Pumpkins, scarecrows, and colorful leaves

Mini scarecrows!

Our read-alouds included both fiction and non-fiction books this week as we read about the life cycle of pumpkins (From Seed to Pumpkin, Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin Pie) and about fictional scarecrows and pumpkin growing contests (The Biggest Pumpkin Ever, Jeb Scarecrow's Pumpkin Patch). We learned how seeds can travel and sprout in new places due to birds, animals, or wind, and we saw determination and creativity in our fiction books on the subject.

Great reads

Making Jeb Scarecrow

Finishing touches on mini scarecrow

Best of all we carved our own pumpkin in school and had a first hand experience of smelling and touching the slippery seeds and goo! Later we used this activity as a writing idea.

It's slimy, squishy, slippery

I'm lovin' this!

"Ohhhhh!"

Our other writing activities this week included using 'sparkle' words to make our writing more specific and descriptive, and everyone completed a 'research' project. Children chose a woodland animal book to look through and learn about their habitat, diet, and physical features and then wrote their findings, working with friends to discuss ideas. The paper was attached to a large page on which they water painted a habitat for their animals. It was fun presenting to the class as well!

Researching together

We chose Garter snakes- they're hibernating!

Squirrels and foxes were our choices

Raccoons!

I'm learning about raccoons

Deer and Wolves

We presented!

How do you like it?!

Our paining and reporting

In science we experimented with mirrors by shining a flashlight on them and redirecting the light as it reflected off the mirror. We held sticky notes against a mirror with half a picture on them and were delighted to see the whole picture reflected in the mirror! We also had a prism which we used after watching the video explaining how light appears white but actually has 7 colors of the rainbow if 'bent' through something like a prism or a rain drop. This was the first week we went to the Maker Space in our Science & Technology specialist and the kids carried on lots of fun experiments with light in there too!

Mirrors and sunlight - where will the beam of light go?!

Reflecting sticky note pictures

The kids took the laptop math test on Monday and really showed off their skill and focus. Topic 4 introduces many different strategies for solving addition problems including learning and using doubles facts or 'near doubles' sometimes known as 'Doubles plus 1'. We have a doubles rap we sing to learn the facts and we have used a double fact as a strategy when appropriate (6+7=? If 6+6 is 12, then 6+7 is just one more than 12...13!). Next week we will work on making a 10 using a double ten frame mat when solving problems with sums that are in the teens. 

Test over - let's get to ABCya site!

Phonics this week has us learning and practicing words with digraphs - ch, sh, wh, th, and we had a great book and poster called, The H Brothers to help us. We also worked on sight words, especially 'all' and had a poster with parts to read that provided a humorous way to learn it.

Digraph fun

We welcomed Sergeant Manning to TES

Taking the part of 'a' or 'o'

 this week to talk to the kids about safety
while trick-or-treating. The reflective bags he gave out were a big hit!

Our young Red Sox fans are ready for the series, although hopefully not for games after midnight! Here they are:

Go Sox!

We will be collecting shoeboxes for a diorama project in November, so send in any you might have. I've been saving up all year so that will help. 

Stay cozy during our rainy weekend,
Mrs. Dagley

Fun making words

Read a sentence & match the picture

We have been showing off our reading and word solving skills with a variety of group activities that involve working with word families, segmenting and blending, and reading with a focus on comprehension and punctuation.

Read and clip an end mark.

Pumpkins & word families

Practicing with partners for our first spelling test was fun too - everyone loves their turn as the teacher! The spelling test was a great success for all, and the fun surprise was the 'offices' they used for for test time - each folder had a large photo inside of a cute animal to look at!

Can you spell...flag?!

Let's see you spell...

I've got this word!

My turn to spell!

This word's easy!

Try spelling...

Then on Friday, everyone was ready for the spelling test!

Let's practice...

Love our office folders!

I know my words!

The USA symbol we learned about this week was The Statue of Liberty. We have a great collection of books and pictures of Lady Liberty and learned how it was given to us by France, was made in sections, shipped across the ocean, and reassembled here in New York City. The original color was brown copper which turned green over time from rain, and schoolchildren all over the country sent in pennies to help pay for the pedestal base it was placed on. A great symbol of welcome and freedom!

The Statue of Liberty welcomes all

Our own Lady Liberty!

Topic 3 in math has wrapped up - the kids are adept at recognizing numbers on a ten frame, making number sentences on the frames, and finding combinations of ten. We also worked with making table charts and reading the charts.  Our online laptop test is Monday.

Domino ten frames

Find a ten frame match

Who doesn't have fun with flashlights? The kids took turns peering through a cardboard tube to determine if light from the flashlight could penetrate the various materials covering the other end. Some were opaque, and others were transparent or translucent. We tested tin foil, felt, lace, cellophane paper, tissue paper, waxed paper,  and more.

Translucent for sure!

Can't see a thing!

I can see a little light!

Take a peek - any light?

 Autumn has so many rich colors and fun seasonal activities. This week the kids read texts about leaves changing color and went out to collect their own. Once back inside everyone had fun making leaf rubbings and writing a related fact sentence. 

Whoo Who Who!

As we continued to learn about woodland animals, we read A Perfect Place for an Elf Owl which is a book written and published by first and second graders. The story depicts the tiny elf owl whose habitat is the desert, being blown to all different habitats and meeting owls from each one before finding herself back home in her cactus. We made little owl shaped habitat books as a response to reading.

Tiny owl booklets

Loved sharing our writing ideas with each other this week as the kids delve further into personal narrative writing. This time we made a feelings map and chose a feeling to base a writing idea on. 'Have I told you about the time I felt surprised?' Hearing other friend's ideas helped inspire even more writing ideas.


We wished a Happy Birthday to Paxton this week on Wednesday! Always a special day for every child.

Enjoy the weekend,
Mrs. Dagley

Autumn Fun

Ready to decorate our classroom for fall!

A change in seasons always brings new themes and seasonal fun. We traced, cut, and decorated paper pumpkins to hang in our room this week, and next week we will learn about changing leaf colors and enjoy fall leaf activities and crafts.

Ta da!

Our own designs

Cutting carefully

Adding a face

Wait 'til you see it!

Fancy!

Smiling pumpkins

Place the tissue just right!

 As we continued to learn about materials that light can or cannot pass through, we had some very good fine motor practice making tissue paper pictures on peel and press sheets. We hung them in the stairwell windows for everyone to see, and when they saw the sun steaming through them and lighting them up, they were delighted!

I did it!

The window display!

Concentration!

The stairwell window destination!

Another fun science activity was going around the school in search of items that were either opaque, transparent, or translucent.

Translucent window

Transparent door window

Opaque lego wall

Opaque painted wall

Transparent fire extinguisher case

Translucent gel cling decorations

Opaque lockers

Transparent hand sanitizer bottle

 Writing activities this week have focused on personal narrative; writing about things that are important to us, writing about something we are an expert on, and making sure we are matching our illustration details to our words. We also wrote a 'Guess who I am' paper to put in the hallway.

Out in the hallway!

Busy writers

Writing about something important to us

 During phonics, we spelled an assortment of sight words by searching for friends who had letter cards to make our words. Once assembled, we sang the associated song to help us remember the spelling. 

w-a-n-t

l-i-k-e

v-e-r-y

l-i-t-t-l-e

 During our read-alouds, we contrasted fiction and non-fiction books about owls. We read some fascinating facts about all the varieties of owls and then used our prior knowledge when reading the fictional stories about owls.

Owl books!

The puzzle experts struck again, this time building an underwater puzzle. What great team work and puzzle building skill! 

On to the next puzzle!

Here are a couple of buddies enjoying a good book, and here is an exciting vampire teeth prize from the prize box:

Watch out!

Enjoying a good book

 We can hardly keep up with the loose teeth falling out. We sang our tooth song to Ben, Aidan, Maggie, and Hayden this week!
On the morning news we learned about fire safety, and Darby's dad was one of the fire fighters teaching us tips! We also celebrated and sang to Emerson this week, who had her birthday on Monday.

Of course the big news was our first laptop math test! I am so impressed and proud of their effort and stamina. (I would have taken a photo but I was too stressed!) Just learning to log on with passwords, enlarge the screen, scroll to see all answers, and navigate the test questions was a feat in itself. Then of course 20 math questions followed, but I am happy to say that their hard work paid off! We are now learning about number combinations using ten frame models. This topic is a short one, so they will have the laptop opportunity again soon, this time going at their own pace.

The other big news is that homework begins Monday. A homework snap type folder will go home with the packet and a book on Monday. They can work on the phonics, math, and book all week and return it by Friday. If they finish before that, they can also return everything early. Spelling tests will now be every Friday on the spelling words in the homework. We already practiced a bit on list 1, so the homework spelling begins with list 2.

Library is on Monday as well - remember to return your book.

Have a nice fall weekend,
Mrs. Dagley