With the hot weather we have taken a lot of water and bathroom breaks
and even a few popsicle breaks (thanks Lori and all the other offers!). I
have pushed a lot of information towards their little brains this week
and overall they have responded really well. I can't wait to dive in
full speed to 3rd grade materials.
This is some of the things we have been working on this week:
Math- We have been discussing and working on one digit addition and subtraction facts as well as place value using the ones, tens and hundreds. These lessons will continue through next week.
Reading- This week we read The Little Painter of Sabana Grande by Patricia Maloney Markun and illustrated by Robert Casilla. This is a story about a boy who has a desire to paint. After his teacher shows him how to create paint Fernando is determined to make something special. He then discovers he has no paper. He convinces his parents to let him paint the outside walls of their adobe house, since the walls are smooth and white like paper. While he is painting the neighbors admire his beautiful drawings, and request he paint their houses as well. We ended up taking our reading quiz on Thursday while it was nice and cool in the room still. On Friday, when the heat from Thursday was still radiating in our room, we cooled off by painting our own "adobe brick". More pictures can be seen under the "student work" tab.
Writing- This is an area where students have the most struggles at the beginning of the year. I am working a lot with just getting ideas down on paper versus correcting all their grammar and punctuation, which I will do on many items. We read a book called Dear Teacher by Amy Husband, students were then to asked to write a letter to me, in which I will respond back. :) Yesterday, we worked on describing ourselves in a positive way. We wrote comments about on cards saying, "I am, I hear, I see, I think, I feel, and I know." Coming home Tuesday, you will also see a piece of paper numbered 1-5 with random thoughts on them. These were your child's thought to a poem called "Welcome Back to School" by Kenn Nesbitt.
Welcome Back to School
by Kenn Nesbitt
“Dear students, the summer has ended.
The school year at last has begun.
But this year is totally different.
I promise we’ll only have fun."
“We won’t study any mathematics,
and recess will last all day long.
Instead of the Pledge of Allegiance,
we’ll belt out a rock ’n’ roll song."
“We’ll only play games in the classroom.
You’re welcome to bring in your toys.
It’s okay to run in the hallways.
It’s great if you make lots of noise."
“For homework, you’ll play your Nintendo.
You’ll have to watch lots of TV.
For field trips we’ll go to the movies
and get lots of candy for free."
“The lunchroom will only serve chocolate
and Triple-Fudge Sundaes Supreme.”
Yes, that’s what I heard from my teacher
before I woke up from my dream.
This activity is called free response. I pause different times during the reading and have students reflect and respond to various forms of written work. We will complete more of these next week.
Science- We continued some team building and had some activities just to help us cool off! :) We also look the opportunity of the hot weather to talk about heat and deserts and follow it up with some scientific reasoning from Bill Nye the Science Guy. :)
I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful extended weekend. Enjoy the slightly cooler weather in the forecast! :) Next week may be short, but we will have a lot of assessments!
Mrs. Jodie Yuska
This is some of the things we have been working on this week:
Math- We have been discussing and working on one digit addition and subtraction facts as well as place value using the ones, tens and hundreds. These lessons will continue through next week.
Reading- This week we read The Little Painter of Sabana Grande by Patricia Maloney Markun and illustrated by Robert Casilla. This is a story about a boy who has a desire to paint. After his teacher shows him how to create paint Fernando is determined to make something special. He then discovers he has no paper. He convinces his parents to let him paint the outside walls of their adobe house, since the walls are smooth and white like paper. While he is painting the neighbors admire his beautiful drawings, and request he paint their houses as well. We ended up taking our reading quiz on Thursday while it was nice and cool in the room still. On Friday, when the heat from Thursday was still radiating in our room, we cooled off by painting our own "adobe brick". More pictures can be seen under the "student work" tab.
Writing- This is an area where students have the most struggles at the beginning of the year. I am working a lot with just getting ideas down on paper versus correcting all their grammar and punctuation, which I will do on many items. We read a book called Dear Teacher by Amy Husband, students were then to asked to write a letter to me, in which I will respond back. :) Yesterday, we worked on describing ourselves in a positive way. We wrote comments about on cards saying, "I am, I hear, I see, I think, I feel, and I know." Coming home Tuesday, you will also see a piece of paper numbered 1-5 with random thoughts on them. These were your child's thought to a poem called "Welcome Back to School" by Kenn Nesbitt.
Welcome Back to School
by Kenn Nesbitt
“Dear students, the summer has ended.
The school year at last has begun.
But this year is totally different.
I promise we’ll only have fun."
“We won’t study any mathematics,
and recess will last all day long.
Instead of the Pledge of Allegiance,
we’ll belt out a rock ’n’ roll song."
“We’ll only play games in the classroom.
You’re welcome to bring in your toys.
It’s okay to run in the hallways.
It’s great if you make lots of noise."
“For homework, you’ll play your Nintendo.
You’ll have to watch lots of TV.
For field trips we’ll go to the movies
and get lots of candy for free."
“The lunchroom will only serve chocolate
and Triple-Fudge Sundaes Supreme.”
Yes, that’s what I heard from my teacher
before I woke up from my dream.
This activity is called free response. I pause different times during the reading and have students reflect and respond to various forms of written work. We will complete more of these next week.
Science- We continued some team building and had some activities just to help us cool off! :) We also look the opportunity of the hot weather to talk about heat and deserts and follow it up with some scientific reasoning from Bill Nye the Science Guy. :)
I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful extended weekend. Enjoy the slightly cooler weather in the forecast! :) Next week may be short, but we will have a lot of assessments!
Mrs. Jodie Yuska
