Snapshots from Thursday's Showcase

Sean tells Ms. Peter about his Lego creation.

Helen shares her paper dolls with Lindy and Rebekah.

Eric shows Thomas how his Bat mobile works.

Brandon shares a semi truck carrying a bulldozer.

Rachel G. having fun with Polly Pocket.

Robin demonstrates how magnets work and explains how some materials can become magnetized by being rubbed against another magnet. Did you know that a magnet can be cut in half and become two new magnets?

Will's motorized marble run was a big hit!

Chase shows Mrs. Clifton how he builds his magnetic ferris wheel.

Clubs

Making pop-up books with Ms. Howle

Decoupage with Mrs. Clifton

Card Games with Ms. Parks

Making Thunder Cake with Mrs. Johnson

Proud Artists!

Friday is Library Day

Data and Probability

We kicked off our new math unit this week: Data and Probability. The younger students jumped write into data collection. Mrs. Johnson's group recorded the number of letters in the first name of each student in our class and analyzed the data they collected. Ms. Parks' group collected data and visible characteristics of the students in our class and compared and contrasted that. Ms. Howle's group conducted their very own surveys. The older students explored probability with questions like "How likely is it that we will have literacy tomorrow?" and "How likely is it that it will snow tomorrow?" At home, you can play sorting games with your kids or conduct surveys of family members and then analyze the data. Also, find graphs and data in newspapers and magazines and ask your child what they learned by reading them.

Rebuilding our Community

This week the younger students participated in some exciting team/community building activities. After the break, we wanted to re-establish this feeling in our classroom. It is important for young children to have experiences working with their peers to solve problems and play games. Inevitably, there will be conflicts within friends and groups, so it is important to discuss those problems and practice working through them. We read Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes and Yoko by Rosemary Wells and discuss the conflicts within those stories. Then, we played games that required the students to work within a team and cooperate. We also did some other activities that got the students working with partners and groups that they normally wouldn't choose to get to know other students and make new friends. Ask your child what they learned about during these activities!

Memoir

Our new literacy study is on memoir writing. Memoirs offer a focused glimpse into an important memory from a writer's life. Memoirs can often be therapeutic and soothing for a writer to share with others. The teachers have been reading memoirs from authors such as Patricia Polacco, Cynthia Rylant, Tomie dePaola, Patricia C. McKissack, Allen Say, and others. Many of the students have already found inspriation in these authors and written their own memoirs. The students are learning that ideas for memoirs can come out of vacations, school, new experiences, or just spending time with family and friends. Share your own special memories with your children at home and ask them what some of their favorite memories are!

Keyboarding

The older students started working on some typing activities this week during our keyboarding/computers time. We want the students to get as much practice as possible with keyboarding before they enter middle school. Several of the students expressed that they practice typing at home. Sometimes it is hard to practice keyboarding at home without buying an expensive typing program for your computer. Mavis Beacon and other programs are great, but if here are a few FREE online typing games/activities that your child can easily use at home.

www.typing-lessons.org

http://www.powertyping.com/

http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/

http://www.freetypinggame.net/play10.asp