Let's make an igloo!

Our completed igloos!

The paintbrushes came out again, this time to use with glue as we decorated containers with squares of fun foam to transform them into igloos! The finishing touch was a small arctic animal to live in it. The kids love doing hands-on projects that support the texts we read and the learning they are doing.

My hands are gluey!

Making rows of snow blocks

You'll like our igloos!

Paint those containers with glue!

All done and ready to go!

Now to survive the bus trip!

Excited to begin!

Three Arctic themed texts we read this week were Immi's Gift, Straight To The Pole, and Lars the Little Polar Bear. Themes of friendship and giving, adventures and helpfulness, and drama and imagination were discovered in the stories.

We love read-alouds!

We have a series on this character

 Morse code anyone? In science we learned how Morse code and the telegraph were invented. Then, armed with our alphabet of morse code dots and dashes, we deciphered some messages to read the mystery words. We also used flashlights to practice giving a morse code message with short on and off lights and longer light for dashes. We have wrapped up the communication technology unit and will begin Plants & Animals next week.

During writing this week, we created our own How-To books on subjects chosen by the kids, and we wrote a class How To Blow Up A Balloon Using baking Soda and Vinegar. The lab coat and crazy glasses were donned as I demonstrated the experiment - everyone was a little nervous in case too much vinegar was put in the water bottle. No worries - the balloon blew up very sedately with all the oohs and ahhs such 'magic' brings. They wrote the directions down and may want to try this at home once their collection of How-To writing goes home.

Science even carried over into recess. Here is a photo of two friends playing with their walkie talkies that they made with tinker toys at recess:

Over and out!

In math we are describing numbers in terms of tens and ones and this week practiced expanded notation. 54 has 5 tens and 4 ones and in expanded notation would be written 50 + 4 = 54. Learning the tens and ones place, differentiating between questions that ask how many tens vs. the value of the tens, and decomposing the number can be confusing, but we are using the base ten blocks and other manipulatives to visualize and make the numbers.

We wished Dom a very Happy Birthday this week - I am sure he will have a fun weekend playing with birthday gifts!

It's warm out - enjoy the weekend,
Mrs. Dagley

Off to the arctic!

Our arctic display

Learning a bit about the arctic environment and wild life has given us a whole new class library of books to explore. We have fictional stories featuring arctic animals and many non-fiction, beautifully photographed books about the chilly arctic lands. This week we wrote about the arctic - its location, weather, and wildlife, and then attached it to a waterpainting of the scene.

Painting is always relaxing!

Choose each color with care!

Full concentration!

artists at work!

 Watching videos of the Northern Lights was amazing - what a light show the arctic lands provide! We made chalk drawings of the Northern Lights after also reading about it.

Using chalk was a treat!

Pictures and fun facts!

 Besides writing about the arctic, we also spent time on our How-To writing genre. After reading a text Clay Creatures, we made our own little creatures while recording the steps of its creation! 

Making a mini caterpillar

It's a snake for me!

Writing about and making our creatures!

Tada!

The snow days and holidays make for some short weeks, but we are filling the days we are in school with plenty of learning and fun. We took the math test for Topic 7 this week and will be moving on to Topic 8 which focuses more on place value and using the 100 chart. We continue to practice skip counting by 2s and 5s so that we can solve some problems more efficiently and to use the 100 chart more effectively.



Next week the school highlights Kindness Week. There will be lessons, activities, and books to support the theme. It is also a school spirit week. Check the TES parent communication for each day's choice. Monday is school colors or clothing. 

Here is a book we enjoyed, based on the true events in Iceland where school children stay out late each night for two weeks to help save young puffins who did not reach the sea on their first flight. The children find them and release them to the ocean. You can also find a Youtube video showing this!

Love true stories!

Our hallway display of the snow globes and corresponding writing looks great! Take a look:

Outside room 115!

Looks like a warmer weekend for plenty of snow play outdoors - enjoy!

Mrs. Dagley

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

We made snowflakes!

Our snowflake body snowmen!

There is nothing like the surprise of carefully opening up a folded paper with cut-outs to discover the beautiful snowflake it has become! Everyone had fun experimenting with cutting paper to make original snowflakes after reading all about how snow is formed, what a snowy ice crystal looks like, and how snow can help us. We made snowmen to decorate our room with and used a snowflake for the body. We also wrote about ways that snow protects plants and animals, by acting as a blanket and a buffer from wind and cold, and how snow replenishes lakes and streams. Of course it is also provides delightful winter play!
Let's not forget snow globes - we all wrote a descriptive piece about a snow person inside a snow globe, and these will hang out in the hall.

Introducing...snow globe snow people!

 

We remembered the birds in winter too, and after reading a book about decorating an outdoor tree for birds, we got very sticky using honey and bird seed to decorate pine cones. Everyone went out to hang them up in a tree outside our class window and await our feathered friends... however, the squirrels got there first and grabbed each and every pine cone and had a feast!

Drizzle some honey

sprinkle some bird seed

Get sticky!

This is messy!

Decorated tree

Waiting for the birds!

Magic E made a dramatic entrance in phonics work this week! As we introduced words with Magic E/Silent E/King Ed (whichever term preferred) we learned that the vowel changes its sound to the long vowel sound in words. Everyone wore magic/king or queen capes as we cut and pasted silent E words.

Magic E has arrived!

Cur and paste silent E to words

Kings at work!

The power of Magic E

Our mini Silent E booklets

 During writing, we introduced the non-fiction writing genre of 'How-To Books'. After reading Sadie and the Snowman, we wrote the steps on building a snowman, organizing our writing with the words First, Next, and Last. Next week we will make clay creatures and write the steps we used.

In keeping with our winter themes, we have set up all our arctic books and will be learning about animals in the arctic such as polar bears, arctic foxes and hares, caribou, seals, walrus, and snowy owls. We will also make an igloo project which we are collecting cream cheese sized containers for. I've been saving up for a while, but any you can contribute will be great!  

One read - aloud based on a true story that we enjoyed was called Little Dog Lost. It featured  small dog that became lost out on the Baltic Sea, floating on ice. In the end, he was rescued by a fishing boat crew and became their own ship dog. It had everyone's full attention as we read of his adventures!  Here are a few friends reading on their own:

Enjoying a good read!

In science we have been learning about communication technology and have enjoyed slides and stories of astronauts communicating from space, and inventors such as Alexander Graham Bell. We practiced using the Scientific Process of collaborating and testing ideas for something a bit simpler than the telephone. We made paper airplanes and noted which designs stayed airborne the longest. (The one time paper air planes can be flown in class!) 
Here is our own Alexander Graham Bell:

Hello! Can you hear me?!

Will my air plane fly?

Try out this design!

In math, we are working with numbers 11- 19, place value rods and cubes, and skip counting. Practicing counting by 5s and 2s will be very helpful!

We closed out the week reading and learning about Martin Luther King, Jr. who inspired and led people to support fair and equal treatment for all people regardless of race. We made paper doves as a sign of peace.      

"I have a dream" doves.

                                                        


Next Friday we have our first of two PTO school store visits. A note went home with details. 

We also wished Peter a very happy birthday for this weekend! 

Somehow the cold weather is back, so stay warm and enjoy the long weekend!
Mrs. Dagley