Thursday, February 18, 2010


We had another great day in Room 240 - it really seemed to fly by. We spent the morning on a field trip to Underwater Adventures at the Mall of America. We had a GREAT time - we first spent some time in a class with one of the staffers. she taught us about Invertebrates - animals that have no bones. Be sure to ask your child all about it. They got to touch some cool artifacts, such as a turtle shell, sponges, shells, and shark's jaws.


After the class, we got to tour through the "tunnel", in which we walked through a glass tube, basically, and had all kind of cool animals swimming all around us. We saw various sharks, rays, fish, and invertebrates. We also got to see seahorses and other smaller animals.


After the main part of the exhibit, the kids got to 'pet' sea stars, rays, and crabs (if they wanted to).















We also took a class picture:
















When we got back to school, we quickly ate lunch, and then headed on down to the gym for class with Mr. Hill and Mr. Peterson. When we got back up from gym, we read a couple of books (gotta read those minutes during the Read-a-thon!!), and then worked on a writing project about our trip - we worked on sequencing, by making a pseudo-comic strip about the trip. The kids were encouraged to think about what happened first, second, third, etc., and then make sure that their writing reflected that sequence. By the time we fginihsed that, it was time to pack up and head home!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Q: What do you get when you cross an elephant and a fish?
A: Swimming trunks.

Yet another great day in Room 240 – here’s how it all went down:

After Independent Literacy Time and Morning Meeting, we had Reader’s Workshop. The kids had a chance to do independent reading and buddy reading, while several reading groups met with me. We also had a guest reader for the Read-a-thon – Ray’s grandmother came in to read to us.

After that, we went straight into Writer’s Workshop – today we worked on making sure that all of the words that belong in the stories that the kids are working on are in there (that they have not skipped or left out any words). We also worked on sorting their spelling words during Writer’s Workshop.

After writing, we headed down to the lunchroom and then out for recess. When we got back in, we had time to read another chapter or two from the Geronimo Stilton book that we have been reading. When we got done with reading, we went down the hall to the Media Center for class with Mrs. Hennen.

After Media we came back to home sweet home Room 240 and had Math Workshop. We played a game with dice that was similar to the game from yesterday, except that today we played it with addition and subtraction – getting trickier!!

After math we had a bit of an extended Science Lab – we first measured the water animals (they have grown quite a bit since we last measured them, on Friday) and put the data that we collected on the chart. Then we learned about the areas of the ocean – the underwater topography. The kids each made a cross-section map, that looks a little like this, but much simplified. They cut and pasted labels for continents, continental shelf, continental slope, ridge, trench, and island. They turned out pretty cool – they will be coming home in the next week of so.

After all of that, it was time to pack up and head home!!

Monday, February 8, 2010

Q: What’s more dangerous than pulling a shark’s tooth?
A: Giving a porcupine a back rub!

Another really nice day in Room 240 – here’s the low-down:

To begin the day, the kids had Independent Literacy Time, like usual. Then, at 9:00, we had an assembly for National African-American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID). The entire school gathered in the gym to see a performance and teaching by a group called Visions of Culture. They shared music and dance (and information) from and about the country of Guinea (in West Africa). They were very good – the kids loved the drumming and the dancing especially well, I think.

After that, we came back up to the room for Reader’s Workshop. Today the kids had a chance to trade in their “just-right” books in their bookbags, and many of them met with me in Reading Group while the others had independent reading and buddy reading time. After that, it was already time to head down to lunch and recess!

After lunch and recess, we headed back up to the room for Read Aloud – Ray brought in a book for us to read. It is from the Geronimo Stilton series and it’s called Cat and Mouse in a Haunted House. It’s pretty funny, as are all of the Geronimo Stilton books. After two chapters, we went down to the gym for class with Mr. Hill and Mr. Peterson.

When we got back up to the room, we had Writer’s Workshop, since we were plum out of time for it in the AM. The kids worked on adding details to their stories, to create what we call a “mind movie” for their reader. While they were all writing, each student met with me in their spelling group to get and read their spelling words for the week – they should be in their folders today. At the end of workshop, each kid who wanted to share had a chance to read the piece that they are currently working on.

At the end of the day (time just FLEW by today), we had time for a short math workshop. We played a dice game in which the kids had to roll a 12 or 20 sided die and then roll a die that had only the numbers 1, 2, and 3 on it. They then had to make a addition number sentence out of it (9+2=11, for instance). The other kids in their group checked their work to make sure that the sentence was a true one.

After all of that, it was time to clean up, pack up, bundle up, and line up to go home.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Q: How do you find out where a mosquito has bitten you?

A: Start from scratch.

Another great day in Room 240. Here’s the scoop:

After Independent Literacy Time and Morning Meeting, we had Reader’s Workshop. Yesterday we worked on predicting, as it is a skill that readers have and something that readers do as they read. Yesterday we read a fiction (story) book, and today we extended the lesson by reading a non-fiction book about animals and their babies and working on predicting in those types of books as well. Then the kids had a chance to do independent reading, buddy reading, and write a reader response.

After that, we sang a song – “In the Ocean” – an old favorite. Then we moved on to Writer’s Workshop. Today the kids continued with the pieces that they are working on, and we also began to have writing groups during work time, in which I introduced the spelling program that we will be using for the balance of the year. There should be a spelling list for the week in your child’s folder today – we will be working on the words in school as well, and we’ll have a test on Friday.

After writing, we went down to the lunchroom for lunch and then out for recess. When we got back up to the room, we finished our Nate the Great book during Read Aloud. Then it was down the hallway for Media class with Mrs. Hennen.

When we got back to our room, we had our sharing time from Writer’s Workshop (I didn’t have the heart to interrupt them while they were writing – they were all so intent). After that, we had Math Workshop, in which we worked on composing and decomposing numbers (thinking about the numbers that can be used to make a number). We just go a new math tool yesterday in first grade (they look like this) and we used them today!

At the end of the day, we had a combined Math Workshop and Science Lab – since we are working on measurement in both, the kids practiced drawing lines of certain lengths (only inches so far), and then went around the classroom measuring pretty much anything they could get their hands on, and writing down the results on the recording sheet. (I can tell you with some degree of certainty that my head is either 6½ or 8 inches from top to bottom…).

When we finished that, we measured the [rapidly] expanding water animals and put the data on the chart.

After all of that, it was time to clean up, pack up, and bundle up!