Teamwork!

Mrs. Filardi's class are pros at using the Chromebooks.  They gave us a second lesson on how to log in and use them this week.  With a friend, they went to Brain Pop Jr and "read" some biographies together. THANK YOU to our teammates!

We finished our Ally/Upstander Shields and You Skills News Articles this week.  If you happen to be at school, they are being displayed on the bulletin outside our classroom-take a look.  

Our two classes work SO well together!!

In music the students are making musical notes out of craft sticks.  In Spanish they created stories and used Spanish words to tell them to the class.

Math Problem Solving-this week each child wrote a story for us to solve.  Children spent two days solving each others stories. They are persevering and using a variety of efficient and effective math strategies!

We wrapped up our science unit by learning about where water is found, the three states that water can take and erosion.

  

Our Biography unit is in full swing!  

Students are choosing books and taking notes about what they learn.

  

  

  

Now that our science unit has wrapped up, we will delve into poetry and return to Writing Workshop!

Today we talked about what poetry is and the students wrote a poem using what they already know about poetry.  As the children shared their poems, I was brought to tears-sometimes by laughter, othertimes by how powerful their poems were.  With no pre-teaching whatsoever, one student sang their poem about taking care of the earth.  Unfortunately, it was written too lightly to show up on a photograph.  I cannot wait to see what they create after being given more guidance!!

Here is a snippet of what they wrote today.

Until next week..have a nice weekend!

December is here!

Extra Extra-read all about it!

The Voyagers Team and Mrs. Nelson are learning about Healthy Friendships!

For the next several weeks, we are meeting with Mrs. Nelson twice a week.  We kicked off with an "article" in Mrs. Nelson's "You Skill News" that highlighted recent concerns about unkind behaviors being observed at recess and lunch.  Students brainstormed ideas of how we can stand up to unkind behavior.  They are hard at work making an Ally/Upstander Shield or writing their own You Skills News article.

During Reading Workshop this week we focused on making sure we are always thinking while we read-thinking about what words mean, thinking about what we are learning, thinking about the author's message.  By Thursday, we were recording these thoughts on different graphic organizers.

Science fun...

What is the effect of sand on paper?  It makes different textures.  The different sandpapers can be used to change the shape of wooden objects.  We explored with wooden craft sticks.

  

What is soil?  Soil is a mixture of sand, silt, humus and gravel.  First we made a soil mixture, then we separated it using our hands and screens.  

Then we put it back together again and did a water and soil shake to separate it into its different layers.

  

  

  

Mathematicians hard at work!

Friday we solved several different double digit problems on our white boards.  Then we switched boards and interpreted how someone else solved it.  It is a powerful way to share and learn from one another!  It also helps highlight how important precise and clear mathematical representation of your thinking is in order for someone else to be able to understand how you solve problems.

Our new read aloud...

Coming up next week....

poetry writing and reading biographies.

Have a nice weekend!