Marble Run, Inside a Snowglobe, the Magic "E" and When We are 90 Years Old!

Here is definite proof that students can use their imagination and find 

satisfaction in activities that are hands-on and do not involve electronics!

These are KEVA blocks.

They are natural wood, light weight, flat blocks that the students

manipulated according to the instructions of our

presenter from Teacher's Pet, during Monday's

in-school field trip.

The students were learning how to manipulate the blocks and build

with them to create a 'marble run', which really was a ball

about the size of a ping pong ball.

They understood that there had to be elevation to get the ball

to roll, a track that the ball rolled on and a way to stop the ball once

it was at the end of the track.

They LOVED it and it was so interesting to see their thought process

and their problem solving skills.

If I was rich, I would buy a class set of these blocks because I

can imagine the excitement each time a new challenge was introduced.

In the end, the challenge was to create a track that was very high,

but the biggest challenge was the idea that for this activity,

the students had to work together as a team.

Not all the students have yet learned this concept

and to be truthful, there were tears because one

person thought they were not getting a fair deal in the

group.  School is about learning in many forms,

and knowing how to deal with issues of fairness, and 

emotions is still difficult for these little ones.

What's important, though, is not to step in too soon.

The way the kiddos learn is sometimes to be

frustrated and recognize that others might be feeling

that way too.

What a delightful afternoon and THANK YOU sincerely

to the dad, grandma, and moms who came to help!

Hope you had fun too!

Jane O'Connor wrote a delightful book about a family who lives inside

of a snow globe, in the house of another family just like them.

We worked with this story to see the similarities and differences between 

the two families and their stories.

Gosh, I spend a lot of time getting photos developed

but the students really enjoy seeing themselves in the activities

that we do.  For this activity, the students all were stuck in a 

snow globe, building a snowman.  All of their writing started with the

same sentence but they then were required to print two additional

sentences on their own.

Those two sentences were very telling on how their independent 

writing is developing.  Some are still struggling with recognizing 

that the words you want to say have to match the words you print 

on the paper.

It's a long process!

The students have also been working on adding long vowel sounds

to their bag of tricks for reading words.  Over the course of a few

weeks, they have learned that to make a long vowel sound ,

something almost always has to help that vowel say it's name.

In this case, it was the Magic 'e' (also known as the silent 'e', the 

sneaky 'e' and super 'e').  It appears at the end of a word,

jumps over one consonant, and hits the vowel on the head

so that it says it's name.

It's been a case of practice, practice, practice but

I think there is a light starting to shine!

This says /r/ /i/ /d/. (rid)

This says /r/ /I/ /d/ (ride)

Can't hear the 'e' can you?

Friday was the 90th day of school and 

Zero the Hero asked the students to show him what 

they thought they would look like when they were 90

years old.  Not many of the boys wanted to be bald!

Heads up!  It's Teacher's Convention on Thursday and Friday this week.

Enjoy your time with your family and I will be battling the parking situation

in downtown!

The way we embrace technology and other ways to learn

Ginger loved watching the students as they worked

within the classroom using various types of technology.

They were intrigued by OSMO, which is an interactive

device that can be set up with my iPAD.  The little red

part at the top 'knows' what the students put in front of it.

Here the student is making an amount that equals the amount on

the bubble on the screen so that the bubble pops and gives points

to the player.

Some of my iPADs have stories downloaded onto them, so that 

students can 'listen to reading'.

The SMARTBoard in the classroom is interactive, which means

that the students can answer questions and the board can

give them a positive sound when they are correct.  Very positive

reinforcement!

Not everything great is high tech!  Good fun is being had with

cookie sheets and magnetic alphabet letters as these kiddos

spell words.

Stretching words is still a new skill and here a little car

is the motivator.  The students 'drive' along the letters, saying the

sounds (see the digraph /sh/ we have recently learned?) and then...

they lift up the flap to see if their decoding skills helped them read 

the word correctly.

This activity is called 'Read Around the Room'.

There are are cards set up around the class, and the

students, armed with a pencil and clipboard, walk around,

find the card and then write....sometimes words, sometimes numbers...

it's just a way to get students up and moving.

They are still learning but it seems a whole lot more fun than

staying in a chair.  In this activity, they were looking for

important parts of the 'Gingerbread Man' story.

I think Ginger is very excited about making gingerbread houses

tomorrow with our Grade 3 buddies!

Turkeys all around

In this week's Take Home folder, is the collaborative books that

the students made for each child who presented their poster and

ME bag since September.  I so enjoyed being able to chose a

drawing that matched the actual child.  Thanks to Lori Kaus for

sharing her original idea with me.

In mathematics, our focus is on patterns.  They happen all around us!

Here are some words from our curriculum:

Students must learn to recognize, extend, create and use mathematical patterns. Patterns allow students to make predictions and justify their reasoning when solving routine and nonroutine problems.
Learning to work with patterns in the early grades helps students develop algebraic thinking, which is foundational for working with more abstract mathematics in higher grades.

Specifically in Grade One, the students are to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of repeating patterns (two to four elements) by:• describing
   • reproducing• extending• creating
   patterns using manipulatives, diagrams, sounds and actions

I've included a variety of examples.

The criteria was to chose a pattern, create it and then extend it so that

it repeats three times, and label it.

In the scarecrow's garden, there was to be three different patterns.

The criteria gives the students the 'what to do.'

It also sets the manner in which the work is assessed.

When the work of the student is looked at,

 you begin to get an understanding to whether or

not the student understand the different aspects of

patterning.

This assists the teacher in knowing whether more practise 

is needed, and what should be the next steps in teaching.

This was Read In Week, and the students had a number 

of visitors come and visit and read to them.  

From the local library, they heard that they can

get their own library card.  How exciting!

This is Mrs. Szott, one of our district trustees, who

shared her love of reading with my class.

Aren't these little Thankful Turkey books the cutest?

Ashlyn Ellsworth was so kind to share her idea with me.

The students were working on recognizing what they

were thankful for within different aspects of their life.

Here is another pattern that the students worked on,

this time learning a little bit of geometry as well.

They were given squares of paper and found out that

two triangles are hidden inside of the square!

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving at our school, without the Turkey Tango.

Our special, gifted music teacher gathered all the turkeys she could find...

and they gobbled into the main gathering area to sing

and dance!

It's just a few seconds long but enjoy the ending of the dance...cha! cha! cha!