Bar Graphs and Saying Goodbye to Ms. Brooks

On Friday, we said goodbye to Ms. Brooks.  Even though she is right around the corner, the girls wanted to throw her a "good luck in fourth grade" party.

On Friday afternoon we started talking about St. Patrick's Day and the girls exchanged ideas about why they are lucky.  They then returned to their seats, wrote about what made them feel lucky and made their own leprechauns. 

In math, we continued learning and discussing how to use and analyze a bar graph.  Today, the girls filled out a new bar graph and analyzed the data to complete a challenge sheet. 

We had another mystery reader.

Finally, this morning, our last two friends shared their dioramas.  The girls should be proud of their research and presentation skills!

Popplet and Presentation

The girls have been learning about transition words and phrases such as first, in the beginning, second, then, after that, next, finally and last.  They are currently incorporating these words and phrases into a How-To book, which they planned out using the iPad app, Popplet.

We also had another presentation this morning.

More Dioramas

The girls are almost finished presenting their hibernation dioramas.  We are extremely impressed with how the girls are speaking clearly, displaying confidence, and giving interesting facts about their animals.  The girls are learning a lot from each other and are greatly supportive of their classmates.

Gila Monster Presentation

How-To Class Book and Hibernation

Last week, the girls made melted crayon hearts and created a How-To class book using the new transition words they have learned. 

The girls worked in pairs to write about and illustrate one step in our How-To book.

As you know, we have been studying hibernation during science.  Last week, the girls conducted a science experiment on how frogs hibernate.  Be sure to ask your daughters why frogs are special hibernators.

After spending the last few art periods perfecting their animals, the girls finally started presenting their hibernation dioramas today.  We are so proud of the girls for doing an outstanding job of informing their friends about their animals.

Many thanks to our Mystery Reader!

We also had a publishing party with Ms. Stratton's fifth grade class to celebrate our non-fiction book on penguins.

Valentine's Day

The girls learned a new game today.  After we read the Word Wall, the girls were put into pairs to play the game Word Slap--a game where cards with our Word Wall words are spread on the floor between the two girls.  The teacher reads a word aloud and the first girl to slap the word card, keeps it.  Needless to say, there were many giggles during this game.

Getting into the Valentine's Day spirit, we worked on our graphing skills during math. The girls were then given a handful of candy hearts and sent back to their seats to sort and create their own graphs.

Before our party, we read The Day It Rained Hearts.  

Then Adam Herb presented the game 😂

The girls created cards with bouquets of hearts.

Finally, they opened up their valentines.  It was a wonderful day!

Melted Crayons and 100th Day

Last week the girls learned about transition words such as first, in the beginning, second, then, after that, next, finally and last.  On Friday, the girls made melted crayon hearts and will create a How-To class book using the new transition words they have learned.

Today we celebrated our 100th day of school!  The girls walked into our room this morning through streamers, with "Celebrate" by Kool & the Gang as their soundtrack.  Our day was filled with different activities, all centered around the number 100.  Take a look below to see how Pre-First celebrated.

First, the girls listened to 100th Day Worries.  

Then we took a picture of the girls and used the app Aging Booth to fast forward time and get an image of what the girls will look like when they are 100.  The girls--and their teachers--got a huge kick out of seeing each other as 100 year old ladies.  They then wrote about what they will look like, what they will be doing and where they will live when they turn 100.  This was, by far, their favorite activity of the day.

Here are some of the center activities the girls completed:  

• 100 Chart--the girls had to color in certain numbers on their 100 chart to create a picture.  Make sure you ask them what it was!  
• 100 Exercises--the girls did 6 different exercises, each exercise was a 100 count.  Some of the exercises were jumping jacks, twists and hops.  Needless to say, there were a lot of water breaks taken during this center.
• 100 Dots--the girls used 10 different paint colors to make groupings of 10 Q-tip dots.
• 100 Cup Structure--the girls were given 100 cups and had to build a structure out of them.  This was one of their favorite centers.  Make sure you ask your daughter what her structure looked like!

Digraphs and Hibernation Charades

Over the past several days, the girls were introduced the digraphs, "sh" and "ch". Today we brainstormed some th and wh words as a class, then the girls went back to their seats to write several words on their own.  The girls partnered up and completed a digraph worksheet together. We will continue to focus on all the digraphs we have learned (th, sh, ch, wh) in our word study period.

We also discussed the difference between hibernation and torpor.  The girls took full opportunity to put their acting skills on display as we played charades.  The class had to decide what the animal was and if it went into hibernation or torpor.  Be sure to ask your daughter which animal she portrayed.

Transition Words

We have begun planning our next Writer's Workshop book.  The girls will be writing a How-To non-fiction book using the transition words that they were introduced to today.  We sorted the different transition words (first, after that, etc) according to where we would use them in a story.  Then we used these words to help us arrange the steps of how the girls get ready for lunch. 

Next, the girls listened to Shoes From Grandpa by our Author of the Month (Mem Fox) and sequenced the events of the story using transition words.

In math, we have been working on place value using base 10 blocks.  The girls have done an excellent job of grasping this concept and have graduated to using the hundreds blocks. The girls even made Mrs. McMahon and Ms. Brooks do a funny trick by completing a challenge question--make sure to ask them what it was!

Publishing Party and Frozen Food

We had our second publishing party this morning with the kindergarten classes.  Our girls loved reading their Make Noise books to our younger friends and had a great time celebrating this big accomplishment.

The past several days the girls have been learning place value by working with base 10 blocks. They have learned that a cube represents one and a ten cube rod represents ten. The girls have been writing and modeling numbers using these blocks. Next week we will begin working with the hundreds place!

In science we did an experiment on reasons why some animals hibernate in the winter. They were given pineapple that had been frozen in an ice cube.  They had to attempt to get to the pineapple and eat it; the girls discovered that this was not an easy task.  As they were gnawing their way through the ice, we talked about how difficult it was to actually get the food out and how hard it must be for animals to find food in the winter.  Then the girls were given fresh pieces of pineapple and were given the green light to go ahead and eat them.  We talked about how the pineapple smelled, what it tasted like, and how easy it was to bite into and eat it. The girls realized, at the end of the experiment, that one reason some animals hibernate in the winter was due to the difficulty to find and eat food; it is not easy to smell, find, or eat!

Many thanks to our mystery readers this afternoon!