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.)