Today in math, the students were introduced to a new computer game (in addition to Dicewars) that I came across in my class the other night. It is called railroad repair, and it is a pretty challenging game. The basis is not only in logic, but decimals (parts of a whole) as well. You can get to the link here. We hope you enjoy it!
Today in reading workshop, we started looking at how authors communicate what characters are saying in stories. We started by reading the book Somebody and the Three Blairs, taking time to stop and look at all of the conversation that was going on. We selected three sentences from the story, so that we could study dialogue, tone, and pace (along with the usage and placement of quotation marks). Here are the sentences we looked at:
The class has been working so hard on their famous person projects. To walk in here during content time you would see integration of technology, teamwork, collaboration, and a true excitement for learning. They are having a great time working on these (I think the use of all different forms of media). I am so proud of them, and they are incredibly proud of their work. They are counting down the days until our open house! I want to send a special thank you to those classroom moms who have come in and helped during their volunteer time. The time you have spent working with the kids and their research projects is priceless to all of us. You are fantastic!
Today, our visiting artist-in-residence, wowed us with an extremely fun assembly! Baba Jubal shared some wonderful beats, songs, and stories that are rooted in his African heritage. We had such a great time, be sure to check out some of our memories (I will be posting a video later today)!
I was sitting on the couch this evening, watching TV, and looking around for some new math websites to use in our classroom. I came across this site called Math Playground, which I think the kids are going to love. It gives them problems in the set-up that they are familiar to (part- part- whole, now how do they work together). I am very excited to introduce this website! You can click the icon, and it should take you directly to the site. If they like them, have your child comment on this telling their favorite part. It will really get children wanting to try new things!
We are so excited! The incredibly talented author/illustrator, Loren Long, is coming to our school tomorrow! He is the author of one of our classroom favorites, Otis, as well as the illustrator for our project book, Of The I Sing. You can read some of his bio here. 
Our Valentine's Day party is on Friday from 2:15-3:30. What fun! We will be passing out our valentines on Friday morning, so that our party can be focused more on coming together as a class and having a great time. So, please make sure that your child has their valentines here to school by Friday morning (you are welcome to send them in earlier). You are welcome to have your child write student's names, or just have them sign them- it is completely up to you. Here is a list of the students in the class:
We have been talking about the wonderful world of homophones! Homophones are words that sound alike, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. We read two books together, How Much Can a Bare Bear Bear and Dear Deer. These two books were incredible! Then, we came together and generated a list of all the homophone pairs we could think of. Here are some of the examples:
I was sitting in our classroom during reading the other day, and I had an epiphany. "We need to reflect on our reading more!" So, we have revamped our reading workshop (for as I tell the kids, if it doesn't work for you, fix it). Now, after about 15 minutes of quiet reading, the students are given the remainder of the time as "workshop"time to do independent projects that reflect their reading goals. Here are some of the things they are working on:
Blog about a great read, or recommendations 
At the start of next week, we are going to begin our famous person project. The children will be researching the life and accomplishments of someone who has contributed to American (or world) history in some way. They will demonstrate their knowledge through a series of self-selected projects at the completion of the research, and will share this knowledge with the class and all of you! We are so excited! There will be a list of possibilities posted here on the blog, so please discuss some of these options with your child. There will be only one kiddo researching each famous person, so be sure to discuss a few. Be sure to have your top 3 possibilities, and send it back in to school by Monday (you can have your child write it down, email it to me, comment on this post, or just have them tell me). Let the learning begin!
Gung hay fat choy (which means "I hope you are lucky and successful")! Today is the start of Chinese New Year! It lasts for 15 days, and is a huge reason to celebrate! This year is the year of the Rabbit, and the kids found this fascinating! If they were born in 2003, they were born in the year of the Ram. If their birthday was in 2002, it was the year of the horse. The had a great time using the chart to figure out the birthdays of all of the people they knew!