Having Fun and Working Hard!

In the last two weeks, we did a quick and brief study on my favorite president - Abraham Lincoln.

Can you recognize him?

We also did a few pieces of "American Pride" artwork. I loved how different they all were. The directions were to choose one thing to draw and then create the American Flag on it. These are a few of the things they came up with.

They are still hanging in the hall but I will be sending them home soon!

We have started to focus heavily on borrowing and we have used our base 10 blocks to help us as well as the ActivExpressions that we are borrowing from the ESD. I give the students a problem to solve on the Promethean Board:

They use their base-10 blocks to solve the problem:

And then they send in the answer using their ActivExpressions! It is a lot of fun and the students are loving every minute of it!

On Friday we didn't have a quick check so we played a game together instead. We split up into teams and then played a game similar to Jeopardy that helped us practice our math. Here is the game board:

The teams had to work together and solve the problem. They took turns being the one who got to send in the answer with the ActivExpression. They are already begging me to play again!

Here is an example of one of the problems:

If your student's aren't wanting to practice math at home try to set up a game similar to this one and play together as a family. I bet your student would sit right up and love to play and it would be a great family time activity. You never know - they could even teach you a thing or two!

Focus on Friendship

Last Thursday was so much fun I am still smiling.
We had games.

We had cookies to decorate.

Special treats and valentines to pass out and share with one another.

When it was time to begin, I loved watching the students read through each and every valentine and tell each other thank you. I loved how they oohed and aahed over the pictures and little goodies in their valentine holders.

After we had enjoyed snacking and reading valentines, it was time to break out the games and play.

And decorate cookies of course!

We had so much fun, and all the students played together so well, that I am thinking we might have to have another game day and do this all over again!

This Last Week

With the laptops in our classroom the last few weeks, we have been doing some very fun projects. One thing the students have had a chance to play at is designing their our flipcharts for the Promethean Board. All the laptops have the software and once I showed the students how to access it and use some of the design tools, they were off and running.

I saved the flipcharts on a zip drive and then we tried them out on the Board. I loved how the students made flipcharts that challenged one another.

We have also been using another new flipchart during writing time that we are loving. All the students names start out on writing and then once I am done giving the directions, they begin their assignment. As they progress through the various writing steps they move their name across the board and once they are done conferencing with me one-on-one about their writing, they move their name to the bottom of the screen so that I know they are done. Then they practice their spelling words or begin a different writing assignment until I have conferenced with everyone that day. It is a lot of fun and I love how I can tell what everyone is working on with a glance at the board!

Here is AL with one of his finished pieces of writing from this last week. It was about Groundhog's day.

We recently started using the new math curriculum that was purchased for us and the students have been loving the visual learning manipulatives that come with it. Before each lesson, there is a CD that introduces the students to vocabulary words and then walks them through the new concept step-by-step all with pictures and sound. It's really neat!

On Friday we had store and the students had the opportunity to spend some of their hard eared money. It had been a while and they were anxious! As soon as I start to put things out, they are all finding excuses to walk by the table to see what is for sale.

We also had a special visitor to our room later that afternoon. Macy, who is SM's bunny, came by to say hi and let us pet her. So sweet!