Weekly Note
March 2nd-13th
Hello Parents! I hope you are enjoying the break in weather and getting a little taste of spring! Winter has been here long enough! Last week, I did not send a smore because I sent our "Save the Dates" for the remainder of the year! If for some reason you did not receive it or deleted it, all the dates are posted on my website! I also wanted to hold off sending our Smore until today because we have very exciting news! Today, we welcomed a new friend! Please help me in welcoming our new student, Jugad! Jugad will be in our class for the remainder of the year! We have had a very busy past two weeks! Let's take a look at everything we accomplished!
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!
On Monday, March 2nd, Kindergarten classes joined together to make green eggs and ham for Dr. Seuss' birthday! Prior to making our afternoon snack, each class read "Green Eggs and Ham" and took a vote on whether or not they would try it and/or like it! After students tried the green eggs and ham, we went back and checked our votes to see if what we thought was actually true! We also read some other Dr. Seuss books including "The Cat in the Hat Comes Back" and "The Sneeches."
TRUSTWORTHINESS MONTH!
On Wednesday, March 4th, third grade friends taught us about ways to be trustworthy! They took a current children's book about telling the truth and made it their own. They recreated the book using an app on the I-pad and recorded their voice sharing what each page said. They taught us some really great tips about Trustworthiness and the importance of telling the truth! A new set of paw prints recently came home in your child's red folder! Whenever you spot your child being trustworthy at home, fill out the paw print, have them color it, and send it in!
Mystery Reader, Mrs. Garritt!
On Tuesday, March 3rd, Mrs. Garritt visited our classroom as a Mystery Reader! She stumped us on her clues.."I am a teacher in this school, my hair is always up on top of m head, and I have a son in Pre-K...Who am I?" We had lots of guesses, but nobody guessed her! Mrs. Garritt read us two great books, "The Runaway Beard" and "Peanut Butter and Pancake!" Afterwards, Mrs. Garritt treated us to rice krispie treats! We had so much fun reading and spending time with our first grade teacher!
Hoops for Heart
On Friday, March 6th, CBA students participated in an event called "Hoops for Heart!" "Hoops for Heart" is an amazing fundraiser benefiting the American Heart Association! The money raised will go to Mr. Wyatt, who will turn it in to The American Heart Association. From there, the American Heart Association uses the funds to support scientists and doctors who are trying to find cures for heart diseases and problems. Which, in turn will help adults and children lead a healthy, successful life! Students raise money and donate it to this fantastic cause and then as a school, play a full afternoon of basketball..students vs. teachers/parents! This year, the STUDENTS WON! We had so much fun running up and down the court and cheering each class on! We ended this great event exhausted and with a cool, popsicle treat! All donations will be accepted up until March 20th!
STEM
Over the past two weeks, we have started our STEM project! We had the pleasure of listening to Mr. and Mrs. Mehta (the parents of Devan from Mrs. Trout's class). Both are engineers and they talked a little about their jobs and showed us some really great tools they use!
The first step in our project required us to learn some new terminology that would help us understand more about windmills, how to measure wind, and how to use wind to help us! We then read the story "Leif Catches the Wind" and learned about how a young boy in Denmark helped his cousin solve a problem that she was having with her fish pond in her new backyard. Leif's cousin Dana said that all the fish in her pond were not moving very well because the water wasn't moving and they weren't getting any oxygen! Leif then taught us the five steps of the STEM process as he worked to solve Dana's problem. The first step is ASK-Leif needed to ask himself questions about how he was going to solve the problem. The second step is IMAGINE-Leif needed to brainstorm different ideas he could use and different tools he could make in order to get the water moving in the pond. He then chose one idea. The third step is PLAN-Leif made a picture of what he wanted to make and then made a list of materials he was going to need to make it. The fourth step is CREATE-Leif made a model of the windmill he wanted to make and decided that the materials he used would not withstand water. The fifth and final step is IMPROVE-Leif redesigned his windmill making it bigger and using stronger materials such as wood and screws.
The second lesson we completed required us to think like mechanical engineers as we investigated a hand egg beater, a hand can opener, a glue stick, and a mechanical pencil. Students had to identify what the tool was used for, how we put action into it and what the resulting motion was, and what its advantages and disadvantages were. We did a great job!
The first step in our project required us to learn some new terminology that would help us understand more about windmills, how to measure wind, and how to use wind to help us! We then read the story "Leif Catches the Wind" and learned about how a young boy in Denmark helped his cousin solve a problem that she was having with her fish pond in her new backyard. Leif's cousin Dana said that all the fish in her pond were not moving very well because the water wasn't moving and they weren't getting any oxygen! Leif then taught us the five steps of the STEM process as he worked to solve Dana's problem. The first step is ASK-Leif needed to ask himself questions about how he was going to solve the problem. The second step is IMAGINE-Leif needed to brainstorm different ideas he could use and different tools he could make in order to get the water moving in the pond. He then chose one idea. The third step is PLAN-Leif made a picture of what he wanted to make and then made a list of materials he was going to need to make it. The fourth step is CREATE-Leif made a model of the windmill he wanted to make and decided that the materials he used would not withstand water. The fifth and final step is IMPROVE-Leif redesigned his windmill making it bigger and using stronger materials such as wood and screws.
The second lesson we completed required us to think like mechanical engineers as we investigated a hand egg beater, a hand can opener, a glue stick, and a mechanical pencil. Students had to identify what the tool was used for, how we put action into it and what the resulting motion was, and what its advantages and disadvantages were. We did a great job!
STAR SAILOR ETHAN
Two weeks ago, our Star Sailor was Ethan! Ethan shared with us his All About Me Poster and we learned that he wants to be a police officer when he grows up and his favorite place is Sesame Place! We also read his favorite book, "Curious George and the Chocolate Factory!" Ethan's STAR SAILOR week was cut short with two delays and a snow day, so on Friday, we danced to his favorite song, "Roar", ate his favorite snack, kit kats, and we made him his STAR SAILOR book! We had a great time learning about you!
STAR SAILOR SAHAS
Sahas was our next Star Sailor and we learned a lot about him! Sahas shared his All About Me Poster and we learned that he wants to be a fireman when he grows up and his favorite place is Dorney Park! We also read his favorite book, "Dear Tooth Fairy!" We listened to his favorite song, "Four Hugs" and we enjoyed his favorite snack, cookies! Finally, we made him his STAR SAILOR book about what makes him a good friend! We had so much fun learning about you!
AAA Auto Safety Show
On Friday, March 13th, AAA visited our school with "Otto the Automobile" and taught us about car safety! We learned that we should never play near or in the road because its very dangerous when cars and trucks are driving by! We also learned that children should sit in the back seat because if the car ever got into an accident and the air bag deployed, it could really hurt! We learned that we should always wear our seat belt and one way to know that is is properly secured is if it makes a clicking sound when put into its holder. We had a lot of fun learning with Otto!
Mystery Reader, Mrs. Malicki, Kayla's mom!
On Friday, March 13th, we had a guest Mystery Reader, Mrs. Malicki, Kayla's mom! Today was an equally special day for Kayla because today we also celebrated her 6th birthday! Kayla's mom chose to read "Mr. Birthday" and "Frozen Birthday" in honor of Kayla's birthday! After Mrs. Malicki read, we celebrated her reading and Kayla's birthday with cupcakes and birthday singing! It was a great way to end our Friday!
Content Area Learning!
We have been extremely busy in Language Arts! We started our next Unit (4)! We learned a new BIG question, "Where will our adventures take us?" Our first chapter question was "What can we learn from our adventures?" We then read our concept book "What Do I See?" and we illustrated and wrote about objects we saw outside and in our classroom! We then learned our new amazing words and read "Rooster's Off to See the World!" Afterwards, we sequenced all of the animals he picked up on his journey, which ultimately, led back home! Our second chapter question was "What is a lucky adventure?" We then read our concept book "I am Lucky!" We then wrote and illustrated different items that symbolize luck! We then learned our new amazing words and read "My Lucky Day!" We wrote about things that make us lucky and we also wrote about a person that means more to us than gold! We have been working very hard in reading groups too applying our reading strategies! We have also been working very hard with Ms. Becca at her writing center each week!
We started our Word Study Curriculum! A normal week of word study is laid out like this: Monday-Pre-Test of Words, Tuesday-Word Search practice, Wednesday-Letter Box matching and writing as well as one tic tac toe activity during centers and one activity for homework, Thursday-one tic tac toe activity during centers and word sorting for morning work, and Friday-Test! Our first week focused on the "ap" family and our second week focused on the "it" family! We are doing very well with this!
In Math, we just finished our unit on Measurement! Students have been working very hard over the past two weeks measuring items using non standard forms such as snap cubes, paper clips, and dominoes. Students also learned about measuring by applying the concepts of length, height, and capacity! We just had our Chapter 8 test and did very well!
We started our Word Study Curriculum! A normal week of word study is laid out like this: Monday-Pre-Test of Words, Tuesday-Word Search practice, Wednesday-Letter Box matching and writing as well as one tic tac toe activity during centers and one activity for homework, Thursday-one tic tac toe activity during centers and word sorting for morning work, and Friday-Test! Our first week focused on the "ap" family and our second week focused on the "it" family! We are doing very well with this!
In Math, we just finished our unit on Measurement! Students have been working very hard over the past two weeks measuring items using non standard forms such as snap cubes, paper clips, and dominoes. Students also learned about measuring by applying the concepts of length, height, and capacity! We just had our Chapter 8 test and did very well!