Camp Read A Lot

Team 21A celebrated the day before winter break with  Camp Read A Lot. First, we transformed our classroom into a campsite complete with a virtual fireplace. We moved all of our desks out of the way and “set up camp” on the floor. Throughout the day, students celebrated reading by performing in reader’s theaters, reading poetry, participating in a math book buffet, and flashlight reading. We also created bookmarks and crystal snowflakes to top off our wintry celebration.

Check out our classroom’s transformation and some unique activities that kicked off term 2.

December Details

Check out what’s happening this month in Team 21A!

 

Please look for conference reminders in your child’s backpack tomorrow. We ask that you please return the bottom portion of the blue reminder sheet to confirm your conference date and time. I’m looking forward to meeting with each of you and discussing all of your child’s progress in class.

They keep on coming . . .

Every time I open my email I’m excited to see if another student has earned an XtraMath certificate. This weekend I received more good news to share with the class . . .  Kaliana earned her addition certificate!

Although we are working on memorizing multiplication and division facts in math class each day, constantly reviewing addition facts can also help us with more advanced facts! Increasing your speed and accuracy are valuable skills that can help you get better at multiplication facts.

Keep up the good work, Team 203!!

Camp-Read-A-Lot

Friday was an exciting day in Team 203. Students wore pajamas to school and even brought sleeping bags, pillows, blankets, and anything else to make them nice and cozy for our day of reading. 

We rehearsed and performed reader’s theaters for the class, did flashlight reading, made bookmarks, brought home a “new to you” book from our book swap, and dropped EVERYTHING and read whenever we heard the 15 minute chime. Students loved having a change to the normal routine and they each earned a monthly reading raffle ticket for our book giveaway at the end of the month. 

It is so very important to read each day during our winter vacation so remember the fun we had on Friday and keep on reading while you’re away from school, happy vacation! 🙂

MOON PHASES COME ALIVE IN TEAM 203

Click the picture to watch a video

We are currently studying the solar system and focusing on Earth’s moon and its phases. Some students have chosen a research project to do at home and others are keeping a moon journal to mark the differences they notice each month. In class we have done a few demonstrations to understand why the moon has phases and why it appears to change throughout the month. We created replicas of the moon phases with Oreos above. Students scraped away the cream in Oreos to depict the amount of light that is reflected during each phase.

From left to right, the sun, the Earth, the moon.

We see a different amount of the Sun’s light reflected from the moon during the moon’s cycle. Students were able to see the relationship of Earth, the sun, the moon, and why the moon appears to look different through the demonstration above. This abstract concept came alive when we used a lamp (the sun), the second student’s head (the Earth), and the small green ball (Earth’s moon) to show how the moon orbits the Earth.

“So long, farewell Auf Weidersehen, goodbye “

We were very sad to see a student leave but happy that she would get to go back to her own school in Germany. She used Google Presentation to make a slide show about her family and home country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the day we had a creative snack using fruit to make the German flag. We used the document camera to project the image of the German flag and then used red peppers, yellow peppers, and red grapes to create the flag on toothpicks. Students also got to enjoy Gummy Bears, which are made in Germany and a special German cookie. What a great way to send off our much loved student. Happy travels! Team 203 will miss you!

Published Writers

Team 203 was a buzz with excitement on Friday when we had our first writing celebration.  Students have worked diligently planning, drafting, revising, editing, conferring, and finally, publishing personal narratives. We have learned about writing for different audience members and how to make our writing, “worth reading”. Students have incorporated dialogue, strong leads, satisfying endings, juicy details, and more to make their personal narratives truly works of art.

On Friday we spent our writing block sharing our writing with peers. Students created book covers complete with titles and even bar codes and prices. These first editions were pricey! Then they rehearsed reading personal narratives out loud, using expression, intonation, and practicing how to read dialogue. Peers listened to published pieces and then left a thoughtful comment on a sticky note that was stuck to the inside cover. Students felt very proud and accomplished to share this hard work.

We hope that you were able to listen to your children read their published pieces at home as they were sent home on Friday with an explanation letter.

We would love to hear comments from parents and family members about our personal narrative pieces. Please leave a reply on this blog post to tell us what you think.

Star of the Week

Our star was very prepared and ready to share this week. She took the plunge and had the courage to read a favorite story in front of her class which was very impressive. We also learned that this star loves the water, specifically she loves to snorkel and has traveled to many diverse places to snorkel! One of those places was my favorite destination, St John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This star is an expert on animals, travel, and her favorite, DOGS!!

Moon gazers

Students have been “over the moon” excited about observing, well  . . .  our moon lately. “LOOK, Miss Paltz!!!! THE MOON!!! Do you see it???? It’s a first quarter!!” I couldn’t believe the enthusiasm that I’ve seen both in and out of the classroom during the last two weeks. All of Team 203 has taken a great interest in observing our night sky. We even lucked out to be at recess while the moon was visible last week. We took the opportunity to do an impromptu observation and everyone did a great job! Take a look at our scientists and our moon sighting. Remember, if you’re doing the moon project please keep up with your nightly observations and don’t forget to sketch what you see. If you are doing a separate research/visual presentation you can still take a minute each day to quiz your family on the moon phases. You are all moon experts now!

And here’s one more way to prove to you that we really do know our moon phases: