Math Night!

I enjoyed seeing my friends and their families at Math Night! 

It was a blast!!!

Pumpkins! Pumpkins!

We are learning all about PUMPKINS!!!

We cut open our pumpkin to feel the inside and to count the seeds.
We felt some gooey stuff! It was fun!
There were 98 seeds inside!!! WOW!

In addition, we measured our pumpkin with cubes.
We weighed it using a scale and we counted the ribs on the skin.

We checked to see if the pumpkin would sink or float.
It floats!

Check out our pumpkin properties book.

We also planted a pumpkin seed.
We are going to observe and see what happens.

We read Pumpkin Circle, a non-fiction story about a pumpkin's  life-cycle.

We learned that the pumpkin grows from a seed to a sprout.
Then, the vines and leaves start to appear.
Next, a golden flower grows on the vine and it becomes a small bud.
The bud transforms into a small, green pumpkin.
Last, we spot a big, orange (adult) pumpkin ready to be picked!

We used real photos to put the pumpkin life-cycle in order from seed to adult plant.

On Friday, we made scrapbook pumpkins for our bulletin board outside.

Our Writing Process

Here is a photo of our writing process anchor chart. It helps us to know where we are as we write. 

Our steps are:

1st- Think of a topic/story

2nd- Write my name and date

3rd- Draw a picture

4th- Label my picture

5th- Write my story/sentences

6th- Add details to my picture or words

7th- Start a NEW piece

Weekly Reminders!

Don't forget:

Monday: Book Fair Opens! 

If you would like to come up and eat with your child 

this week or on Tuesday (Lunch with Loved One day),
please feel free to take them to the book fair
during our recess and lunch time.

You can sign-in at the office and we 

will send your child down to meet you.

Tuesday: Lunch with a Loved One day!

Thursday- Purple Day! Wear something purple!

Math Night at 6:00 p.m.

*Next Monday, October 14th: Parent/Teacher Conferences

I will be sending out a reminder about what time your conference is on that day. :) 

HERO time!

During our HERO time, we wrote our numbers in shaving cream! 

Then, we played alphabet bingo! 

It was so fun!!!

We LOVE to predict!

In Reader's Workshop, we learned all about making predictions.

Here are some great ways to start a prediction statement...

We used different pictures of animals to practice our predicting skills.
Here is our inter-active writing, recording poster.

Here are some of the picture cards we used to practice predicting.

It was a beaver! 

What is it?
We used our clues...

A cat! 

Then, we read Bear's Loose Tooth and practiced predicting with a book.

We drew our predictions on our "think" bubble sheet.

Next, we drew what happened next in the story.

Kylie shared her prediction with her share buddy.

We used sticky notes to record our predictions too. 

What do you think will happen in this story Ashton?

We learned that you can make predictions before, during, and after you read.

Weekly Reminders

Don't forget:

Monday:   Pumpkin Patch money is due!
            "Star of the Week" posters are due too!

Thursday: Blue day! Wear something blue! 

Pumpkin Patch field trip permission forms will be coming home tomorrow! Look for it in your child's blue folder. Sign and return as soon as possible! :)

This week, I will be sending home some of your child's writing as well. Please take a moment to check out their wonderful pieces. I am so proud of my stars! 

SPIRIT Stick!

We were the winners of the SPIRIT Stick last week!

Our class carried the Spirit Stick down the hallway all week!

We are AMAZING!!!

Here is Sophia holding the spirit stick! 

What's a Rekenrek?

What is a Rekenrek? 

There is perhaps no more important task for primary teachers than to help young children develop powerful understandings of numbers -- their meanings, their relationships to one another, and how we operate with them.  


The Rekenrek has recently emerged on the U.S. mathematics education scene as perhaps the most powerful of all manipulative models for young learners.  Developed by mathematics education researchers in the Netherlands (although similar models were used in ancient cultures) the Rekenrek combines various strengths of other manipulatives (e.g., number lines, base-10 blocks, counters, etc.) in one accessible tool. 

The Rekenrek is comprised of two strings of ten beads each, strategically broken into two groups: five red beads, and five white beads.  Readily apparent in this model is an implicit invitation for children to think in groups of five and ten.  As illustrated below, the strings of red and white beads (in groups of 5) provide a visual model that encourages young learners to subitize, i.e., to build numbers based on groups of five and ten. 

We started using our Rekenreks this last week during our Number Talks.

My class LOVED them!
We love to make numbers using our special tool! 

We have AMAZING Schema!

What's in your Schema?

We are learning all about schema!!!

Schema is information we already have in our brains. 

It's our prior knowledge!

We use our schema a lot: 

-when we read

 -working a math problem

-writing a story 

 -playing a game

-learning something new

We update our schema or learn new information when we use our 5 senses. 

Yummy!! We made Applesauce!

Since we are working on making predictions in reading,

I thought it might be fun to see if my little stars could use their predicting skills

and guess what we were going to make from their apples.

I set out all of the ingredients and this recipe on Friday. 

Some of their predictions were:

-apple pie

-apple juice

-apple cake

Then, someone predicted and...

What was it? 

APPLESAUCE! 

One of our clues...the recipe!

We mixed our apples with LOTS OF SUGAR! 

A LOT OF SUGAR!

Some yummy cinnamon..

some water...

more cinnamon...

We stirred...

J.R. stirred....

We smashed the apples...

We mushed the apples...

After a lot of stirring, smashing, and mushing
we cooked our applesauce all day! 

We read the story: A Little, Red House with No Doors, No Windows, and a Star Inside.
The story is about a little boy who goes looking for a little, red
house with no doors, no windows, and a star inside.
Before he gives up, the "wind" helps him to find it.

What does he find?
He finds out the house is a little, red apple.
Check out the star inside!
Soooo cool!!! 

For snack, we ate our yummy applesauce! 

I think Carson likes it! 

Tanner is enjoying his applesauce!