Polyhedrons

100 Days of Math

In honor of the 100th Day of School, I decided to do a special project for math. After learning about polyhedrons - including the tetrahedron, the hexahedron and the octahedron each student received 100 toothpicks and 100 marshmallows. Students were challenged to build assorted geometric solids. We also discussed vertices, angles, edges and faces. As you can probably imagine, students were very eager to participate and had a fantastic time!

Towards the end of the day we were invited to Mrs. Woodard's classroom to peruse the 3rd grade annual 100th Day of School Projects.

 I heard quite a bit of speculation regarding what current 2nd graders plan 

to do next year for their 100th day project! 

 We got to ask the 3rd graders questions about their projects.

Before we left, lo and behold, another Kindergarten class came parading though Mrs. Woodard's room!

 

We Are 100 Days Smarter!

1 - 0 - 0

We had an incredibly fun but busy 100th day of school! Students began the day writing 100 words, number sentences which all equaled 100 and math word problems with the answer $100. We also wrote about what life would be like if we were 100 feet tall, brainstormed how we will look when we are 100 years old and decided what we would choose if we had to eat the same food every day for 100 days in a row. Then each student got the die cut numbers 1 0 0 and had to glue them on a large piece of paper with the intention of transforming the numbers into something new. We got some very creative results!

Later in the day when we were working, our classroom was suddenly filled with Kindergartners parading through celebrating the 100th day.

Veterans of Sonoran Sky eagerly reminisced about when THEY were in the Kindergarten parade and many students were excited to see KG siblings and friends. This was only a portion of our 100th day.... more details to follow...

Weekly Update

This week will surely be incredibly busy, because we have quite a bit to do!

Please remember that this is conference week. If you have not heard from me regarding a confirmed conference time and you would like to meet, please let me know and I will gladly fit you into the schedule. All before and after school enrichment classes are canceled during conference week. Thursday and Friday of this week are early release days, due to conference schedules.

Tuesday we will hit a big milestone - the 100th day of school! I have many fun and exciting activities planned including spelling 100 words, writing 100 sentences, solving 100 math problems, researching with the world was like 100 years ago and lots more! Tuesday will be a special day for us! 

We did not start learning about poetry last week as originally planned, so we will begin that unit this week. The district poetry contest is coming up soon and I know many students are very eager to enter. 

There will only be one spelling list this week and it will contain words from the upcoming WordMasters meet. Students do not need to memorize the definitions as dictionaries are allowed during the meet. However, students tend have more success with analogies if they have a solid understanding of the vocabulary. We will participate in the meet (meet #2) at some point this week.

A good portion of the class has tested out of the Three Minute Multiplication Challenge and many other students are very close! We will continue with that drill for the rest of the quarter.

Quarter 3 Book Report

Examples from a previous year

The book report for Quarter 3 was assigned today. We visited the school library and all students chose a book for their report and had it approved. This project was thoroughly discussed in class. Copies of the assignment and the rubric are posted below (click for larger view). Please let me know if you have any questions!

Weekly Update

We are still collecting JUNK for our Invention Convention which will be held in early February to celebrate the birthday of Thomas Edison. Thank you so much to everyone who has already sent in a bunch of recyclables. Please keep them coming!

We have been learning about Martin Luther King Jr. in Social Studies and will wrap up that unit this week with a virtual tour of his childhood home and a post-assessment.

Last week we did a MLK webquest using iPads and created timelines based on classroom research.

This week in Math we will continue to practice the multiplication facts. We will also be practicing CML problem solving strategies and techniques in preparation for our first CML meet.

In Language Arts we will continue our Frindle literature study. Students seem to be enjoying the book and we will continue doing activities incorporating all of the levels thinking. Also in Language Arts we will begin a poetry unit. Students will practice rhyming words and learn various styles of poetry including Haiku, Limerick and Cinquain.

Friendly Friday 1-14-11

Friendly Friday

Just a quick reminder that this Friday is another "Friendly Friday". Parents are welcome to join us in the classroom at 9:15am. I received an email saying that Dunkin' Donuts will have a cart set up in front of the school serving coffee to parents starting at about 9am.

Hope to see you Friday!

Additionally, the school store will be open tomorrow during lunch.

We Need Your Junk!

In honor of Thomas Edison's birthday, we will be holding an "Invention Convention" in the classroom during the month of February. In order to make this happen, we need your "junk"! For the next month students are encouraged to bring in any and all junk that we will use to invent something new. Examples include, but are not limited to: newspapers, cardboard boxes, paper towel tubes, paper bags, empty bottles, milk cartons, egg cartons, magazines, wallpaper, string, coffee cans, pizza boxes, envelopes, plastic buckets, cereal boxes, butter tubs, etc!
Thanks in advance!

Just in Case Arizona Preparedness Month Poster Contest

It was recently announced that we had some winners in the Third Annual Just in Case Arizona Preparedness Month Poster Contest.

The email I received from Sylvia Puente-Araiza at The Arizona Department of Health Services stated, "The ADHS staff has voted and will be awarding students whose posters deserve special recognition. There were many great entries and it was not an easy decision, but votes were cast and the 1st and 2nd place winners were chosen from Sonoran Sky Elementary."

The 1st place winner being presented his award by Ms. Puente-Araiza.

The 2nd place winner proudly accepts his prize.

When Ms. Puente-Araiza stopped by the classroom to present the 1st and 2nd place winners with their prizes, she also announced that we had several honorable mentions in the poster contest. 

These students received honorable mentions. Congratulations!

Happy New Year!

We started off 2011 with a bang and wasted no time jumping right back into the swing of things. Here's what is on the agenda the next few weeks:

Language Arts - We have started a literature study on one of my very favorite books, Frindle, by Andrew Clements. We will be addressing all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy throughout this literature study.
In keeping with the theme of Frindle, worked in small groups renaming common items. They had to use their new word in a sentence and other students had to try to figure out the word using context clues. Ask your student what he or she wants for selder tomorrow and if they plan to drink qual with it. Or see if he or she is in need of a new zlamp. Students had a lot of fun exercising their creativity!

The spelling lists this week are taken directly from Frindle. Students were pre-tested this morning and appropriate lists were sent home.

Math - The Multiplication Challenge has begun! Similar to our other math fact challenges, students are expected to answer 100 multiplication problems (0-12 facts) in three minutes or less. A practice packet was sent home today. We will be doing various activities with multiplication and work will be differentiated according to current ability level.

Social Studies - This month we will be learning about Chinese New Year and Martin Luther King Jr. I have several exciting activities planned including timelines, webquests, oral presentations and classroom Jeopardy. I've heard through the grapevine that we may have some parents that have a good deal of knowledge regarding Chinese New Year. If anyone is interested in coming in to share an activity or information about China, Chinese New Year or anything related, please let me know. We would be thrilled to have you!

Science - Our next science investigation will have to do with ice, salt and sand. I experienced a blizzard in New England during Winter Break and it seems many students were somewhere with snow and icy roads. We will discuss what we learn about the effects of salt and sand on ice and apply it to real life.

We spent some time writing goals for the new year this morning and also reviewed expectations and guidelines. Students seemed excited and happy to be back in the classroom and I must admit, I was too.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and has a fabulous 2011!