Winter Party(ies) Fun!

Today was a day of fun! We began with a holiday concert from the sixth graders during special. After, we finished up our snowman descriptions, we had a white elephant game for them getting gifts from me. I also made them hot chocolate to have while they played with their new gifts. Some also completed holiday logic puzzles. In Science/Social Studies, the 4th grade kiddos had some fun with Google Earth by tracking Santa's location. (This is on Canvas-->modules-->Holiday Fun, if your kiddo wants to keep going or if any 5th graders want to complete it-it was really fun to find new places!) 5th graders worked on another mystery, I think...you'll have to ask them! (Sorry-it was a crazy day!) In math, 4th graders finished (FINALLY!) constructing their gingerbread houses, ate them :), and had some time to enjoy holiday math puzzles (also on Canvas under the same module). 5th graders did some review with Kahoot! and other review/fun activities. After lunch, we ended our day with making cards for Aria and nursing homes as well as eating a snack and making bouncy balls!

Thank you so much for all you do!! I loved seeing some of you today! :)

Arrow U = success!

Today was the last day of Arrow U and it was so much fun! Today, they worked with Mr. Smith to build a structure that reaches the ceiling using paper. This was designed for them to fail and helped them to learn about struggles and how to work through them.
After special, each student received a candy gram! Then, we shared what we are most looking forward to over break. (I, personally, am looking forward to NOT setting the alarm for 5:00am!) Then, we read/acted out a story about the "Fidget Family." In The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the Herdmans' are wrecking every practice with their questions and antics. However, they are doing it in a very innocent and sweet way-they just don't know any other way! Then, we finished (or should have) our opinion writing. This is just our pre-assessment and a starting point for opinion writing. At the end of literacy, we posted our snowman pictures and I read the descriptions while they picked which description matched which snowman. Some were written with more details than others... Then, we all worked with Mrs. Tanner's class on an Inter"Pole" Mystery. :) In Math, 4th graders continued constructing their gingerbread houses while 5th grader's in Mrs. Tanner's class worked on a puzzle and those in Mrs. Kelly's class worked on fractions.

Oh what fun!

This week has been crazy but awesome! After special, Mrs. Shantel Jordan (Mrs. Shantel to the kids) came in to teach about handling stress and how to best cope with stressful feelings. Then, in order to begin opinion writing, we wrote a pre-assessment opinion piece on something that we feel strongly about. What did your kiddo write about? After break, we'll look at these as well as rubrics and more writings in order to make our writing the best it can be. In Social Studies, 4th grade students finished presenting their, "Where in Ohio is ____?" presentations while 5th grade students completed a History Mystery about the headless Roman soldiers. In Math, 4th grade kiddos submitted their plans for their gingerbread house and got their materials to begin building (graham crackers and icing)! 5th grade students in Mrs. Kelly's class took their addition and subtraction of fractions quiz and those in Mrs. Tanner's class worked on a TedEd puzzle. Our day ended with Arrow U and a breakoutEDU experience! Ask your kid questions because we had fun!

Connections

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I LOVED our time connecting together during special today~thank you to those that were able to take time out of your schedules to come today. It was lovely!

After specials and our parent coffee connection, in our morning meeting, we discussed a little bit about yesterday's Arrow U and curling and then shared our thoughts on if we think children should be rewarded for doing chores. We are beginning our opinion writing and this was a great time to share our opinions. Most shared that kids SHOULD NOT be rewarded for doing chores! I was surprised and proud that they shared their true feelings. Then, we played, "Guess my Number," with Jimi, Mischa and Alexa. For literacy, we made snowman drawings and then wrote descriptive pieces that we will read tomorrow or Thursday and try to match up the descriptions with the drawings. In social studies, 4th graders shared our, "Where in Ohio is...?" presentations while 5th grade kiddos completed a travel BreakoutEdu digital game. In math, 5th grade kids in Mrs. Tanner's room finished up their 12 days of Christmas task, those in Mrs. Kelly's room worked on fractions and 4th graders continued planning for their gingerbread houses. We ended the day with another Arrow U class with Mrs. Kelly and discovering dry ice!

...just another manic Monday... :)

This is always one of the craziest weeks of the year and today did not disappoint! After special, in meeting, we shared about our weekend and then played Sparkle! again. On Friday, when we played, there was some poor sportsmanship but today went great! Once again, it came down to me and another student and the Hayley won! Then, I began reading a quick read aloud for this week, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, about some of the worst kids ever. This book was written in 1972~an oldie but a goodie! Then, we went over setting and how important the when and where is for historical fiction. We also discussed our informational reports and although I had asked for revisions to be turned in today, less than half the class had so today was the LAST day to work on these and their ABBC tasks (which are due on Friday.) In Social Studies, 5th graders continued presenting their, "Where in the World is ____?" projects while 4th graders finished creating ours. We'll be presenting them tomorrow. In Math, 5th graders moved on to multiplication and division of fractions while 4th graders began a mini-project where they are constructing gingerbread houses but began by creating some "blueprints." Our day concluded with our first Arrow U! Our kiddos went to Mrs. Tanner's class where she and Mrs. Clay returned to teach curling! Fun times!

Fabulous!

Today was a fabulous day! After students came back from special, in meeting (planned by Lindey, Hope and Emmanuel) we shared what pet we would have if we could have any and what we would name it. Then, we played, "Sparkle!" which is a spelling game. It came down to Mischa and myself and Mischa won! :) Next, we read another Chris Van Allsburg book, The Wreck of the Zephyr, and discussed our thoughts about it and the mysterious elements. In literacy, we read, made revisions to our informational reports and worked on our ABBC tasks. In Social Studies, 5th grade students presented their, "Where in the World?" projects while 4th grade students were introduced and began their, "Where in Ohio?" projects. Finally, after recess, where they acted like it was 90 degrees!, we had a fire drill and then spent some time on Genius Hour work (researching/practicing something we are really interested in) or getting caught up on work so that we won't need to work this weekend.

Good day

I can't think of anything to say other than today was an overall good day. I guess that is good!
After special, in meeting, we shared what we are going to do today to make others smile and instead of a game, I read two books: Goodnight Moon and then the parody, Goodnight iPad. Then, we set goals that are highlighting being unplugged. In read aloud, we read, The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg. This book was very interesting~ask your kiddo about our theories! In literacy, we read, worked on our informational reports and ABBC tasks. In Social Studies, 5th grade worked on their "Where in the world...?" project while 4th graders completed some American settler fun with making log cabins, yarn dolls or packing the covered wagon activities. In Math, in Mrs. Tanner's room, they continued their 12 days of Christmas project and in Mrs. Kelly's class, some took their addition and subtraction of fraction quizzes and others practiced factoring for unlike denominators. In 4th grade, we continued with our work with measuring angles and our measurement math menu. After recess and quiet time, we discussed positive and negative consequences with an "I have..., Who has...?" game.

Orange?

Well, I totally forgot to wear orange today, for kindness. So I'm going to wear orange tomorrow-please tell your kiddo to wear orange as well!

This morning, I was still out for training but the substitute played, "Would you rather?" during meeting and read the book, Frederick, to them. Then, they read an article about a photographer that takes really cool pictures of ice and snow crystals. Have them show you some! They also worked on making revisions to their informational reports, worked on their ABBC task and read. In Science/Social Studies, the 5th grade kiddos worked on their "Where in the USA?" project while 4th grade students tried to understand frontier life and life as an American settler by completing fun projects like making a yarn doll, packing the covered wagon or building a log cabin using lincoln logs. I was back for math so 4th graders measured angles of polygons and then worked on our math menus to review and practice other measurement skills. (I apologize but I'm not sure what 5th grade kiddos did today...please ask your child what they did in math with Mrs. Tanner or Mrs. Kelly.) Recess wasn't too cold today so we stayed out a little bit longer today. Then, after some quiet time, we read the book, Lacey Walker, Nonstop Talker and discussed listening to understand and not listening to respond and how it's good to just listen sometimes. Then, we finished up our fun with body language by playing the good old game, "Telephone" but using body language instead of talking.

Out for training...

Unfortunately, I am out of the building today for training. Whenever I am gone, I miss the kids terribly and wonder and hope that things are going fine in my absence. I let them know yesterday that I'd be out so hopefully the advance warning helped. Mr. Corner is there today. Here is what I left for him to do. It will be up to your kiddo to help fill in the blanks!

Meeting: share what their favorite green item is and play fact or fiction
Read Aloud: Extra Yarn
Literacy: colorful words worksheet and ABBC
Science/Social Studies: 4th grade is learning about life as an American settler and 5th grade is continuing their, "Where in the world is?" project
Math: 4th grade is continuing with measuring angles and completing their math menu and 5th grade is busy multiplying and dividing fractions
Social-emotional learning: communication and body language

Facts vs. Assumptions and Body Language

These were the topics during our social-emotional learning time this afternoon. We had some situations represented by pictures that we had to decipher between the facts and assumptions. We also got/get to be spies and observe body language. This activity will help us to recognize social situations better. Some students are in tune to these things but others aren't so much. I've found that it is best to just be blatant and direct with how to react/observe/understand social situations. This also helps with empathy-to identify what others may be feeling based on their body language.

In our meeting, we shared about our weekend and played, Aunt Minerva. Many were able to figure it out this time! (Aunt Minerva likes bubbles, but she doesn't like gum; she likes swimming but doesn't like to swim; she likes balloons but not latex; she likes Jenna but not Hayley...can you figure it out?) For read aloud, some read their Harris Burdick stories they created last week and then, I handed back their informational report rubrics. They should take the feedback on the rubric and work to make revisions in order to become better writers. These are due on Monday, 12/17. In Science/Social Studies, 4th graders discussed the American Revolution and the conflicts between the Native Americans, French, British, etc. 5th grade kiddos began their "Where in the world?" projects. In Math, 4th grade students measured angles using protractors and what they know of circles while 5th graders worked with multiplication and division of fractions. 

Hour of Code

This week was Computer Science Education Week so we participated in Hour of Code! I participated too and earned my certificate which I projected proudly! I used code.org and completed a dance party~so fun! You should try it some time. Others used Tynker and we tried a new site using Python code, however, it wasn't compatible with our ipads. All in all, we had fun and learned another life skill.

After special, in meeting, we shared where we would go if we could go anywhere in the world-most of us chose warm and sunny places-and then played Guess my Number with the students choosing numbers to have each other guess using yes and no questions. Then, we continued writing our Harris Burdick stories. We spent time reading and writing-it is always nice to have time to just read and to just write. In Science/Social Studies time, 4th grade students investigated natural insulators by making blubber gloves while 5th grade kiddos had SciFri with a fun quiz game. In Math, 4th graders took a measurement pre-test and worked to solve a pretty difficult conversion problem. 5th graders kept working to solve their fraction word problems.

Balancing a checkbook

Today, we added in the life skill of balancing a checkbook, to the mix! Many continued with keyboarding and/or sewing though. We wanted to do some cooking but I wasn't quite able to make it happen. Maybe another time as they really wanted to learn some basic cooking skills.

After special, in our morning meeting, we shared what we had for dinner last night. It made me feel better because I wasn't the only that didn't feel like cooking~many went out or had fast food! Then, we played category challenge with Christmas songs. Justin won with 8 song titles! Instead of reading aloud, since we are still working with The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, we watched part of TedTalk about boredom and how being bored leads to creativity and brilliance! In literacy, we continued writing our stories inspired by Harris Burdick and practiced our literary element vocabulary and played a jam using vocabulary.com-which we loved. In Social Studies/Science, 4th grade students conducted our heating investigation and we discussed how to better conserve energy instead of wasting it. They even got to bring home a souvenir of weatherstrip! :) 5th grade students played their revised landform games. In math, 4th graders continued measurement conversions and 5th graders worked with their fraction word problems.

Sewing

Today's life skill/genius hour activity was sewing! Many students, including boys, chose to learn how to sew-which was very cool to see! Others chose to practice keyboarding skills. Both great life skills!

After special, in morning meeting, we shared our favorite holiday movies and then played, "The Wright Family." This was a fun game of passing an object left and right. Ask your kid if they ended up with a blow pop! Then, we read, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. This book has many mysterious elements and we really enjoyed reading it. Also, it lent itself to allow us to write some really creative and cool stories that go along with the amazing illustrations. We also worked on some vocabulary associated with mysteries and mysterious elements in literature. In Social Studies/Science, 5th grade kiddos used feedback from their peers to revise their landform games and 4th grade kiddos completed their investigation on which insulation was the best material. In math, 4th graders continued with measurement conversions and 5th graders continued with fractions and solving word problems. Recess was freezing! (Make sure kiddos have hats and gloves!) We are really enjoying our genius hour-ish time at the end of the day. I think we are making the most of learning life skills these past weeks.

Keyboard

After special, in our morning meeting, we shared what we think are life skills that are necessary but aren't taught in school. Some answers were sewing, cooking, driving, self-defense and some other random things. Then, we played Pica, Ferme, Nada with words instead of numbers. Turns out it wasn't as challenging as the numbers were. We read, Ben's Dream, also by Chris Van Allsburg today and discussed the elements of the story. Then, we had a small bit of time before meeting for ABBC so most read. ABBC was discussing our first tic-tac-toe task and beginning our second task. (HF tic-tac-toe included on Canvas.) 5th graders then continued with their landform projects while 4th grade students continued with the Ohio Energy Project. In math, while 5th graders continued with their fraction problems, 4th graders worked with measurement conversions. After lunch and recess, we checked in on our WEP goal action plans and decided to practice some keyboarding as that too, is a life skill. Tomorrow, we'll hopefully be able to practice some sewing or more cursive or keyboarding, etc.

Cursive

Cursive handwriting was replaced with keyboarding in 3rd grade. However, students need to be able to write their signature so today, we practiced writing our name in cursive. If they want to continue learning, they are able and many chose to look up the cursive alphabet on their ipad. Some tried their middle names or whole names (not nicknames) to become even more proficient. Ask to see their signature!

After special, in meeting, we shared about our weekend using 5 words or less. This caused us a ton of curiosity about what these few words actually meant so I hope it generated some conversation later. Then, we played a couple of rounds of Coseeki. Before reading a new Chris Van Allsburg book, we discussed any final thoughts about The Stranger. The book we read today, The Sweetest Fig. We are noticing that Van Allsburg puts a lot of mysterious elements into his books and The Sweetest Fig had a fun twist at the end. After some discussion, students worked on their informational reports (if they hadn't finished this weekend) and on their first ABBC task that is due tomorrow. Most had plenty of time for reading independently. In Social Studies, 5th graders shared their landform games and 4th graders continued our discussion on insulators and conductors as well as heat vs. temperature with the Ohio Energy project. In Math, those in Mrs. Tanner's class they completed story problems made by their peers while in Mrs. Kelly's room, they completed some addition and subtraction fraction problems and in 4th grade, we completed the Metric Olympics (some received medals!) and practiced conversions. (Our 6th grade math friends worked with ratios.)