Oh, I wish I were a rider for the Pony!

Pony Express riders!

Our line leaders all anticipate their turn to ride off and get the daily letter all the while looking out for danger along the trail from coyotes, mudslides, stampeding buffalo, or bandits! We have completed our Pony Express booklet after writing a letter asking to be a rider (following the letter format) and a journal entry of one day on the trail. We have read real life accounts of Buffalo Bill Cody who was a Pony rider and Bronco Charlie (who lived to be 105 years old!). What dedication, bravery, and adventurousness they had! We have also made a time line depicting events from Lewis & Clark to the invention of the telegraph (which ended the Pony Express) and the completion of the train tracks across the whole country. Click on the photos to enlarge and enjoy the writing.

Writing to Mr. Russell!

Can I be a Pony Rider?!

Following the history

We face every kind of danger!

Determination!

Responsibility!

Page 1 of an exciting journey!

Page 2 of another riding adventure!

Exciting ride!

You can count on us!

A bit of sketching while waiting for the mail

 During math you can find us measuring objects around the room, determining which measuring item we would need more or less of, comparing lengths, and estimating. We took the topic test Friday and will move on to telling time to the hour and half hour in the next unit.

So proud of them!

Working in partners

This bookcase is pretty long!

How tall is this table?

Team work!

In phonics we are working with spelling patterns such as /ow/ and made coyotes (howling) with a list of /ow/ words. We continue to practice with R-controlled words and suffixes (/s/ or /es/) at the end of words. 

Coyotes with /ow/ words

CD Listening Center

Howl, growl, towel, cow, now, power...

Engaging read-alouds this week included Black Beauty, Billy and Blaze and the Lost Quarry, and The Wild Little Horse, which was a nice introduction to words that depict sounds (swish, clackity- clack...) better known as Onomatopoeia!

In science we continue to classify and compare animals, observing their characteristics that help them survive and live in their specific habitats. We chose two animals to compare using a Venn Diagram organizer and then wrote about them and illustrated them. The kids love discussing, researching, and working together! 

Our full sized Venn Diagram

We are all working together!

How are our animals different from each other?

Using animal fact cards as a resource

Good spot for teamwork!

Illustrations of our animals

Our writing genre of How-To procedural writing has come to a close. This week we began Informational Writing. One day the kids wrote about a topic of their choice that they are an expert in. The next project was a class research activity perusing our many ocean themed books to collect facts and organize them into categories of 'What is an ocean?', 'Creatures in the ocean', and 'People and the ocean.' Here are a few samples.

Cover illustrations for our ocean books

Sample writing using our shared facts

 

Our poster for Informative books

So many ocean books!

Next week there is an early release on Wednesday. 

 Hope you have a wonderful weekend,

Mrs. Dagley

Westward Bound!

Our Gold Rush newspapers are fresh off the press!

With all the people that flocked to CA after the gold rush, there was a need for a quicker way to get mail delivered out west. Mail by stagecoach or ship could take a month or more and so...the Pony Express was created! The kids have loved our poems, books, and songs about the young teenage boys who risked their lives to race across the west and back through blizzards, canyons, mountains, and dangers. Each day our line leaders go off on their own ride to pick up and deliver a letter from pioneers, gold seekers, trail guides, and others. Take a look!

Off to get the mail!

We ride through any danger!

You can count on us!

We're ready to ride!

We are brave riders!

 Learning about the Pony Express riders gave us another opportunity to discuss character traits, in this case bravery, courage, responsibility, perseverance, and independence. We read two books about the Pony Express and their record breaking delivery time of only 10 days, and loved the illustrations depicting their adventures. We are in the process of writing Pony Express information books as well.

Exciting Read-Alouds!

Our mini pony craft

Everyone is enjoying the new themed books and reading partners love reading together. 

Sharing a good book!

Reading from the Stablemates series

We like funny books!

 During word work times we can be found building and writing words, editing sentences, and adding correct end marks.

Building words

Editing sentences

Choosing end marks for sentences

Read a sentence, Match to a picture

We are wrapping up our How-To writing and our last writing activity included introductions to our books - don't they look great?!

Creative titles

Introductions to our How-Tos

 In science we concluded our focus on plants by working collaboratively to learn and write about the life cycle of our chosen plant. 

We chose an acorn growing to an oak tree

We picked the watermelon life cycle

A few fun pictures include our twins competing on tooth fairy visits and an indoor recess zoo for a favorite tiger!

Tooth competition!

Recess fun

We wished a very happy birthday to Keegan this week - he was a very excited birthday boy!

It's been a fun week and I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday!
Mrs. Dagley