Snow, Snow, Snow!

Wow! What a weekend! I think that most of us were certain that there would at least be a delay today! Yesterday it snowed and snowed and snowed! I would like you to post and answer the following questions:

1. How much do you think that it snowed at your house?
2. What was the temperature at your house? (you can make a guess)
3. Tell me one thing that you did in the snow this weekend.

Science Workshops

This week we started Science Workshops in the afternoons. Students met in their "forum groups" (mixed 1st through 4th grade groups) to study Newton's Laws of Gravity. Each of the workshops focuses on a particular law. Students used science process skills (Observation, Communication, Classification, Measurement, Inference, and Prediction) and participated in experiments and activities to learn about the laws of gravity. On student posts this week kids were asked to respond to the following:

• Which workshop did you attend?
• Describe one activity that your group did.
• Tell which of the process skills you used in your activity.

On Thursday students went with their 3/4 "techie" buddies to the computer lab to post to their respective blogs. Look for the link to Mr. Willis' blog to see what his class has been doing.

Reader's Theater: Kanchil Outsmarts the Crocodile

On Tuesday morning, six students presented their Reader's Theater production of "Kanchil Outsmarts the Crocodile." Reader's Theater stories provide students with a way to work on fluency and expression. In Reader's Theater students perform a play by reading their lines, rather than by memorizing their part. By reading and rereading their lines students become more fluent and are able to work on intonation and expressive reading. The six kids performed for Mr. Popoli and Mrs. Thyng's students during our snack and story time. The audience completely enjoyed the presentation! Great job everyone!

Science Workshops

Starting next week, on December 9th, Pinnacle will be starting a science unit on Position and Motion of Objects. The six teachers will be working in partnerships to teach Newton's Laws. I will be working with Mr. Kellogg on the 3rd law on equal and opposite forces--an object that is pushed or pulled will exert an equal amount of force in the opposite direction. Students will be in mixed 1st-4th grade groupings, and will spend two weeks (four sessions) on each law. Stay tuned...

Giving Thanks

On Friday we had an amazing time with the students and families from Lighthouse and Pinnacle. We met in our groups that had made placemats on Monday, and together we "broke bread" and shared the different things in our life that we are thankful for. After thirty minutes in our classroom we headed down to the cafeteria for our Thanksgiving lunch. It was so wonderful to walk into the cafeteria and see tablecloths on all of the tables! We sat in the same groups that we had been in for making placemats and breaking bread. The cafeteria was abuzz with families and friends sharing a great meal together. Middle school students helped throughout the process. What a wonderful time!

The smell of bread baking...

Is there anything as wonderful as the smell of bread baking? (...maybe the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking...) We have been baking bread in our classrooms to prepare for the "breaking of bread" with our friends in Lighthouse on Friday. Students have been working in mixed team/mixed grade groups to making placemats to show what they are thankful for this holiday season. I am thankful for this wonderful group of families, professionals, and children that I work with that helped bring us altogether to celebrate the season.

Connecting Reading and Writing

As part of our kick-off to our new Writer's Workshop Unit "Small Moments," we did a great project during Reader's Workshop on Wednesday morning. In pairs, students read a book and together discussed where the small moment was in the story. Students then wrote or drew their interpretation of the small moment. After kids were finished we met on the rug and made a list of all of the different small moments that they had read about. The list included a thunderstorm, a summer day, waking up, playing on a playground, going on an errand at the store, getting a puppy, and going camping. I asked students to look at the list and tell me what they noticed. It didn't take long for kids to realize that all of the things on the list were events that happened to people. This provided me with a great way to explain what personal narrative, or small moment writing is. Notice the books on Shelfari to see which books we read!

Welcome!

Welcome to our class blog! As part of our Professional Development Plan this year, teachers are learning how to use technology to communicate with families. Through this blog the students and I will be able to share information with you regarding our schedule, units of study, and upcoming events. We are looking forward to using this new technological tool!