Texas

We are learning about our great state this week. To start we discussed the flag. We made a brace Mao, and then writ about its parts. 

Earth Day, Allison Inches

In addition to Earth Day this week we also celebrated by reading a few books by Allison Inches. After we careered a few bubble maps, and then a flow map. 

Because the kids loved the books so much I reached out to the author. She is so sweet, and wrote me back this amazing email. WOW!! I can't wait to read more of her books.  

Earth Day

Today we learned about earth day. My good friend Destiny gave my this great idea to create a tree map about ways we can help save our Earth. 

Animal Coverings

We read the book, "What if you had Animal Hair?!" In class. After we read the book we brainstormed ideas about different types of animal coverings that were very distinct. After we drew a picture of an animal. 

Ladybugs

This week we received our ladybugs. The kids get extra excited when we get ladybugs. We are studying their life cycle, and parts of a ladybug. As a class we made a brace map of a ladybug.They wrote about a ladybug parts and did an awesome job.

After the kids created a flow map of the ladybug life cycle. Once they were done they used comparative language and partner talk to share the life cycle process. They also labeled stage of the life cycle. The kids had a fun time creating each stage. 

Doubles Math Facts

In math we are focusing on doubles math facts. We made this awesome bridge map describing doubles. As we created the map each student constructed their model of doubles with snap cubes. 

Life Cycle of a Butterfly

We are studying life cycles in science right now. Today we read a great book about the Monarch butterfly life cycle. After we constructed this thinking map. Each student helped creating a special part of our thinking map. After they wrote beautiful sentences about the butterfly life cycle. 

Half and Whole

In math we learned about two equal parts. I found this adorable idea from Pinterest. We talked a lot about what two equal parts look like when divided by two. Each student made a cookie, and then divided it in two. They wrote about who they would share their cookie with in class. 

Dr. Seuss week

To celebrate Dr. Seuss we learned a lot about him from Pebble Go, and read many if his books. 

We created a circle map of Dr. Seuss and did a directed drawing of him in his later years. 

We made a brace map of the cat in the hat. The kids then wrote about why he is so unique. 

We read Green Eggs and Ham. We made an egg glyph, and created a multiflow map. 

We compared two books, The Cat in the Hat, and the Cat in the Hat Comes Back. We also made the cat in the hat. The hat is the color of each students favorite color.  

Finally we made a timeline of his book. Since he wrote SO many we only included the ones we read. 

It was a wonder week full of fun, and learning. 

The Biggest Valentine Ever

This week and a very exciting week. We celebrated our 100th day of school, and it is Valentines day this Friday. To honor Valentines day I found another one of Steve Kroll's great books, The Biggest Valentine Ever. We discussed the sequence of the book, and then studied the two main characters. This was completed in a Venn Diagram. At the end of the book the two characters make a huge Valentine and it looked like a mouse. We made a similar craft. 

Moon

This wee in ELA we are focusing on procedural text. To wrap up our activities with the moon we made a moon. I simply frosted some sugar cookies, and the students added some delicious chocolate chips to create the craters. 

Thinking Maps

We love using thinking maps in class. Here are a few we completed this week alone. The kids love getting together and completing them as a class. 

circle map

Venn Diagram 

Flow Map

This is our thinking map about the months and seasons. I found this great book from scholastic and used it as the balance to our lesson. 

Mayor Ron Jensen

In honor of DEAR week we had a very special guest reader. Our special guest was Mayor Ron Jensen. He read a very funny book, "How to Babysit a Grandpa."  The kids were all so excited and loved him. Thank you Mayor Jensen for coming to our class. 

Numbers 11-20

In math we are focusing on our numbers 0-20. To help support, and build our number recognizition we practiced writing our numbers. After we wrote each number we added to our base 10 block. We first started building a 10 base ten block. After we practiced writing each number added to our new base 10. The kids really had a lot of fun with this, and began to get a strong visual of how the numbers looked with a base 10.