Ella is Student of the Week

Today was an exciting day in our classroom. We started our day with our special of the day, Library. After Library we completed our morning work and had our morning meeting. Each day, Mrs. Miller is teaching us new and exciting greetings at morning meeting. We also practiced our poem of the week, completed our math activities with the calendar, listened to the students sharing and our student of the week and talked about the rest of our day. After morning meeting and morning recess (indoors due to the wind), Mrs. Miller continued reading some of The Runaway Dolls to us. We are enjoying looking at the many illustrations in the book and making predictions. Next it was time to practice sorting our words. We worked with a partner to complete a blind sort of our words. One partner read the words aloud and the other partner pointed to the category that they would belong in. After that it was time for reading groups. Mrs. Miller met with the Books group and Mrs. Peckmann met with the Newspapers and Letters groups. In the afternoon we previewed and read the book that we were going to share with our Kindergarten buddies, Hippo's Toothache (ask me to retell it to you). We read it to a partner to work on our fluency and then we answered many retelling questions citing evidence from the text to support our answers. We would be asking the same questions with our Kindergarten buddies at the end of the day. During math, we paracticed our math facts and took an assessment on addition with regrouping. Tomorrow is Day 6. We have Art. Homework is Jumpstart 9.

We started our day with morning work and then morning meeting. Our normal morning meeting routine is: greeting (different each day), weather report, sharing (4-5 students each day), reading and discussing the morning message, poem of the week, math activities with the day of school (today was the 106th day of school!), activity (varies each day) and finally our class pledge. (Ask me to recite the class pledge.) After morning meeting, it was time for Music and then recess. What a beautiful morning!!! After recess Mrs. Miller read more of The Runaway Dolls to us. In the middle of reading, we had a fire drill. During the fire drill we looked at our shadows since it was almost noon. At noon our shadow points north and we found the other directions on the compass using our arms. Next it was time for reading groups. Mrs. Peckmann met with the books and letters groups and Mrs. Miller met with the newspapers group. After lunch it was time for writer's workshop. We learned about adjectives and how to use them to make our writing more interesting. Some of us continued to type our "relatives" stories while others illustrated their stories and others wrote in their journals. Now it was time for math. We completed a review exercise for addition with regrouping and we worked in math centers. At the end of the day we read about and discussed President's Day. This year is the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. (Ask me to name 3 things I learned about Abraham Lincoln.) Homework is math - regrouping. Tomorrow is Day 5. We have Library.

100th Day of School

Today we began our day by completing a search of 100 shapes. We used the number of shapes we found to answer many math questions and to create a bar graph. After this morning work it was time for morning meeting. We greeted each other and sang a song about the 100th day of school. After morning meeting it was time for our Special of the day, Music. After Music, Mrs. Miller read the end of The Meanest Doll in the World to us. (Ask me about it!). Next we talked some more about the 100th Day of School. We read a book called 100th Day Worries. We discussed why the main character, Jessica, was worried and how she solved her problem. We also made a list of all of the ways we could group 100 items in even groups. After that we completed a short book in which we had to write to many prompts that had to do with the number 100. Finally it was time for lunch! After lunch Mrs. Miller taught us all about how to use a compass. We each held a small compass in our hands and found the North side of our classroom. After we labeled the North wall, we labeled the other walls with the cardinal and intermediate directions. We played a game of "Simon Says" and moved in the direction that "Simon" told us to. Then it was time to go to Sinking Springs for some 100th Day activities with our 5th grade buddies. The activities all had to do with the number 100 and involved measuring, writing and math and Mr. Otterson's Wii. (Ask me what my favorite activity was!) By the time we came back to Roundtown it was just about time to pack up and go home. What a great day! Tomorrow is Day 5. We have Library. Homework is a doubles math fact search.

The Groundhog Saw His Shadow!

Today we began our day with our special of the day, Phys. Ed. After Phys. Ed. we completed our morning work and began our morning meeting. At morning meeting we talked all about Groundhog Day and discovered that the groundhog saw his shadow, which means - 6 more weeks of winter! We sang a song about the groundhog, too. After morning meeting it was time for morning recess and then Mrs. Miller read more of The Meanest Doll in the World to us. We are almost finished!!! After that, it was time for reading groups. Mrs. Peckmann met with the books and letters groups. Mrs. Miller met with the newspapers group. The strategies of retelling and visualization were the focus for the groups. After reading groups and lunch it was time for shared reading. Today we traveled to Canada and talked about New Year's traditions in Canada. We even played a game with an orange like children play in Canada on New Year's Day. (Ask me about it!) After shared reading, it was time for math. Today we used base 10 blocks and regrouping mats to model adding two digit numbers with regrouping. After using the base 1o blocks for several examples, we used the mats and wrote actual numbers represented by the blocks. We are really getting the hang of regrouping. Tomorrow we will try regrouping with pencil and paper. At the end of the day Mrs. Miller introduced us to the concepts of neighborhood and communities. Throught the book, Humphrey, The Lost Whale, we discovered the people and places that are a part of a community. (Ask me to name some.) At the very end of the day we used google earth to find our own community and our own house. Homework tonight is Jumpstart 6. Tomorrow is Day 4. We have Music. The lunch menu for tomorrow has been changed. Tomorrow will be the pancake and eggs or chicken patty and Thursday will be ravioli with meat sauce or chicken patty.