Sight Word Workers

It is sight-word crunch time!! Now that we are reading independently each day, it is crucial that the kiddos can quickly identify sight words in their books. In order to memorize these words, we do a lot of activities so the kids can internalize these words. We always start the week with an emergent reader. These readers tend to be easier so we can focus on implementing our reading strategies, identifying punctuation/sight words, and reading fluently!! It also builds their confidence because they are EXPERT readers by the end of the week. ;)

Here was our emergent reader this week. This student highlighted the sight words and the "chunks" he found all by himself!!

"ow" is the chunk! He used the Chunky Monkey reading strategy.

                                           
We are still problem solving each day. We hadn't solved a repeated addition/multiplication problem in a while so I decided to throw it out there. They did great and used several different strategies! We bragged on Annabel and  Peyton for having the most advanced and efficient counting strategies.  They both visualized the groups and counted by fives!                                                    

                                                   
                                              

What can you practice at home? The kiddos need need to know the 5 and 10 facts. What does that mean?? Basically, it means they need to memorize the ways to make 5 and 10. This allows them to fluently solve problems and build bigger numbers using 5 and 10 like we adults do.

 How can you do this?
* Flash cards
* Practice facts in the car
* Take 5/10 items and separate. Write the math sentence that matches.
* Computer fact games (there are a ton out there!)

Winter Wonderland

We really enjoyed our winter unit! We compared Arctic animals to Antarctic animals. They were surprised to learn that penguins live in Antarctica rather than the Arctic.  The kiddos will really love our continents unit when we learn all about Antarctica! Here is an example of our animal comparison...

This writer sorted the Arctic and Antarctic animal and wrote two  informative sentences! WOW! 

Our "Author of the Day" also wrote an informative piece.

We started the week by reading Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. What a cute story!! The story was about a boy's snowman that came alive at night to play around the town. The greatest part of all was the discussion about whether or not this story was fiction or nonfiction. They wanted it to be REAL so badly! We did discuss how Santa's magic could make ANYTHING possible. ;) 
                               
We are focusing on reading comprehension and identifying the characters, setting, and sequence of the stories we read. I think it is important (and fun) to compare and contrast similar stories in order to check comprehension and extend their thinking. We compared Snowmen at Night and Snowmen at Work. They got such a kick out of this story! I highly recommend both of these stories...both are from Scholastic!

The kiddos completed a T-chart comparing the two stories. Annabel wrote, "They are both snowmen." and "They wear uniforms." Great job, Annabel! 

We did a reading response after reading Snowmen at Night. I loved Alyssa's response! "It would DANCE!"

We made fingerprint snowmen after comparing the stories! 

                                         

Arctic Animals...Brrrr!

This week we have learned about the Arctic. The kiddos have loved learning about the different animals that live in the Arctic while reading nonfiction texts! We also had our first opportunity to look at a globe...they were hooked! We learned what the equator is and how it relates to the Arctic being so cold. We learned some great vocabulary this week: hibernation, adaptation, camouflage, tundra, migrate. WOW! Feel free to practice those terms with your child because it is A LOT. I usually don't teach that many new "spicy" words in one week, but I felt they were so important with what we were discussing. We used fiction and nonfiction texts to learn about the arctic. MORE VOCABULARY. The kiddos are even writing their very own nonfiction books as we speak. Here's a sneak peak...

I loved Brandon's puffin!! 

Our week was pretty interrupted (I was also out sick one day) so we will finish up this unit next week. We will compare the Arctic and the Antarctic animals, and I look forward to showing you their animal sort they're going to make.

On another note, I have decided to change up our morning routine a bit. The kiddos used to come in and have some sort of practice worksheet to work on. The pages were good practice, but I felt we were not getting enough "free-choice" opportunities to write. During our writing workshop, I usually have a specific thing for them to work on so the kiddos needed some freedom!! Come on, Mrs. Clark! Now when they come in, they can free write on their marker boards or read from their reading bags. This is a great chance for them to "tell me" allllll of the wonderful things they like to share with me in the morning (wink), and they are practicing the many strategies we practice each day. Two birds, one stone! They have enjoyed this because they have another chance to earn a writing star. Five writing stars equals treasure box!! HOLY MOLY! 

I have the sweetest story I took a picture of this morning. It speaks for itself. The author was Austin J. Way to go, Austin! You'll be getting some extra ice cream this weekend. 

New Year Resolutions

Welcome back! I have been the worst blogger in the world (I wish Blogger would make it easier to upload photos), but thanks to my new iPad, I can take and upload photos from it and blog more often! Yay! A big thank you to my principals for the cool technology. :)

This week, we talked about our New Year's resolutions. I loved hearing their goals; learning to read/write better, learning to ride my bike, helping my friends more, etc, etc. They REALLY had great goals!

So....that leads us up to MY personal goal for 2014 (besides losing weight, eating better, and all of the regulars) I promise to be a better blogger in 2014. Here are some great pictures that I'm sure you would have enjoyed in 2013. ;)

We are THANKFUL! 

Can we say, cutie pies?!

That is Mrs. Clark during our community helpers unit!! 

Peyton was chosen as student of the month (December) for showing compassion! Lorelei was chosen by our music teacher, Mrs. Richardson. I was so proud of her for standing out among the whole school. 

When our elf, Jingle, arrived! I have never seen the kiddos more excited. We were full of pure joy that afternoon!! 

Miss Haven was chosen as our student of the month (November)  for showing gratitude. Way to go, Haven! 

Limeades for Learning PART 1

WAHOO!! We won our Limeades for Learning project again this year! You would have thought it was Christmas morning when our boxes arrived. We won a class set of "reknreks" which will help us base-ten number sense! And Let me tell you......right now,  number sense is number ONE! I have bragged and bragged on my group of students this year. With help from our longer math block (we get one whole hour for math..it's a dream!) my students have more time to talk about numbers, practice building numbers, and share their problem solving strategies. We have already been using the reknreks, and they have really helped students during problem solving time. 

We also won a HUGE reknrek for modeling and recording our math sentences!

The Leader in Me

While visiting another school on Tuesday, we noticed a great program that was showcased around the building. I was with Mrs. Wells and Mrs. Sutterfield, and we said, "We MUST start this in our building!" Until that can happen; however, we are going to start in our own classrooms. I am so excited to start implementing this program! It is based on the book by Sean Covey. The program is all about building character and strong values which is so important with young children. You will be hearing more about this VERY soon!

Did You Know We Can Multiply??

I have been SO impressed with our problem-solving skills the past couple of weeks! If you are ever interested in learning about our Cognitive Guided Instruction (CGI math), there are many resources to learn from online! We are working on understanding the problem and what we need to do to solve. Our goal is to solve using different counting strategies.

After sharing their counting strategies and math journals, Mrs. Clark copied Navan and Haven's work on a large chart for all to see! Navan used paper clips to count, and Haven drew a picture to solve the problem. 

Phoenyx drew a picture to solve a farm story problem. I love her little piggies! I challenged her (on our large chart) to write a number sentence to match how she solved the problem. She wrote 4 + 2 = 6! WOW!