NUMBERS AND SELF PORTRAITS

 

We introduced a Number race game using dice.  You have to make a prediction, which number you think will win.  Then you start rolling the two dice, add the dots and match the number to digit marking an X above.  

In big blocks Max helped build a spaceship.  There was a lot of discussion about how many blasters were needed for a journey into space.

We added tubes, friends created a line so they could take it in turns to use the stepladder.

The teachers were tricked into drinking potions.  We were told they were happy potions only to be told we had been turned into a frog.  

Students in small blocks created habitats for their animals.    Brooklyn created a savannah.

We also created an ocean with a beach.  I noticed the cow was in the ocean.  Livio told me he was lying on his back.

At the end of the morning we read

This is another biography about a person that helped us learn and change the way we look at things.  

Get your ice cream here.  

Don't forget the cakes

Finding a quiet area to write letters to friends.

COMMUNITY DAY

A group of children started a new project with Ms. Lane learning to draw a self portrait.  I would love to show you the pictures I took but I forgot to bring my ipad home and that contains all of the photos.

This was also our first storyteller time with Mr. Andrews in the room, not via zoom, 

as  Ren said "for real" .

QUESTIONS

What is the highest number you can get with two dice?

What type of pets did Joan Proctor have when she was a little girl?

What facts did you learn about komodo dragons?
What was the name of the boy in Mr Andrews story and what happened to him?

WORKING TOGETHER

We had our first morning meeting with Ms. Lawrence as a co-teacher.  The children happily welcomed her.   While we will miss Ms. Castillo the children have shown how flexible they can be and have taken the changes without any problems.

No Specials today so we had a nice long work choice time.  it is fun to watch the ebb and flow of a classroom full of children as they move from one work choice to the next.  Whether they choose to work in one space all morning or make many different choices.  

Sorting and classifying turtles and frogs created a lot of conversation.  There are many different types of turtles and frogs in the set.  Creating the opportunity to sort and classify in many different ways.

These classmates worked together in big blocks making a spaceship.  Before moving on to small blocks and creating a city of haunted houses.

Using the magnetic letters for fencing around some of their buildings.

As you can see from the empty basket every block was used.

We changed things up and placed warm water in the sensory table.  Mr Billadeau added red food coloring to one side and yellow food coloring to the other.  It soon turned into a beautiful orange as the two were mixed together.  Initially Jenna was selling honey.  Filling jars and containers while Farrah made smoothies.  By the end of the morning Jenna had changed the business plan and was making soup.  Just the thing for a cold winter's day.

Grace and Maxi were more interested in the funnels, tubes and pipes.  Grace kept trying to get the water to go down the funnel. It wouldn't go down while she held it at the height of the water table.  Then she made a discovery.  If you hold the funnel up high the water comes out of the tube.   Why ?

       In dress up there were a lot of puppies running around.  

Thankfully Kaia was very good at controlling them.

Kaia and Nora treated their puppies to a picnic for being so well behaved.

At the end of the morning we read 

The book talks about how problems can lead to opportunities.   

QUESTIONS
What problems did you solve today?

Can you remember one of the W words we added to our list ?(clue: what day is it?)

 

STRING INSTRUMENTS

What a busy Monday.  I am sure most of you are aware of the interest in string instruments today, as you will have seen the completed products brought home.   

We listened to the difference of an instrument we made with a hole in it and one without.  The class agreed we needed to make a hole in the instrument.  Livio played his guitar telling me it was the sound of scrubbing.  Connecting to the visit by Ms Lukkasson last Friday and the instruments the 5th graders use for sound affects. 

We watched short video clips of children playing different string instruments.    Giving the students a chance to hear the sounds that they made and decide which one they preferred.

Guitars ukulele, violin, cello, bass.  Which one to choose?

The musicians took to the stage to perform.  Farrah decided she wanted to be the conductor.  Writing the music and finding a stick to use as a baton.

Lucy decided to draw a plan of the stage.  

Most of the musicians came together at the end to perform but Ren was concerned that they needed more time to practice but the rest of the group felt they were ready.  

Music wasn't the only thing happening today.  We filled the sensory tables with snow.  Letting the class explore how snow feels without gloves on and watching what happens to the snow in a warm classroom.

 Friends had fun taking the frozen numbers and letters out of the ice cube trays.  Jenna exclaimed Ouch! as she carried one of the ice cubes.  Noticing how cold they were.  

Grace showed me her empty hands telling me the ice cube disappeared.  She shared how she put it under the running water and it melted.  

We read the Watcher and another chapter of the Jack Stalwart adventure book.  

We had an interesting conversation after reading Watchers. Jane Goodall helped save the chimpanzees.  She wanted to save them from becoming extinct.

I asked if anyone knew what extinct meant.

Charlotte: It means they are dying

Brooklyn: I was thinking that extinction is dying.

Annie: They'll never come back

Kaia: We don't want the animals to die.  When they die, they never come back.

Ren: Did the gorillas get extinct?  I know why dinosaurs died, because there was a meteor.

Charlotte: Are there still more chimps?

TUESDAY

During work choice time I called the last few friends that didn't get chance to start their play doh faces.  I worked with those friends while Ms Castillo supported our budding musicians in the Invention center.

More fun in the snow.  We removed the frozen number ice cubes from the freezer adding them to the snow.  A lot easier to spot when they are green.

Jenna and Nora added a red food coloring to the numbers before we froze them again.

Livio added animals to the snow which created a discussion about lions living in snowy areas or savannahs.

Before P.E. Romina and Mike Waugh (Maxi's mom and dad) read.  

This book ties in nicely with the discussions we have had regarding Martin Luther King Jr. and his ideas and dreams.

After P.E. both classes came together and we said our Goodbyes, or as Ms Castillo put it, "See you soons."  She had a little gift for all the students.  We told her we would  send letters and the class was unanimous in their decision to send lots of treats to her for her Birthday and Valentines day.

QUESTIONS

How did Jane Goodall help the chimpanzees?

What part of your brain deals with ideas?

What sound does W make?

What gift did you get from Ms. Castillo?

If you have any recyclables (boxes, containers) please send them to school we are running low due to the interest in instruments.

I had a peak at February's calendar and noticed we have about 5 students in our class celebrated a full or half birthday.  I will send information out to those families on Friday.