Library Research

I try hard not to underestimate these brilliant students, but I'm often glad to have others working with us. In this instance our fabulous librarian has, yet again, shown how much these students can do.

Recently she taught them how to access the grolier online encyclopedia. They logged on to the computers, opened internet explorer, typed in the web address, and began researching anything that interested them. We'll be using these skills often, I'm sure.

Wiggling

Every once in a while we get a bit antsy and need to get up and wiggle! Everyone finds a good spot in the room, we turn on one of our favorite songs, and get rid of our wiggles.

Addition

We've been working on addition for the past week or so. We brainstormed a bunch of different strategies to use to solve addition problems. Students now grab whatever they need to get to work!

Math Stories

In math we've been working with addition. However, it's not enough to just be able to add two numbers. So, we've been taking some of our addition problems and writing stories to go along with them.

For example, if the problem is 4 + 3 = 7, the story might be:

There were four students at a table. Three more students sat down with them. Now there are seven students at the table.

Being able to create math stories requires a much deeper level of understanding than simply adding numbers.

Writing Conferences

One of the most important parts of our writing workshop is the writing conference. While students are all working on their own writing, the teachers all move around the room and meet with students. We work with them one-on-one as writers.

This class has impressed me again and again as writers. I look forward to these writing conferences everyday.

Numbers in the Computer Lab

On a recent trip to the computer lab we played a fun game with numbers. It's called Shark Numbers. The game shows you some tens and ones blocks and offers you three choices of numbers. If you click on the correct number a dolphin jumps over your boat. If you click on the wrong number a shark takes a bite out of your boat.

Studying Chunks in Words

We've spent some time searching for four different chunks ('ide', 'at', 'ock', and 'ake') in words in our books and around our room. We've added to our list as we've discovered new words in our reading.

After finding bunches of words with these chunks we spent a bit of time reading some and then practiced writing words with them. We learned that knowing chunks can really help us as readers and writers.

Dr. Seuss Day

This Tuesday was Dr. Suess Day. We have been lucky enough to have Yertle the Turtle and the fish from The Cat in the Hat in our classroom for over a week now. We have been writing about our adventures with them (along with a second grade and a kindergarten) on a wiki. To see it, click here.