We have been up to...

Wow! I can't believe it is already December! We have been very busy in my class. Last week we finished up our unit about life cycles, studying the life cycle of a flower or plant. We made a really cute project...too bad it isn't spring time already. I did hang them out in the hall, to brighten up the place!

We read the following books all week and talked about the main idea. We wrote the main idea of each book on a sentence strip and then compared/contrasted them all. (Common Core all the WAY!)

In writing we are working on our small moment unit, which is my favorite. We have been reading some mentor text to help us understand what I small moment is. 

In math we took our unit assessment and reviewed odd/even numbers. I had to of course make an Even Steven and Odd Tod like Cara did! Hers were just sooo cute! 

Today we started our new unit about shapes. We started off learning about points and line segments. We used dry pasta to help us make line segments and connect them to make shapes. This was a great hit with the students! 

Lastly I leave you with a picture of lil helper...he can't wait for Santa to come! 

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

Fiction/Nonfiction....and BIG news!

We are blessed to work right next to Fort Leavenworth, therefore we have today off! I am excited because I have class tomorrow, therefore I leave school early. Wednesday I have a meeting at our board office for Learning Council and then we have an Early Release Day. It is going to be a quick and hopefully painless week!

Last week we started our Life Cycle units in Reading and Science. We planned to read a nonfiction story and then a fiction story so the students can see the difference. We are also trying to throw in an Eric Carle author study too!

We compared and contrasted the two stories and then the kids made cute spiders. On the legs they had to make some type of pattern.

Next we read two more books and talked about what makes up a fiction or nonfiction text. 

The kids made their own copy of this chart to keep in their book bags. They can pull it out to help them decide if the book they are reading is fiction or nonfiction. 

Opps it is upside down!! Sorry!

Here is what the kids did during word work this week. I think this is their favorite part of the Daily 5!! 

Here is a picture of the cranberry bars  bread! We used the wrong type of pan! They turned our really good, but we will be making them correctly next time! 

On to my BIG news.....drum roll please.....I think I am going to finally take the plunge and open a TpT shop! I figured I will need something to do when I am done with my masters in 3 weeks! :) I will let you all know when I have it up and going. My first unit is going to be a BIG number sense packet with numbers going to 1,000! 

Happy Monday! 

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, and Pumpkins...also great website!

Wow!!! What a week! I am totally glad it is over...the kids weren't too bad but I am tired! This week we talked about the life cycle of a pumpkin. We started the week off making a can, are, have chart:

We read the following books and talked about text connections!

We also did a bunch of math activities with three different pumpkins! The kids:

Measured

Weighed

Found the height in blocks

Saw if it would sink or float

Guessed the amount of seeds

Here are the charts from their guesses:

Here were the actual results!!! They were a little off, but a few guessed right!

The kids completed a life cycle craft by the Tangled up Teacher! She sells really cute stuff on TpT!!

I also have to show off the cute cupcakes that I made for the kiddos Halloween party!! 

Watch out for the eyeballs!!

Last but not least I have to share with this AMAZING website!!! I was at a training this week and they shared it with us! It has the common core reading and math standards with a lesson, activities, technology, assessment for EACH!!!!

Read Tennessee!

Enjoy your weekend!

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]

Super Activity for Place Value

So I came across this GREAT place value activity on Babblin Abby's blog! As soon as I saw it I knew I had to do it with my class.

Here's What You Need:
Place Value Chart
Box of Fruit Loops
Big Marshmallows
Toothpicks
Recording Sheet (you will have to write "HTO" on the "marshmallows")

Click Here for Recording Sheet and Place Value Charts

First poke a toothpick in each marshmallow (each child needs 3). Then put fruit loops in a cupcake tray. (each child needs 1 tray) I placed everything each table would need on a tray from the lunch room. Each student will also need a place value chart and a recording sheet. I would shout out what number I wanted in each place value and the kids would loop the fruit loops on the toothpick on the marshmallow in the right place value. Then I would have the students record their numbers. My students LOOVED this activity and were engaged the whole time! Here are some pictures:

Life Cycle Activites Continued and Place Value Freebies!

We are still discovering different life cycles. We planted two different types of seeds in baggies on Monday. The students were VERY excited to look at their seeds today and saw that they are already starting to change! Here is a picture of the two different types of seeds in the bags. (This experiment is very low maintance)

We also created a "Healthy Plant Guide." I don't have the document on this computer, but I will try and put the link on tomorrow.

Place Value! We have started working on place value this week. I am using a lot of hands-on activites to help keep them engaged. I have created a sheet I am going to send home for homework tomorrow, since they have a 4 day weekend. (not fair!) I also created individual place value charts to put on their desks! And of course I had to create a place value sign for my room, but I have to admit it isn't as good as Mrs. Lemmon's signs are.

Click Here

I have one more day with the kiddos then PD and Teacher Work Day! I am very excited to have a work day and get some overdue items done!

Plant Life Cycle

We have started learning about plant life cycles this week! The kids are really exctied about learning about life cycles. Today we reviewed the life cycle of a plan by using our "plant chant."

After reviewing the different parts of a plant, we made the following plant project! It took a while, but the kids had to work on their following direction skills!

I hope everyone had a great Wednesday! (almost done with the week!!)

Fluency Freebie and Life Cyle Preview

Hey everyone! This week we are starting our "Pioneer Time." This is when we split the kids up in small groups for reading and math. My reading group needs to work on fluency and accuracy. I wanted to make a fun fluency game to play. Here is the game board that goes along with the game:

Click Here

Here is how you play: Have everyone start on the start sqaure. Each student takes a turn reading for a minute. If they read the correct WPM on the next square then they can move on. If not they stay on start and try again next time. The first person to reach the end wins. You can use the game with any reading passage. This will hopefully reinforce that the more times you re-read the better you get!

This week we will be starting our life cycle unit! The students are very exctied! I will take pictures and make posts as we complete some of our projects and experiments! Be on the lookout for them!