Let it Snow!!

Since we couldn't go out and play in all the snow today, we decided to play with the snow inside! The students chose different jobs to do and then they got busy making a snowy scene for our bulletin board outside in the hallway. Here SY and JW are busy decorating their snowman.

AC, BG and CZ created this snowman.

This group just wanted to make snow.

TVN, WH and CG were in charge of the snowflakes.

KC, NH and RH decorated the words "Winter Wonderland" with glitter and then cut them out.

BZ and KW also created a snowman - make that a snow-woman.

Here is what our finished work looked like:

Have a wonderful vacation and drive carefully! Merry Christmas!

Lit. Block

In the morning we do lit. block for an hour and a half. This is where we focus on reading and all it's aspects. We work on fluency, word attack skills, phonics, comprehension, and story elements to name a few things. Here a group is doing a reader's theater.Reader's theater is a great tool for building fluency.
I meet with small groups that vary in size. I like to have no more than 6 students per group.

KC and RH are silent reading for one of their "jobs".

The students rotate through the computers in the morning and they listen to stories and take quizzes on them through an online resource called RAZ kids.

Another job the students do is writing. There are several writing projects they can choose from. Most of the students like to create their own stories which we then place in the class library for everyone to enjoy. Here CB is writing a true story about how he got in a bicycle accident at the park.

CK is writing a non-fiction book about how the Titanic sunk. He uses books from the library to help his story.

PB is working on a make-believe story called ghost-chasers.

Students may listen to stories at the Listening Center. They can also record stories that they read for other students to listen to. WH is enjoying a class favorite - Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom!

We work hard on our reading at school - Keep up the reading at home and your students will be well on their way to a successful school career!

The Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thansgiving!

This week and last we have been working on several Thanksgiving projects. Here is a picture of our family turkey where they students decorated their feathers at home. We shared them here at school and then made one BIG turkey!


The students had a chance to finish up their group projects of a First Thanksgiving scene and they did a really great job! They are in the hallway for everyone to see.

The students had a homework assignment where they had to interview a family member about their Thanksgiving traditions. Some questions were about where the family eats and some questions were about the food itself. We took those interviews and used the answers to make several different graphs like bar graphs and pie graphs. My camera battery died while we were doing this so I only was able to take one picture!

One of the most fun things we did was create a book about the first Thanksgiving and I took a small video while the students read their pages. Push play and listen!

Room 12's SWAT Team!

Officer Golter stopped by yesterday to show us his gear that he uses when working on the SWAT team. Some of it is similiar to what he uses when he is patrolling and some of it is completely different.

He has to wear a special suit that has all kinds of neat loops and belts so that he can attach stuff to himself. Along with a hard hat, bullet-proof vest and radio, he also has to carry special glasses that help him see in the dark, a gas mask for his face and zipties that can be used for all sorts of things.

Once he was done talking, we were allowed to try on some of his gear.

These two look pretty tough don't they!

While CK was wearing the vest, Officer Golter had him show the class the back of the vest and how to carry out a member of the team if they are injured. Once CK had a turn to be "drug out of danger" the rest of the kids quickly wanted to be injured as well.

It was a great visit and we all had a lot of fun looking at the different things Officer Golter brought in and we learned a lot too! Thank you Officer Golter!!

Working Together

Last Thursday we started a group project as a Thanksgiving art piece. The students were divided into groups and given their supplies. The directions were to create a background on white paper and then cut, color and paste in characters. The students chose different jobs and quickly got started.

SY and HS work together to create the background scenery.

CK and WH spread out on the floor.

These groups are working well together.

Some groups divided up the work so that some worked on the scenery while others worked on the characters at the same time. Here CG is cutting out a pilgrim character.

TT is coloring some characters.

These 3 passed their level 1 math facts test and earned an award and an extra .25 cents to spend in our classroom store.


Friday was SF last day here at Sherwood. We were very sad to see him go but we wish him luck at his new school. We all gave him high-5's or hugs on our way out the door.

Canned Food Drive

Beware! If you are missing some canned food from your cupboards in the next few days, it is probably because our annual canned food drive will be starting next week. The class that brings in the most canned food will receive 15.oo to spend as they wish.

The 5th grade leadership team is in charge of collecting the cans from classrooms each day and recording how many cans were brought in. Here is a member of the leadership team explaining to the class what goes on during the canned food drive.

This week we were able to give out the awards for exceptional attendance. The students who missed fewer than 3 days during the first quarter of school received an award. Look at how many students we had! That is really good attendance!

CG was our Star of the Week and she brought in her poster filled with wonderful pictures of herself and her family. The students asked her questions and I even learned a few new things about her!

Presidents, Measurements, and Store!

Even though Halloween was over we read one more Halloween story. Our pen pals at McKay Creek Elementary had done a play with this story and we wanted to read the book before we watched their performance. So we read...

Then we watched the performance on their blog ...

Then we gave them a big Sherwood clap because they did such a great job! Way to go pen pals!

Election Day was very exciting. All of the students voted in the cafeteria and in the classroom we talked about what exactly the president does. Then we created a class book called "If I was the president ... " The students had some great ideas. Here SF and CK are busy writing their ideas down.

BZ and AC would make very different presidents. BZ said that she would help people in need by giving them food and AC said that he would be rich for his family so he could buy things that they like. All the ideas were great and you will see them in our class book after the Christmas Break.

CK was our Star of the Week and he brought in 3 very special necklaces to share with us on his poster. One necklace was from his great-grandpa, another from a visit to Silverwood and yet another from a trip to the coast.

CK also finished his math level 1. What a great week for him! He earned a special award as well as a quarter to spend at store.Way to go C!

On Friday we had store. The students take their money they have earned for good behavior and they get to buy things. This is a big day for them because it only happens once a month. They count their money daily in anticipation.

The student helper of the day gets to help people "check out" at store. BZ was a great clerk as well as salesman. She not only encouraged people to choose things in their budget but to select things they could really use! I see great things in her future!

We started measuring with rulers this week. We also have started talking about the difference between inches, feet and yards and how to select the appropriate measuring tool. We measured all kinds of things.