Saturday, March 31, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Egg Day!
After our egg measuring activities with our buddies last Friday, children were allowed to decorate their eggs. A few eggs survived until the end of the day, but not many. Here is a nicely colored one:
This child used tape to secure his 'Yoshi' egg to a piece of paper for safekeeping.
A lot of children peeled and ate their eggs (especially if they had dropped it on the table and it had already cracked)
Okay, not onto today's egg-tivities:
A few days ago someone asked how the chicken sat on its eggs - wouldn't they break? So we talked about how God made eggs really strong. Today we found out just how strong they really are...
I love this science experiment! First we predicted how many books the egg could hold up (1 was the most common guess, 0 the lowest, 10 the highest). They were so excited as we added each book and it still held - sometimes it is exciting to be wrong :)
The result was 17 (hardcover) books, and then SMASH! Some children were making plans to try this at home. Don't worry - I cautioned them that they needed an adult's permission and assistance.
Of course we then had to go record our observations with words and diagrams.
The egg is strong. (Note the simple yet accurate diagram of the experiment)
It got crushed.
(See the yolk running out of the egg and the children on the carpet in the background?)
We also had some fun egg centers today. This one included matching numerals to dots and then putting them in order. This group blasted through the center and finished it all quickly by working together.
This is 'egg-dition': open an egg, count the erasers, open another egg, count the erasers, add how many altogether. Formal instruction on addition will begin in April, but we are practicing the concept already.
Here we are working on the concept of printmaking - making 'egg' shapes on a paper. Tomorrow they will color them.
Not pictured: egg name game (because I only took one picture of it and it looked terrible), and egg sharing (because I took anecdotal notes instead of pictures)
This child used tape to secure his 'Yoshi' egg to a piece of paper for safekeeping.
A lot of children peeled and ate their eggs (especially if they had dropped it on the table and it had already cracked)
Okay, not onto today's egg-tivities:A few days ago someone asked how the chicken sat on its eggs - wouldn't they break? So we talked about how God made eggs really strong. Today we found out just how strong they really are...
I love this science experiment! First we predicted how many books the egg could hold up (1 was the most common guess, 0 the lowest, 10 the highest). They were so excited as we added each book and it still held - sometimes it is exciting to be wrong :)
The result was 17 (hardcover) books, and then SMASH! Some children were making plans to try this at home. Don't worry - I cautioned them that they needed an adult's permission and assistance.
Of course we then had to go record our observations with words and diagrams.
The egg is strong. (Note the simple yet accurate diagram of the experiment)
It got crushed. (See the yolk running out of the egg and the children on the carpet in the background?)
The egg holded 17 books and it cracked.
I gave very little direction for writing the observations, other than "write what you learned" but the independent level has grown so much that almost everyone managed to write something about the experiment. I remember at the beginning of the year when we all wrote a (3 word) sentence together, letter by letter.We also had some fun egg centers today. This one included matching numerals to dots and then putting them in order. This group blasted through the center and finished it all quickly by working together.
This is 'egg-dition': open an egg, count the erasers, open another egg, count the erasers, add how many altogether. Formal instruction on addition will begin in April, but we are practicing the concept already.
Here we are working on the concept of printmaking - making 'egg' shapes on a paper. Tomorrow they will color them.
Not pictured: egg name game (because I only took one picture of it and it looked terrible), and egg sharing (because I took anecdotal notes instead of pictures)
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Seuss-tastical art!
In art today we invented creatures, just like Dr. Seuss did. We looked at some of his artwork for inspiration, and then everyone got to work. They really got into it and it was wonderful to see the creativity and imagination. Here are a few of the creatures, starting with one that has lots of legs:
This is the yankee zoodle:
The big one is a meip (meep) and the smaller one is a leip (leep)
This is the yankee zoodle:
The big one is a meip (meep) and the smaller one is a leip (leep)
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
More fun with boxes
Today the boxes were tunnels, and I enjoyed watching children figure out how to keep the tunnels from collapsing. Then the decorating started. Free choice centers are so wonderful!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Imagination!
We jumped back into measurement in math. After measuring in frogs how far we could jump, children moved around the room by themselves or with a friend, finding things to measure with hands.
One center this morning was painting x-rays (our letter this week is X). We didn't have real models to look at, we just used our imaginations of what bones might look like. There were lots of hands and legs painted, most human.
Also, with the Xx theme, we read Not a Box. I love this book! The pictures and text are so simple but it is a fun, imaginative story.
Then in our journals we started with a small 'box' and wrote: "It is not a box. It is...."
rocket!
It can be anything:
a carriage (she wrote NOT bigger because it was supposed to be louder)
car (some children opted to draw their starting box, rather than gluing one in)
Then came the most exciting part - playing with boxes! Over Spring Break someone asked me if I needed any boxes. Need? No. Want? YES! Of course most children wanted to sit in them, so it started as a few cars that got joined into a train. They learned that 2 people sitting in a box breaks it, so that one turned into the railroad track.
There was a break from boxes when someone announced they were having drawing club. They found the book of How to Draw Farm Animals and started to teach some friends how to draw some animals. It was really cute.
Back to the boxes: "it's a costume"
boats...
a house
a more complicated shelter that fell down, so they had to work together to figure out how to make it stay.
As soon as it was time to clean up I had children asking, "Can we play with the boxes tomorrow?"
Did you know that the cardboard was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2005?
One center this morning was painting x-rays (our letter this week is X). We didn't have real models to look at, we just used our imaginations of what bones might look like. There were lots of hands and legs painted, most human.
Also, with the Xx theme, we read Not a Box. I love this book! The pictures and text are so simple but it is a fun, imaginative story.
Then in our journals we started with a small 'box' and wrote: "It is not a box. It is...."rocket!
It can be anything:
a carriage (she wrote NOT bigger because it was supposed to be louder)
car (some children opted to draw their starting box, rather than gluing one in)
Then came the most exciting part - playing with boxes! Over Spring Break someone asked me if I needed any boxes. Need? No. Want? YES! Of course most children wanted to sit in them, so it started as a few cars that got joined into a train. They learned that 2 people sitting in a box breaks it, so that one turned into the railroad track.
There was a break from boxes when someone announced they were having drawing club. They found the book of How to Draw Farm Animals and started to teach some friends how to draw some animals. It was really cute.
Back to the boxes: "it's a costume"
boats...
a house
a more complicated shelter that fell down, so they had to work together to figure out how to make it stay.
As soon as it was time to clean up I had children asking, "Can we play with the boxes tomorrow?"Did you know that the cardboard was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2005?
Friday, March 16, 2012
Right Before Break
Using our new alphabet beads to write words
Here is our reading bulletin board all about places to read, things to read about, and a Seuss hat with all the Dr. Seuss books we have already read
And, a few minutes before break we did the tooty-ta. Doesn't it look fun?
Here is our reading bulletin board all about places to read, things to read about, and a Seuss hat with all the Dr. Seuss books we have already read
And, a few minutes before break we did the tooty-ta. Doesn't it look fun?
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
1 more post for tonight:
This week we started having a 'Featured Number" with the intended purpose of giving us additional practice with some of the bigger, trickier numbers. Of course we have used these numbers often during calendar time, but in math we don't really focus on them until the very end of the year, and I thought we needed a little more. We'll see how this goes. So far the class is enjoying it.
Wax Museum
Today we went on a field trip to the 5th Grade Wax Museum. When we asked a question and then pushed the button, the wax 'statues' came to life! Another teacher lent us a few of her 3rd graders to help us read some of the questions. 
Thomas Edison (he was in my first class!)
Alan Shepard
Laura Ingalls Wilder
We had a lot of fun. Ask your child if they remember anything about any of these people. Some people already know who they are going to dress up when they are in 5th Grade :)
Thomas Edison (he was in my first class!)
Alan Shepard
Laura Ingalls Wilder
We had a lot of fun. Ask your child if they remember anything about any of these people. Some people already know who they are going to dress up when they are in 5th Grade :)
Dr. Seuss fun continues!
I found this idea somewhere online last weekend - coloring Dr. Seuss pictures overlaid on a grid, so you are supposed to color each section in an AB pattern with 2 similar colors (I tried to stress the pattern part more than the similar colors). Despite it being rather challenging, most of the students enjoyed it. They could choose 1 of the 3 pictures, but a few children colored all 3. I had a lot of fun coloring :) and now have samples for next year, which will probably help make the explanation more clear.
In another Seuss-ical news, we did our yearly drawing of the cat in the hat. We had to look at the picture and then try to draw it the same. First I asked what shape the head was.
"CIRCLE!" most of the class enthusiastically answered. Sometimes it is hard to separate what we see from what we 'know'.
"No," I answered. "Look carefully."
This time there was a mix of "CIRCLE" and "OVAL"
I pointed out the shape of the face, how it had bumps. We talked about whether or not we could see feet or a tail (no) and then they all had to try to draw it. There were actually 2 posters: the 'easy' one that is just the head/hat/bow, and the 'challenge' one which includes the hands.
Nobody drew feet or a tail this year: yay! 3 children noticed that the hat was curved. Here a few close-ups. I love the variety! This project (the product more than the process) makes me laugh.
Look how many Dr. Seuss books we've read in March so far! Every time we read one as a class, we write down the title and add it to the hat. It's a little crooked so I was going to fix it, but then one of my students pointed out that the cat in the hat's hat was curved, so then everyone wanted it to stay crooked. We had a vote. I lost. Quite honestly, the crookedness bothers me, but I will survive.
P.S. Look! I had green eggs and ham for dinner at IHOP :)
In another Seuss-ical news, we did our yearly drawing of the cat in the hat. We had to look at the picture and then try to draw it the same. First I asked what shape the head was."CIRCLE!" most of the class enthusiastically answered. Sometimes it is hard to separate what we see from what we 'know'.
"No," I answered. "Look carefully."
This time there was a mix of "CIRCLE" and "OVAL"
I pointed out the shape of the face, how it had bumps. We talked about whether or not we could see feet or a tail (no) and then they all had to try to draw it. There were actually 2 posters: the 'easy' one that is just the head/hat/bow, and the 'challenge' one which includes the hands.
Nobody drew feet or a tail this year: yay! 3 children noticed that the hat was curved. Here a few close-ups. I love the variety! This project (the product more than the process) makes me laugh.
Look how many Dr. Seuss books we've read in March so far! Every time we read one as a class, we write down the title and add it to the hat. It's a little crooked so I was going to fix it, but then one of my students pointed out that the cat in the hat's hat was curved, so then everyone wanted it to stay crooked. We had a vote. I lost. Quite honestly, the crookedness bothers me, but I will survive.
P.S. Look! I had green eggs and ham for dinner at IHOP :)
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