Super Second Week!

Wow, this week has gone by so fast! It is amazing how quickly we are coming together as a classroom community after only knowing each other for nine short days! What have we been up to? Well how about some of the highlights from this week...

~Library! We had a great time checking out books in the library. I loved seeing their faces light up when they learned they could check out two books! As we check out new books each week, I am encouraging diversity in book selection with genre and selecting books that they can read as well as books that can be read aloud to them. Our standing library time will be Mondays at 2:00. However, when holidays arise (like this coming Monday) we will have to select another day. I will let them know as soon as possible the alternate library day.

~We explored different genres in reader's workshop! Students were presented with various genres to explore. As they read, I got a chance to conference with some about what they selected and why. Here are a few of the things they said...
Madison C. was "reading facts about dogs from a magazine."
Mckenna was "reading a book about weather that is true".
Madison M. was "reading a magazine about food. It can help you learn to cook."
Conner was reading "a big dictionary, something that helps you learn things." He was reading the page about bugs.
Ethan U. was reading about Pocahontas. Real information about her life!
Jacob C. was reading "The Magic School Bus about the water. It is a made up book with real information."
Ethan I. was "reading a book of silly poems called Giant Children."

~Science Experiments! We enjoyed rotating through station activities that gave us a hands-on opportunity to explore science tools such as; pipettes, balance scales, goggles, and hand lens. They also enjoyed playing a guessing game where we tried to give clues to get one person to guess the science tool being projected on the screen behind them.

~"The Napping House" was a fabulous read aloud book that gave us an opportunity to connect Social Studies to literature as we used our schema of our house and related to the story. Students made connections with the rain, animals sleeping in the house, and especially the rainbow at the end of the book (so many saw the beautiful double rainbow Wednesday night!)

~Greater than, less than, and equal too! I feel like I have to keep telling them that they are actually learning during the math block beacuse they are enjoying the games and activities for ordering and comparing numbers so much!

That is just a small taste of the great week we have had! Check out the short slideshow below to see the students in action! I hope everyone has a fabulous Friday and a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

This free picture slideshow made with Smilebox