Happy Friday!

From Philip:
I got to watch a movie today-the Magic School Bus.

From Kyle:
We learned about our life cycle from baby to old person.

From Mrs. Clough:
Happy Friday!  So sorry I did not get back to all of you yesterday!  It was a crazy busy day!

We continued learning about new life cycles and yesterday we learned about our own life cycle in a "kid-friendly version". :) I shared a slideshow of pictures of me growing up from baby to now and the kids really enjoyed that and we talked about how we change from baby to toddler, toddler to kid, kid to teenager, etc.  Once again, their life cycle books look amazing!  Today we did one final page in our book and reviewed the life cycle of the caterpillar/butterfly.

In math we continued with story problems yesterday and today we began learning about the doubles addition facts by reading a great book about a magic pot...ask your kids about the magic pot.  :)

Today we took time to clean out our desks, and boy did some of us need it! :)

We are continuing to build our schema by making connections to the stories we read and yesterday and today we read a Henry and Mudge story that the kids all enjoyed.

A few reminders:
-Newsletters from me and Ms. Asa went home today.  Check them out! :)
-Keep reading at home and practicing those spelling words!
-Check your child's take home folder every day for notes from school and completed daily work!

Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Clough

Joey to Kangaroo!

From Holly:
We got a 2 at recess and learned about the kangaroo life cycle.

From Mrs. Clough:
Happy Wednesday!  We are half way through the week! :)  To explain a bit more about Holly's comment, every afternoon at last recess the teachers on duty give a number to each class (1, 2, or 3-1 being very respectful and responsible behavior for lining up quickly and quietly on the line face forward, 2 needing reminders/kids talking, 3, etc...).  Today our class did receive a 2 for a few talkers, but usually we tend to do a very nice job!

We learned about a 3rd new life cycle...The Kangaroo!  We began by reading the book Joey to Kangaroo which had a LOT of new information for me and the kids! :)  We then discussed the 3 stages of the kangaroo life cycle and I again, made a rough sketch to model for the kids as they worked on their life cycle books.  Please ignore the fact that my kangaroos look more like foxes as one of the kids said!!!  Once again, I am very impressed with the work the kids have been doing on their life cycle books and I may even save them to share with you all at conferences!

In math, we continued working on solving addition and subtraction story problems.  We listed different strategies to solve the problems including:
1. Draw a picture
2. Use counting cubes
3. Use a number line
4. Use fingers to count up or back down
5. Use the 100 Chart
We also have been practicing the following steps to solve the problem:
1. Read the story problem and picture it in your mind.
2. Pick a strategy to help you solve the problem (Use it/Solve it)
3. Write an equation to show what you did.
We will have one more full day of story problems, before we move on to learning more about the doubles!!!

In shared reading we are continuing to build our schema by making text to self connections and today we began making text to text connections after reading Amazing Grace and making connections to our story from yesterday Oliver Button is a Sissy.  As you read with your child at home, encourage him or her to make connections to the text or see if they can connect what they are reading to another book!

Reminder:
-I am still working on finishing up phone calls to those who's child will be participating in the supplemental and/or intensive reading and math programs.  I will finish by Friday!  Promise!

Thanks for stopping by!
Mrs. Clough

Another day, Another life cycle!

From Mrs. Clough:
No student blogger today, so you only get to hear from me!  We had another very busy day today and learned about another life cycle...that of the SUNFLOWER, and the kids continued adding to their own life cycle book.  Again, I was amazed with their illustrations and level of engagement!  I think I have an artistic and scientific bunch of kiddos!

Again, please don't mind my quick sketches! :)  

In math today, we continued working on using different strategies to solve both addition and subtraction story problems.  Strategies include using our fingers, using counting cubes, drawing a picture, using the 100 chart, and using the number line.  We will be practicing more story problems the next couple of days before we start learning the DOUBLES at the end of the week!  So stay tuned for that.

We began learning about speech marks (aka-Quotation Marks) by looking at a picture book (A Bad Case of the Stripes-lots of dialogue in that book!) and looking for the speech marks and how/why they are used.  I think we still have some work to do with this, but it was a start!  

We are continuing to build our SCHEMA by making text to self connections to different stories we read.  Yesterday we read Ira Sleeps Over and today we read Oliver Button is a Sissy.  More stories to come and more connections to be made!

A few reminders:

-DIBELS fall scores went home today. Please remember that this is only a snapshot of your child's decoding and reading abilities.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or a member of the Starry reading staff.

-School pictures are TOMORROW! If you would like to order pictures, please send your order form and money tomorrow.

-The October lunch menu and Starry calendar went home today.  Take a loot at it!

-I added some links to the right side of the blog post that are fun and free to use at home to work on some reading skills and keyboarding.  Check them out! :)  Also at the top of the page, you can sign up to receive email alerts when the blog has been updated.  Just enter your email address and hit enter or return on your keyboard!

Have a great night!

Mrs. Clough

Happy Monday!

From Gracin:
We learned about the life cycle of a frog.

From Mrs. Clough:
Welcome back to our sixth week of school! This morning the kids came in and noticed we had a new piece of furniture.  I have to say, I'm quite excited about it as well!

A HUGE thank you to my mom, who teaches 1st grade in Fort Dodge, for making this chair for us!  She also made the piano bench that I have in my classroom.  She starts by drawing everything with pencil, then uses a wood burner over the pencil drawings to make the grooves, and finally she paints it. Voila!  Many of the kids said she was very talented, and I do have to agree! :)

In math today, we revisited our old pocket data and gathered new data regarding the number of pockets we had on our clothes today.  Every child estimated how many pockets our class had and then we gathered the data.  To add all of the numbers together, we looked for numbers we could combine to equal 10 (because we have been doing a lot of working on making combinations to equal 10).  It went very well.  We then counted by 10s and added the leftovers.  Our class had 78 pockets on their clothing today, which is 21 pockets, more than last time!  We also continued working to solve story problems.

Our pocket data that was gathered today.

In science today we learned about a new life cycle-the frog.  I had a great book to share Tadpole to Frog that gave a lot of great information.  All this week-each day-we will be learning about a new life cycle and the kids are creating their own book of life cycles.  So, after reading the non-fiction text, the kids had to put it in their own words and make their own illustrations to show the life cycle of a frog.  

After the kids worked for a bit, we gathered again to review the stages.  Please don't mind my rough sketches! :)  I told the kids I expected them to draw better tadpoles and frogs-and no doubt, they did! :)

Working on their life cycle book, on the frog page.  I was very, very impressed with the work I saw today during science.  Great illustrations and information!  I'm looking forward to working on these all week!

A few reminders:

-Fall DIBELS scores and information will be sent home tomorrow.  Please remember that these scores reflect a portion of your child's reading and decoding abilities and they just came back from a long summer.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or the reading staff here at Starry (Mrs. DeWulf and Mrs. Jellinek).  

-School pictures are THIS Wednesday! SMILE! :)  If you are wanting to order your child's pictures, please send their order form and money either tomorrow or Wednesday.

-This week, I will be contacting parents who child will be participating in our supplemental and intensive programs.

Thank you for stopping by! Check back tomorrow!

Mrs. Clough  

Happy "Poppin'" Friday!

From Landen:
I liked eating popcorn and watching the Magic School Bus.

From Mrs. Clough:
First of all, I have to say how much I enjoyed seeing how excited the kids were to wear their pajamas to school today! :)  I wish I would have gotten a class picture to share, but the time slipped away once again during the day today!

We have been reviewing a poem on respect for our upcoming assembly on Tuesday.  We read it over and over, taking turns, and I think they might have it memorized now! Check with your child this weekend, and you might be surprised!

We say, "Thank you."

We say, "Please."

We don't interrupt or tease.

We don't argue.  We don't fuss.

We listen when folks talk to us.

We share our toys and take our turn.

Good manners aren't too hard to learn.

It's really easy when you find-

Good manners means...just being kind!
BE RESPECTFUL!

In math we began learning about different strategies to solve story problems and for the most part the kids did quite well!  In your child's take home folder tonight, they have instructions to two math games we have been playing in class-Collect 25cents and Plus 1 or 2 Bingo.  Silly me, I forgot to send home the bingo playing cards, but they kids will bring them home next week.  All you need to play Collect 25cents is some loose change and a dice! :)  The kids seemed pretty excited to bring the games home, so I hope you will get to play over the weekend and even into next week!

As a reward for overall having a pretty good week following directions and the Marion Way (with the exception of Wednesday where we needed lots of reminders!), we not only wore our PJs to school, but we had some popcorn as a treat as well and watched a Magic School House video all about butterflies to connect to our learning in science.  I think the kids really enjoyed it.  While we were eating our popcorn we worked on an adjective activity where the kids had to write as many creative adjectives as they could to describe the smell, sound, touch, looks, and taste of the popcorn.  As I type this, my room STILL smells so deliciously buttery! :)

YUM!

A few reminders:

-Supplemental and Intensive reading groups will begin soon.  You will be contacted next week if your child is selected to participate in these groups, to go over the instructional plan!

-School pictures are Wednesday, September 26th!  Please send your picture orders and money on or before that date if you are wanting to order your child's pictures.

-As we are finally getting into cooler weather (YAY), please make sure your child has a jacket they can wear when they go out for recess.  

Looking ahead:

October 1st-Hannah's Birthday

October 10th- 1:40 Early Release

October 18th-Kyle's Birthday

October 22nd-No School (Teacher Professional Development Day)

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Tomorrow is the first day of fall! :)
Mrs. Clough

Good Day!

From Emily D:
We went to gym.  We had math and we did Daily 5.

From Mrs. Clough:
Another busy day in the 2nd grade.  We had a much better day today following the Marion Way and following directions, so that was a definite plus!  In fact, because had a pretty darn good week, we are having a pajama popcorn party tomorrow.  So parents, don't bother dressing your kids tomorrow-we are going to be comfortable all day tomorrow in our PJs! :)

Even though our butterflies are gone, we continued with science today looking at the (approximate) total time it takes for the caterpillar to transform into the butterfly.  Here was our calendar and some of the data...

In math we learned about addition combinations and practiced with flash cards. Tomorrow I will be sending home Plus 1 or 2 Bingo and Collect 25 cents.  These are math games you can play at home with your child.  They are experts by now at them, so watch out!

Couple reminders:
-PJ day tomorrow!
-Book Orders are due tomorrow
-School pictures are next Wednesday, September 26th.  Order forms and money are due on or before that day
-Notes about the fall DIBELS scores will be going home tomorrow.  If you have any questions, please feel free to call or email!
-Next week we will begin our supplemental groups for kids that need a friendly boost in math or reading.  Intensives will also begin.  The reading support staff as well as myself, will be contacting parents of the kids who will be participating in these programs.  :)

Short post today, but thank you for stopping by!  More this weekend!
Mrs. Clough

Goodbye Butterflies!

From Avery:
We went outside and let our butterflies go.

From Mrs. Clough:

It's true!  As Avery said, we finally said goodbye to our butterflies today!  We started with caterpillars the second week of school and after four weeks of following the life cycle, we released our friends into the wild!  Everyone was SO excited to watch them fly away, although a few were kind of sad, but overall it was a fun time.  There were a few butterflies that did not want to fly out of the net so I was able to get them on a leafy branch and show the kids up close some of the body parts, which was very cool because I heard a couple of kids say (without any prompting or questioning), "Mrs. Clough, I see the proboscis!!!"  :)  In case you are wondering, the proboscis is the "curly thing" by the butterfly's head that stretches out to suck nectar from different plants, mainly flowers.  The kids said goodbye to each and every butterfly as it flew away and clapped at the end.  While it was windy outside, it was a beautiful day to release them into their natural habitat!  While the butterflies are gone, we will continue to learn more about different life cycles, so stay tuned!

In math we continued with playing Tens Go Fish and explored different strategies to make 10 and looked for patterns.  On Friday I will send home some of the math games we have been playing, so you can continue to build the math skills we have learned, with some fun, at home!

Today we struggled as a class (and I heard many teachers say the same thing) to really focus, listen to directions, and stay at an appropriate voice level.  So we spent some time reviewing expectations...please encourage your child to make good choices as we finish the week! :)  I'm 100% confident tomorrow will be a better day! :)

Reminders:

-2 notes went home today: 1) Marion Homecoming t-shirts, and 2) Volunteer sign up for "America Reads" coming up in October.  Check them out!

-Book orders are due this Friday, September 21st.

-School pictures are next Wednesday, September 26th.  Picture orders and money are due on or before that date.

Happy Wednesday!  We're half way through the week!  Thanks for stopping by!

Mrs. Clough

Fun today in 2nd grade!

From Jakob:
We had fun at PE and music, and at recess.  It was so fun.  We also read a good book today.

From Mrs. Clough:
By the sound of it, Jakob thought we had a pretty good day and I have to say, I agree!  Today we talked a lot about respect by learning a new poem and then creating our own acrostic poem on RESPECT.  Many of the acrostic poems looked something like this:
Respect our friends and teachers
Expect the best
Say please and thank you
Positive attitudes are the key
Expect honesty
Care for others
Treat others how you want to be treated.

In math we learned two more games-Math Checkers (where you have to add two numbers on the game board before you can move your piece) and Tens Go Fish-very similar to "Go Fish" but by looking for numbers that would equal 10 when added together.  The kids had a lot of fun.  At the end of the week I will be sending home the three math games we have been working with during Investigations (Collect 25 cents, Make 10, and Tens Go Fish), so you can play with your child at home! :)

Math checkers was a lot of fun today!

I think the activity that both the kids and myself had the most fun with today was when I read Skippyjon Jones and then the kids had to write a new ending to the story and illustrate a picture.  We talked about how good writers start sentences with capital letters and also end with punctuation.  It was fun to read the story and incorporate the Spanish accent that is insinuated in the book.  The kids were laughing and laughing.  If you haven't read the Skippyjon books, I highly recommend them!  Tomorrow I will share some of the kids "new endings", as I have yet to read them myself! :)

SO much fun!

Parents, I sent home a reminder note about book orders being due on Friday.  Also a week from tomorrow is school picture day! SMILE :)  If you would like to purchase your child's pictures, please send the order form and money on or before next Wednesday the 26th.

Thanks for stopping by!  See you tomorrow!
Mrs. Clough

Happy Monday!

 From Lora:  
We have a lot of butterflies and we have a lot of people that have built their rainbows and got coupons.

From Mrs. Clough:
A new week and a holiday at that!  Happy Constitution Day to all of our readers! To begin today we learned a bit about the United States Constitution-what it is, what it does, and why we have it.  I think the entire document (we had it as a poster) was a little overwhelming to them, but they did get the basics, so ask your child tonight what they learned about the Constitution! :)

As Lora mentioned, we have ALL butterflies now!  They are flying around in our cage, as I type right now!  They are very beautiful and the kids are all very excited.  Today in science we learned about their different body parts and how they eat foot.  We learned some very interesting facts including, butterflies' antennae are how they smell, the butterflies' wings are for camouflage and protection from predators, on some of the butterflies' feet is where their sense of taste comes from!  Soon, we will be saying goodbye to the butterflies but our lessons on the life cycle will continue.

All of out butterflies look like this now.  Very exciting to see them fluttering around in the cage!

As mentioned last week, pictures of our final life cycle art projects.  The projects are hung in the different stages-some are hung as butterflies, some caterpillars, and some chrysalises. They turned out pretty great! 

In math we are learning more games to go with our primary number cards...today we learned to play a game called "Make 10" and tomorrow we will be playing a game very similar to "Go Fish", so stay tuned to that.  All of these games are centered around learning different math facts that equal 10, so as practice, quiz your child on different facts that equal 10! :)

Today we practiced our Daily 5 time with all kids going through every center and it went very smoothly!!!  With some re-organization and preparation, the kids handled the new management system very well and I think we found something that will work well for everyone!  YAY!

A few reminders:

1. Please check your child's take home folder every night...there is daily work, and occasional notes from school in their folder.  If you have anything to communicate with me, you may send it back in their folder as I check them every day.

2. Book Orders are due THIS Friday, September 21st.  (They went home last Friday)

3. School pictures are Wednesday September 26th.  Picture orders and money are due on or before this date, though you are not required to purchase pictures.

4. Keep reading with your child at home!  We will officially be starting reading groups next week and it will be as important as ever, that your child gets supplemental reading time at home!

Thanks for stopping by!
Mrs. Clough

Exciting News!

From Cole:

Three butterflies hatched today.

From Mrs. Clough:
SURPRISE!  We had three butterflies hatch today, and in fact in the time from when Cole wrote on the blog to when I left school, there were four butterflies and a fifth on the way!  Very soon I believe our net will be filled with butterflies! :)  The kids were very, very excited to say the least!

Aside from that exciting news, we worked on a caterpillar/butterfly life cycle art project today.  I will post pictures of the final project tomorrow but wanted to share a photo of the process today.  I drew and cut out stencils and the kids then folded a piece of construction paper "hamburger style".  They traced the pattern and then cut it out but not cutting on the folded edge, so that it could open up.  Once they cut it out they colored/designed one side to be the caterpillar, then turned it over and turned it sideways to draw/color the chrysalis, and finally they opened it up to the inside to color a butterfly.  Three major parts of the caterpillar life cycle!  They really enjoyed the activity and we also spent time looking at a non-fiction butterfly magazine and saw the eggs they lay up close, which the kids were thrilled with!

Working on the butterfly!  More pictures tomorrow of the final products!

In math today we played Count on 1 or 2 Bingo!  All of the students really enjoyed playing and I will be sending home copies of the game for you to play at home tomorrow.

Filling up their BINGO cards! :)

Look for more pictures of the art projects and of our REAL butterflies tomorrow! 

Also parents-tomorrow the 2nd newsletter will go out as well as the 2nd book order of the year. These will be due on Friday September 21st. As a reminder, school pictures are on September 26th and while you are not required to buy a photo package, if you would like to your money/order is due on or before the 26th.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mrs. Clough

Half Day!

From Lilly:
We did math in our math book.  We had fun.  

From Mrs. Clough:
Well, we had our very first early dismissal day of the 2012-2013 school year and the time flew just like it does every day!

We started our day by reading a piece of poetry together-echo reading and choral reading.  The poem entitled "What I'd Cook for My Teacher" really humored the kids, and me too! :)  They drew pictures of the jellyfish sandwich, centipede soup, and a-choo-berry pie to go along with the poem in their poetry notebook.

We have finished reading our books by Mark Teague (author and illustrator) and today we made a pictograph where the students had to draw an illustration from their favorite story and place it on our graph.  It turned out pretty well....like I have said many times before, I have some great artists in my classroom!

As a class, our favorite Mark Teague book was Pigsty (it was my favorite, too, although they all are good!)

In math today, we spent a lot of time talking about making estimates, or good guesses.  As Lilly mentioned, we also had fun in math! To do that, we focused on the number of pockets we had on our clothes.  After we estimated, the kids came up and got  counting cubes for each pocket they had on their clothes and recorded the number of students who had a specific number of pockets using tally marks.  Finally, we counted carefully to determine exactly how many pockets there were in our class today by grouping the counting cubes into sticks of 10.

All of our "pocket" data on the board today.

Last week I sent home a newsletter and mentioned making positive phone calls home.  Due to time constraints, I will be emailing parents who provided email addresses in their student information sheets and I will call those who I cannot reach through email.  I am more than willing to be accommodating but am realizing that making 23 phone calls is challenging! BUT-I definitely have many positive things to say about each and every child in my classroom!

Tomorrow will be another very busy day!  I have a fun caterpillar/butterfly project to start, more fun math activities, and I am estimating that we may have our first butterflies in the next two days!  So stay tuned for that!

Mrs. Clough

Monday and Tuesday Posts!

From Brayson:
I had a good time in math today.

From Chase:
We had a great day and a fun time.

From Mrs. Clough:
First I want to apologize for not getting to you last night! We had a crazy busy day here in 2nd grade.  Lots of learning and fun activities going on!  Over the weekend and while I was gone on Friday, ALL of our caterpillars turned into chrysalises!

I stayed late yesterday to transfer all of our chrysalises into the net so that when they hatch, the butterflies will fill our cage!  :)  The kids were excited to see this today.

We have been doing lots of new activities and "investigations" in math dealing with money.  We are learning and making observations about all of the coins and how they can be traded to make other equivalent amounts.  Today we played a game with partners called "Collect 25cents".  It was quite fun. I even played a little bit too!

In Shared Reading, we have begun talking about SCHEMA.  Everyone's schema is different but it is all about being able to make connections to what we're reading and building to/adding to our OWN schema.  We have read two stories so far, Hazel's Amazing Mother and Koala Lou to begin our discussions and work with making connections.  We are beginning with text to self connections.  When you are reading with your child at home, ask him or her to make a connection to the story you are reading!  We have practiced this a lot already and have also done some writing activities to go along with it.

Today we also took some time to talk about how historic September 11th is.  Without getting into many details, we talked about why we celebrate, or remember, September 11th as Patriot Day.  I chose to share the book September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right.  It is a book that was written by a group of 1st graders in Missouri and does an excellent job of addressing the events of 9/11/01 in an extremely kid-friendly way.  I then took some time for questions and discussion, without getting into many details because I recognize it is a very sensitive topic, especially at a young age when this is an event that happened before they were even born!  Regardless, I hope everyone was able to take a moment today to reflect on the events that occurred 11 years ago today.  

A couple of reminders:

*Tomorrow, September 12th, is an EARLY RELEASE AT 1:40PM...please note the time change (it is different from last year)

*School Picture packets and information went home today.  You are not required to buy your child's school pictures.  However, if you would like to, please fill out the information and send your money with your child to school on or before Wednesday, September 26th!

Thank You!  Check back again tomorrow!

Mrs. Clough

We have Chrysalises!

From Hannah:
We got to see  our  caterpillars.  Most of the caterpillars formed a chrysalis.  We also got three more vocabulary words.

From Mrs. Clough:
It was another busy day in 2nd grade, and cooler I might add!  I think the kids and I are all grateful for Mother Nature's cool down in temperatures!  As Hannah mentioned, we had exciting things happen overnight and some of the caterpillars have formed their chrysalis.  The remaining caterpillars have formed into their "J" shape.  Once the kids got to see their own caterpillar, we had a caterpillar walk where they could go around and look at their classmates' to see the changes taking place.  As you can imagine, there was a LOT of excitement in our room today during science.

Chrysalis!  We learned that many changes take place inside of the chrysalis although no scientist has been able to determine exactly how.  We do know that the caterpillar's front 4 "True legs" will grow long and slender and become the legs of the butterfly.  We also know that the caterpillar's 12 eyes will turn into 2 compound eyes with segmented lenses!  

Not all of our caterpillars turned into chrysalises but many of them have turned into a "J" shape which means they are spinning their last bit of silk before they transform into a chrysalis!  I predict many of the "J" shapers, will be chrysalises by tomorrow sometime!  :)

Caterpillar walk, looking at our friends' little creatures with magnifying glasses!

In other news, Hannah mentioned we learned three more vocabulary words while re-reading the book Six Dinner Sid.  We also worked on counting materials carefully and determining whether there were enough counting cubes for everyone in our class (each group of students got a bag full of cubes of different amounts) and if not then how many more cubes did they need.  We continue to work on telling time to the hour as well during math time.

I will be gone tomorrow at a science training, so a substitute will be in the classroom.  Please encourage your child to follow the Marion Way and our classroom agreements while I am away! :)  I trust that they will do a  great job!  Also, Happy Birthday to Connor tomorrow!  I'm sorry I won't be there.  In your child's take home folder tomorrow, there will be the first weekly newsletter of the year.  Please read through it-there are just a few reminders and upcoming events!

Have a great weekend (there will be no blog post tomorrow)!

Mrs. Clough

Half Way Through the Week!

From Lilly:
We had fun at recess and we played house.  I was the tiger.  We had a good day of school.

From Mrs. Clough:
A semi-cool down has arrived and we could tell a slight difference in the building already (I'm cheering at my desk, as I type)!  Lilly says we had a good day at school and for the most part I certainly agree!  We needed a few reminders as a class of our classroom agreements:

I Will...

1. Listen while others are talking.

2. Always raise my hand!

3. Keep my hands and feet to myself.

4. Use nice words when talking to others.  Be kind to everyone.

5. Follow directions.

6. Follow the Marion Way (The Marion Way is my way.  I am respectful, responsible and honest. Follow me!)

We had what seemed like a very long morning with no special today due to DIBELS testing.  Thank you to all of the teachers who helped test 2C's kids! :)  With the extra time, we did some extra math activities and we also spent more time with our caterpillars and learning even more about molting and spinning silk!  I do believe that some of the caterpillars are going to begin forming their chrysalis very soon so watch for pictures of that!  The kids continue to be very excited to get to see their caterpillars and it is a joy to watch them interact!  We read a book that told us even more information about different kinds of caterpillars and moths/butterflies.  There are thousands of species in the world, which the kids found fascinating!  

We spent a lot of time practicing silent reading and buddy reading today-a total of almost 40 minutes!  We are building stamina so that once we officially start the Daily 5, the kids will be prepared and be able to handle long periods of reading while I am working with small groups!  Kudos to the kids for keeping at a voice level 1 or whisper 2 for that period of time today! :)

Tomorrow is Thursday and it will be another fun filled, learning day!  The weather forecast shows it a couple of degrees cooler, too!  

Until next time,

Mrs. Clough

HOT DAY!

From Chase:
We saw our caterpillars.

From Mrs. Clough:
As Chase mentioned, we did get to see our caterpillars today and saw how much they grew over the weekend!  The kids were so excited to see all of the changes that took place over the weekend.  Today we discussed what molting means and why our caterpillars molt, what frass is (caterpillar waste), and how/why our caterpillars spin silk. Ask your child about those things!  We reviewed them many times, so hopefully they can teach you!

Aside from learning more about the life cycle of a caterpillar, we read another book by Mark Teague (author/illustrator) about Ike LaRue and we'll continue reading a couple more books by this funny man over the next couple of days.  We also learned how to use the 100 Chart as a tool and resource in our math workshop, along with reviewing telling time to the hour.  We have a little chant and dance move that we repeat every morning when we say good morning to Judy (our big clock)..."The little hand tells the hour, the big hand tells the minute!".  Your child should be able to show you our little dance move, too! :)  At the end of the day we began our Text Talk Vocabulary series by reading Six Dinner Sid.  We will be reviewing the story for the rest of the week as well as introduce, learn and practice using the vocabulary words from the story.

As the post title says, it was a HOT DAY!  In looking at the forecast, it does appear that a slight cool down is headed our way!!!  Cheers! :)  However, the building will probably stay warm for a while so please continue to dress your child cooly and send a water bottle!

More news and pictures tomorrow!
Mrs. Clough

Pictures and News from Friday!

From Philip:
I had a great day.

From Mrs. Clough:
I apologize for not getting this post done sooner!  It was a busy holiday weekend and I hope everyone enjoyed the warm weather and time with their families and friends!  Friday was another fun and busy day (as Philip says, he had a great day!), and I remembered to get pictures of our caterpillar friends as well as pictures from our math activities!

The kids continued working during "Math Workshop" as a part of our Investigations Math curriculum. They had to come up with an efficient and organized way for me to clearly see that they had 20 and then 30 counting cubes, before building any object they wanted.

While some kids were using the counting cubes, the remaining students worked on covering the area of a shape with pattern blocks and recording their different ways of covering the area.  We will finish these activities tomorrow!

As I mentioned in previous posts, I have excellent artists in my classroom and the kids were working on their caterpillar/butterfly packets, creating drawings of a caterpillar life cycle and coloring the mallow plant.

Here are our furry crawling friends...each of the students have their own caterpillar in a cup just like this.  At the bottom of the cup (the creamy material) is the food from the mallow plant.  The kids were all excited to see if and how much their caterpillar grew just from Thursday to Friday.  I stopped at school today and I have to say, they will be even more excited to see how much growing they did over the long weekend!  More on that tomorrow!  :)

While we have a short week coming up, it will still be very busy!  Please stay in touch with us this week to hear more about our caterpillars, math activities, writing (we're going to finish our autobiographies), and more!  Hopefully a cool down is in the forecast, but please continue to send your children to school in cool clothes and have them bring a water bottle!

Mrs. Clough