Happy Spring. It is hard to believe spring break is around the corner . Strawberry Festival will be here before we know it! Please make sure to sign-up to work for the festival. It is very fun. You will also get to know people in our community.
As most of you know I was gone at the beginning of the week. I went to see my sick Dad in Florida along with my five brothers and my sister. The last time we were altogether was over five years ago. The weather was nice and it was wonderful to see my family, but I am very happy to be back on Virginia soil.
Lynn reported the kids were wonderful. They had lots of fun learning about and reading Dr. Seuss books. Lynn read Green Eggs and Ham with the class on Monday . They graphed food they liked and disliked. They also made green eggs and ham. It was a big hit! Lynn also reviewed some high frequency words with the kids (am, and, in, like, the). They had to match the words up and then write sentences with the words. On Monday afternoon the kids had computers.
Tuesday was a very busy day. The children worked on addition problems. Using buttons with an addition mat, with a set of number cards 1-9 they solved the problems.. Next week the children will record their number sentences. After spring break we will start to work on subtraction problems. The children also continued working with Dr Seuss. They read The Cat in the Hat. They played a rhyming game and completed a rhyming activity. In music Kim introduced the classic “Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei Prokofiev. The children listened to the music, discussed the characters and the instruments that were in the story. Thanks Julie for letting the kids do their play over.
Wednesday in math the children worked on estimating. With pom-poms the children had to estimate how many pom-poms would fit inside a picture of a lion or lamb. After they made an educated guess they would check their guess to see how close they estimated. This is a very difficult skill.
With the arrival of spring the kids surprised me with a beautiful masterpiece painted on my front window. They made all kinds of bugs and flowers with fun foam and hung them on the window. I love it!!
Thursday and Friday will be crazy as always. Thursday, as you know, is a day filled with specials. Cherry is making very cool strawberry puppet heads with the kids. I can't wait to see them.
Friday we will be working on our rock unit! Thank you Yutika for coming up with this great idea. We are going to weigh and measure them as well as decorate and name our pet rocks this week. Next week we will write a story about them.
Please remember Wednesday the 31st is not a pizza or lunch a month day. Please make sure you pack a lunch for your child.
Spring break is Friday-!Friday April 2-9th. Enjoy your week!
The Laughing Frogs
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
March 19 2010
Drama Play
Tuesday:
Time: 10:45
Place:
Drama Room
We are doing this performance again... for parents who missed it the first time around. Please use your imagination because we will not be in full costume.
- Beth
Tuesday:
Time: 10:45
Place:
Drama Room
We are doing this performance again... for parents who missed it the first time around. Please use your imagination because we will not be in full costume.
- Beth
Friday, March 5, 2010
March 5 2010
They say March weather comes in like a lion and out like a lamb. Let's hope that the lion doesn't ROAR too loudly, because we all have had enough of this weather. I am hoping the weather forecast for this week is mostly sunshine.
Each day in math we graphed the weather. Daily, we decide if it is a lion day or a lamb day. With a little luck, we will have mostly lamb days! Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather. We try to go out even if the weather is cold, (lion day), just for a little fresh air. Most mornings before school we are outside, so please dress your child for the cold mornings.
Thank you for rescheduling your conferences. I enjoyed sitting down with all of you. Conferences give your children time to shine and show off their great work.
Because we have had such crazy weather this year, it is taking us longer to get through our literacy study of Tommy dePaola. We have been working with Tulie's class on this literacy unit. It has been so much fun! Working with another class gives my class an opportunity to play the role of older buddies. Tommy dePaola is an author and an illustrator of many books for children, including Strega Nona (Caldecott Honor Book), The Art Lesson ( my personal favorite), Tony's Bread, Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, and The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. He has written over 150 books.
We have been doing many fun activities with his books. To name a few: we have painted Indian rocks with Plains Indian symbols, dyed scarves with natural fruit and vegetable dye, and tasted and graphed vegetables based on our preferences. Carrots were the vegetable of choice, beets were second, spinach third, with onions placing far behind. The kids interpreted the graphs and came up with many interesting conclusions.
Last week we started reading Tommy dePaola's Strega Nona Tales. This is a series of books that tell the story of Strega Nona (the town witch). The stories are wonderful. Strega Nona has a magic pasta pot that makes lots wonderful pasta. The pot also has a magical secret! We created our own “Magic Pot” books filled with magical sight words. We also have made the most beautiful pasta structures which we plan to spray with gold or silver paint. With pasta, we predicted how many pieces of pasta you would need to fill a measuring cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, and ¼ cup. After each prediction, we counted out the pasta pieces to check our predictions. It is really amazing how much pasta it takes to fill up a one cup measuring cup (150 pieces). We are getting very good at counting to 100.
In science we have experimented with different colors of food coloring, made “magic potions,” and created magical colored pasta. Next we we will string beautiful pattern necklaces with the colored pasta. We have had so much fun working with Tulie's class. The Laughing Frogs have been the best big buddies!
Dates to remember:
1. Monday is a teacher work day. The children have no school.
2. Next Wed., March 10, we will be going to see The Boxcar Children play at the Roanoke Children's Theater. We do not need any drivers.
3. Please remember to sign up for the Strawberry Festival. Check your Quick Notes.
4. On Wed., March 17, our class will be preforming a play in their drama class. The time is 10:45, and the play will last about 5 minutes. All parents are welcome. (Please don't feel bad if you can't come; Julie has made this very low key. Students will be preforming for their buddies and other classes.)
Each day in math we graphed the weather. Daily, we decide if it is a lion day or a lamb day. With a little luck, we will have mostly lamb days! Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather. We try to go out even if the weather is cold, (lion day), just for a little fresh air. Most mornings before school we are outside, so please dress your child for the cold mornings.
Thank you for rescheduling your conferences. I enjoyed sitting down with all of you. Conferences give your children time to shine and show off their great work.
Because we have had such crazy weather this year, it is taking us longer to get through our literacy study of Tommy dePaola. We have been working with Tulie's class on this literacy unit. It has been so much fun! Working with another class gives my class an opportunity to play the role of older buddies. Tommy dePaola is an author and an illustrator of many books for children, including Strega Nona (Caldecott Honor Book), The Art Lesson ( my personal favorite), Tony's Bread, Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, and The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. He has written over 150 books.
We have been doing many fun activities with his books. To name a few: we have painted Indian rocks with Plains Indian symbols, dyed scarves with natural fruit and vegetable dye, and tasted and graphed vegetables based on our preferences. Carrots were the vegetable of choice, beets were second, spinach third, with onions placing far behind. The kids interpreted the graphs and came up with many interesting conclusions.
Last week we started reading Tommy dePaola's Strega Nona Tales. This is a series of books that tell the story of Strega Nona (the town witch). The stories are wonderful. Strega Nona has a magic pasta pot that makes lots wonderful pasta. The pot also has a magical secret! We created our own “Magic Pot” books filled with magical sight words. We also have made the most beautiful pasta structures which we plan to spray with gold or silver paint. With pasta, we predicted how many pieces of pasta you would need to fill a measuring cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, and ¼ cup. After each prediction, we counted out the pasta pieces to check our predictions. It is really amazing how much pasta it takes to fill up a one cup measuring cup (150 pieces). We are getting very good at counting to 100.
In science we have experimented with different colors of food coloring, made “magic potions,” and created magical colored pasta. Next we we will string beautiful pattern necklaces with the colored pasta. We have had so much fun working with Tulie's class. The Laughing Frogs have been the best big buddies!
Dates to remember:
1. Monday is a teacher work day. The children have no school.
2. Next Wed., March 10, we will be going to see The Boxcar Children play at the Roanoke Children's Theater. We do not need any drivers.
3. Please remember to sign up for the Strawberry Festival. Check your Quick Notes.
4. On Wed., March 17, our class will be preforming a play in their drama class. The time is 10:45, and the play will last about 5 minutes. All parents are welcome. (Please don't feel bad if you can't come; Julie has made this very low key. Students will be preforming for their buddies and other classes.)
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