Q: What do you call a camel with no humps?
A: A horse!

Yet another great day in Room 240 – read all about it…

After Independent Literacy Time and Morning Meeting, we had, like usual, Reader’s Workshop. Today the kids reviewed the sounds that the long vowels make (/a/ as in cake, /e/ as in feet, /i/ as in sigh, /o/ s in moon, and /u/ s in use). We brainstormed a list of words that have those vowel sounds, and tomorrow we will review the list to see which letters (and combinations of letters) can produce those long vowel sounds. Then, as the kids went off to read, they paid close attention to words in their books that have long vowel sounds.

After that, we had a song – the Planet Song again, which they can’t seem to get enough of. They all know it, so have them sing it for you. When the music died down, we began Writer’s Workshop. Today we made a list of “The Secrets of Writing” – Mr. Wold’s class requested it during our Writer’s Celebration yesterday. When we had complied a two-page list of “secrets,” the kids went off to their tables to sort their writing from the previous unit. They kept one piece that is in progress in their writing folder and gave me one piece for their cumulative record (I’ll send it home at the end of the year). The rest of the writing they will bring home tomorrow, so expect some good reading material in their folder tomorrow!

It was then time for lunch and indoor recess. After recess we started a new Read Aloud book – Jigsaw Jones and Case of the Runaway Dog. The kids really seem to enjoy mystery stories (me too!). After only two chapters (and just when we were getting to the good part), it was time to head down to the gym for class with Mr. Hill and Mr. Peterson.

When we got back up to our classroom from the gym, it was time for Math Workshop. In math today, we worked on a slightly different concept tan we have been studying all week. Today we solved problems that involved combinations up to 12, instead of just 10. Plus, the problems were in story form, so the kids had to figure out which operation (adding or subtracting) to do, and then how to best solve the problem. We had some really nice discussion around the different approached that the kids took.

After math, it was time for Science Lab. Today we finished the planet project – the kids did their ‘research’ for a small information sheet that we’ll attach to their planet in our room. They also finished an illustration for the letter to “Poor Pluto” that they wrote yesterday. Both will be hanging up outside our room shortly, so come and take a look!

By the time we got all of that done, it was time to pack up and head home!