Joining Numbers

In math we are focusing on joining and separating numbers up to 10. To celebrate for the holidays we used Santa as our manipulative. Each child had a turn to be a Santa number. Using the two giant 5-frames helped them understand how to join the numbers. I got the idea to use the huge 5 frames from Chalk Talk, a fabulous blog. I can see how it truly works with the students and understand. They also get excited to act out the math problem. 

Gingerbread Man and Girl

Today we read the books the Gingebread Girl and the Gingerbread Boy. After we read the books we made a Venn diagram comparing the two different stories. We wrote about which character we would rather be after we made our comparisons. For math time we are focusing on the numbers 11-15. We used 5 frames to create the numbers and displeased how many gingerbread santas could fit on the 5 frames. 

Jingle our Elf

Since Christmas is quickly approaching we are celebrating in school a different way each day. Today we celebrated by reading about elves, Santas helpers. We read the book elf on a shelf. We actually have a little elf in our own classroom, and named him the adorable name of Jingle. To celebrate the elves we made elf hats (which were super easy). After we brainstormed about the different types of jobs elves have and wrote about their jobs. We just LOVE our elf, Jingle, and are getting excited about Christmas. 

Bad Apple

Since Thanksgiving is approaching today we talked about Friendship. We read the book Bad Apple and made text to self connections about friendship. The class was so great thinking about why we love our friends, and why they make us feel so great. 

Force and Motion

This week in science we are discussing force and motion. We discussed what that means and charted the responses. Then I showed them one of Kennedy's toy fire truck. I asked them if the truck can move by itself. We graphed either yes or no with a little tire they made. 

After everyone voted I had them sit on the edge of our colorful carpet. I placed the truck in the middle and told everyone to shout move at the truck 1 time. They had a lot of fun watching it not move. We then practiced moving the truck with a push or a pull creating force into the truck. After we made a car craft quickly. 

Uncle Bigfoot

We read the book Uncle Bigfoot today. Since we are focusing on Families so much this past week. We made text to self connections talking about our Aunts and Uncles and why we love them so much. 

Reading Buddies

Every Friday we meet with our Reading Buddies with Mrs. Ewer's 3rd grade class. My class truly looks forward to seeing them every Friday. It is just a good time reading and socializing about literature. This past Friday we decided to interview each other. They asked each other the basic questions; name, favorite candy, favorite teacher, favorite book, etc. To throw in a curve ball they asked one another which Avenger was their favorite, and why. They had a lot of fun interviewing each other. Mrs. Ewers and I even interviewed each other. They were truly tickled to learn that my favorite Avenger was the Hulk because he looks like my cute husband. Lol. Meeting with them is always a positive end to the day.