Can't wait to write!

Our snowy owls!

It's wonderful to see kids showing excitement for writing, and writing about topics that interest them is a natural motivation. One source of that interest has been our class library arctic theme. This week we read about snowy owls, saw videos of this beautiful bird, and read non-fiction books featuring the snowy owl as well. We concluded by making a paper owl and writing facts about it on the back. 

Our Polar exploration booklet

We were also inspired to write an entry from our Polar Explorer booklet describing one day in the arctic. Great imagination and lots of fun too!

What an adventure!

Recording animal sightings and the Northern Lights!

Surviving the cold in an igloo

So many arctic animals to see!

Hard at work writing!

Small group writing

Hmm, thinking of my next idea!

 Besides integrating writing with other areas of learning, we are also writing personal narratives each week. The kids love writing stories about themselves and are learning to organize them with a beginning, detailed middle, and a closing. They choose to close their writing in a variety of ways- with a feeling (I loved that party!), with a question (Have you ever made a snow fort?), with an 'I hope' statement (I hope I can visit gramma again soon!), or by going back to their topic (Playing on a basketball team is a great activity!). 

Mentor texts

We kick off each writing session with a mentor text to highlight a writing focus. Reading Kitten's First Full Moon showed us how we can write a whole story on just one main idea, and next week we will read Scoot which has lots of examples of adding onomatopoeia- words such as 'splash!' that depict sounds. That can make a story more interesting and easier to visualize for the reader.

Two readers from the TES middle school basketball team

This week we had a special visit from the basketball team over at the middle school. The boys read a story to us and then stayed to help with an activity. We made little igloos that went home Friday. The kids really loved having these 'big kids' help them out!

Using fun foam squares to make igloos

Paint on the glue!

Thanks guys for your igloo building help!

Adding finishing touches to our igloos

 Kindness week gave us a chance to dress up in fun clothing - crazy socks, numbered shirts, positive quotes, and the favorite- pajama day! Everyone had a page of examples of ways to be kind to others and the kids colored each picture that they practiced. Kindness is an every day goal, but the focus on ways to practice kindness was helpful. One popular activity was writing a nice note to someone, and several of the girls wrote a special note to welcome a new little girl that will be joining our class for part of the day, beginning next week. 

Lots of cozy pajamas!

Positive quotes and feel-good shirts!

In math we are working with equations where one number is unknown. Throughout the unit we will practice solving story problems, using addition and subtraction to find the unknown number.  We are using a little larger math notebook rather than the mini ones that have been sent home. This one will last for the remainder of the year. 

Writing in our math notebooks as a center

I'm finding those missing numbers!

Partner work with equations

Let's use the number line for this one!

Math centers are a good chance to practice skills and practice math facts:

Subtraction smash

Snowflake addition and subtraction

Cocoa mugs of the 'Ten Plus' club

We are enjoying our Maps and Globes magazine in social studies and learned about bodies of water (ocean, river, lake...) and land forms (mountains, hills, plains, valleys...). We will focus on continents next week as well as continue to use directions of north, south, east, west, and map keys.

An interactive map!

Our language arts centers are focusing on long vowel words, and during reading we always have readers who want to read to the class.

Unscrambling snowball letters

Listening center

Listen to what I can read now!

King Ed changing mat to mate

Reading to the class!

With valentine's Day quickly approaching, I will be sending home
a class list that you can use if your child plans on giving out Valentine cards. We will decorate a bag in school to put them in.

February is here - a new month of activities await. Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs. Dagley