Snow Dance

Today we read Snow Dance by Lezlie Evans for our Rounding up the Rhymes book. Each student is going home tonight and doing a snow dance for a snow day. Well, all but one who said she loved school so much she did not want a snow day. (Melt my heart!)

Here is another photo that shows why I love this career. During Reading Workshop, students are to be working independently in their book boxes. I heard some "louder than usual" reading. I turned and saw this...

This is what it is all about!

Speaking Reading Workshop, this week we worked on retelling a familiar book. Students volunteered to model how good readers retell.

We finally finished up our short vowel work this week. We completed several activities, such as picture sorts and making words. Third quarter means long vowels!

In Math we worked on surveys and representations. Students learned how equations show the results of the survey.

Our little scientists continued their study of matter this week with a focus on snow. We had SO much fun making these Borax Crystals. Students created snowflakes out of pipe cleaner. Then we soaked the snowflakes in a mixture of hot water and borax. Students made predictions about what would happen. Some students said nothing, others said it would turn brown. Ask your student about the results. I will post photos soon...because of course I forgot to take some today :).
Here is a photo of the snowflakes soaking in the mixture.

We also watched a video on Snowflake Bentley and made adorable snowmen.

It was a fun week. We will complete a short study on Martin Luther King Jr. and then move onto Polar Animals.

Forever Books

We have been talking about our reading lives in Reading Workshop. I introduced the students to my forever book, Just Grandma and Me, at the beginning of the year. It is my forever book because it reminds me of all the special times I shared with my grandma on vacation when I was a little girl.

Today, Mrs. Cooper shared her forever book with the class. Umbrella is her forever book because her mom read it to her when she was a little girl and now she reads it to her girls. They LOVE to play in the rain, so the book has extra special meaning to her.

The students are sharing their Forever Books with each other. Some chose a book because it was read to them by mom. Others choose a book because they had a special connection to the story. Some students just LOVE their book and said they have read it over and over and over again.

What is your forever book?

What have we been up to?

There's a lot happening in Room 105.  Inferring, poetry, patterns, and SPRING!  I am SO ready for spring!  We have two weeks until Spring Break, but I know that it will fly by.  There's a lot packed into those two weeks.  We have a field trip, report cards, an Author Visit, and our biggest event of the year...our Poetry Coffeehouse!  I cannot wait!

So we began our study of poetry a few weeks ago.  The students are natural poets.  We began by going outside with an "idea notebook" to just observe.  Each student found a spot on the playground, found something of interest, and began to write observations about their topic.  Some of those observations became instant poems.  Here are the poets in action. 

We have read countless collections of poetry, studied different types of poetry, and next week we begin to put it all together.  Their poems are quite amazing! Stay tuned for more info on the Coffeehouse.

In Reading Workshop, we have begun a unit on Inferring.  We started out with a "Mystery Item."  I used Abby's Mystery Box poem to introduce the students to inferring.

I gave the students clues. We could change our inference with each clue.  It was a fun way to introduce the unit.  Since then, we have been working on using pictures, text, and our schema to help us understand the meaning of unknown words and develop a better understanding of the text.  Michelle's Reading Workshop Response Sheets are great tools for each Reading Workshop unit.  We have been using her inferring sheets all week.

I am hoping that Spring returns this week. I am ready to pack away my winter coat! We started our two week unit on Spring. I found a great new book, Mud, to introduce students to spring changes.

Students also learned about turtles too and how they adjust with the seasons.  We had a special presentation.  One of my teammate's husband brought in turtles and talked with the students about their habitat, diet, and other facts.  Of course that was day I left my camera at home! We made a fun little turtle and completed a tree map.  These are displayed on our bulletin board.

I will leave you with warm thoughts.  Here are some of my girls enjoying the one day it was warm two weeks ago.  They are ready for the warmer weather.

Thank you to all my students' families and blog friends who have voted for me in the We are Teachers
mini-grant.  I truly appreciate it!  If you haven't voted yet, you can find the link in the previous post.

Enjoy the weekend!