucent, or opaque. See what you can find at home that fits these descriptions. Back in the classroom, we worked in groups to attach various materials (lace, felt, satin, cellophane, gauze, etc.) to paper towel tubes and then used a flashlight to shine through the tube and observed how light passed through them.

Let's try the satin

Let's sort the materials!

This is fun!

 We had our first Library Day and will continue to visit the library every other week. To make sure the books are returned on time, your child can return them any time before the next date once they've been read. We have a box to hold them in until the next visit.
We also went to the Book Fair where there is a great display of Scholastic books. If you are still interested in purchasing, your child can go down with a friend to pick something up or you can shop before or after school with them. The fair goes until Nov. 9th.

Reading about a giant pumpkin at computer center.

Making words with word families at ABC center

Who's in That Tree Poem

Math fact family Houses

bat shaped information books

Our own Statue of Liberty!

Due to the short week, we did not send home homework. Homework will go out again on Monday and should be returned by Friday. Our words of the week will also stay the same. 

It's sunny and bright, if a bit chilly, but a perfect fall weekend- enjoy! 
Mrs. Dagley