Learning to Regoup

Today, we had one of those collaborative "ah-ha" moments that truly define our classroom activities. I love moments like these. We were working on regrouping, focusing on adding a two-digit number to a one-digit number to see if we need to regroup and what that looks like. We brought out the workmats and double sided counters, and worked our way through the problems. There were so many times today that I heard "Oh! I get it!", or "so that's what she meant". It truly makes me smile to come to work with such wonderful, bright, talented students every day. They are amazing, and I can't wait to dive deeper into regrouping!!

Thanksgiving and Other Trimmings

Hello! I would like to start off by saying how surprised I am that Thanksgiving is here already! I am enjoying every day with this wonderful group of students; they truly make my day! Just to keep you up to date on a few things:

-I finished up all of the information on ProgressBook today for report cards. They will be coming home next week. PLEASE remember to keep checking with your log in id. If you need any help logging in, don't hesitate to contact me.

-Last week, we did some Reader's Theater performances based on Thanksgiving. I used the flip camera to record them, and I have emailed them out to everyone I had an address for. If something happened and you did not get the mp4, please email me and I will resend it to you. I am also working on getting you a copy of your child's book commercials. They did a fantastic job!

-I will not be here tomorrow, so I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Thanksgiving Haiku's

Today we got out the laptops and published our haiku's about Thanksgiving. We reviewed how haiku poetry follows the syllable pattern of 5-7-5 (which they have all become comfortable with). Here are a few samples of their poetry.

I like Thanksgiving.

I like to jump in the leaves.

I go to my aunt's.

I like Thanksgiving.

We eat some corn and carrots.

We have a big feast.

I love Thanksgiving.

We gather around to eat.

I really love it.

What amazing poets we are!!!

Veteran's Day

Happy Veteran's Day! We read a fantastic book called The Wall by Eve Bunting. This book tells a story of a little boy going to visit the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. with his father. It lead to some great conversation about sacrifice, duty, honor, and what it truly means to be in the military.

Seeing that we have been talking about government, we also focused on the word Democracy. We talked about how that word has incredible power and grants us rights and responsibilities as American citizens. Some things we discussed were:

-We have the right to vote for our leaders.

-We have the responsibility to stay informed of voting and other issues.

-We have the right to express our opinions and beliefs freely (including the freedom of religion).

-We have the responsibility to respect the opinions of others.

How powerful that one word is!! Your children gained a definite understanding about what a fantastic country they live in, and a true appreciation (at least I hope) for the freedoms that are granted to them.

Our Great Big, Juicy Words!

"I know some Big Words.

I'll teach them to you.

Although you are small,

you can use Big Words too.

Big Words aren't scary.
They're big fun to learn.
I was taught once
and now it's your turn."

During our adventure through words this year, we are talking about those wonderfully wonderful words that make our writing "yummy". We have read this book earlier in the year, but we decided to revisit it as a basis for our discussion of juicy words for our writing. We worked through some of the following words:

-perseverance

-inappropriate/appropriate

-patience

-cooperation

While these words reflect more action than anything else, they were a great start for where we are going to go during our adventure. Have a great weekend!

America Is...

Today we read the book America Is by Louise Borden. The students seemed fascinated as we worked our way through some of the many things that make our country great. They were then given sentence strips and asked to write one thing that America meant to them. Here are some of the responses they came up with...

America is...

-love and peace.

-freedom.

-free and peace.

-a united community.

-the place we call home.

-love.

-my home and my freedom.

How inspiring!