Dia de los Muertos and Salmon Eggs
/This week we added a new component to our morning meetings. Last week we added finding intentional mistakes in our morning letter as I strategically bring focus to different word patterns and conventions. This week we added a math calendar component. Most mornings we spend time looking at our classroom calendar while discussing upcoming events and math concepts. We use base ten blocks to show how many days we've been in school (we are up to 35!) and students are also learning how to count change. Students have an opportunity to come up to the SMARTboard to share their thinking and interact with digital materials. During morning meeting Ms. Sam also leads students in finding the answer to their investigation questions. One question this week was what is the moon made of?. This led to some interesting spinoff questions and discussions. We learned that the moon doesn't have its own light; instead it reflects light from the sun. During outside time a small group of students began practicing a "spooky" dance routine that will be performed on Halloween. Students continued practicing the skill of asking others whether you can join their play. When Ms. Ren visited us this week, she read students a book called Each Kindness. We had several classroom discussions about being inclusive and proactively asking others to play if they seem lonely or unsure how to join the group. In writers' workshop students continued to work on individual stories and writing goals. Students also practiced sharing their work with a partner and receiving a specific compliment about their writing. Timofey brought in five different kinds of mushrooms for us to examine this week! We learned about the different types during a whole class meeting and the next day students had an opportunity to examine the mushrooms under microscopes. On Wednesday our salmon eggs arrived. We now have approximately 200 salmon eggs in our classroom. Students often choose to work near the aquarium to keep an eye on the eggs. We got to briefly examine the eggs under a microscope before adding them to the tank. In addition, we launched our mapping unit this week and started using our thinking books. We use these journals to record questions, observations, brainstorming, and ideas. We've examined several different types of maps so far including nautical maps, constellation maps, animal atlases, maps of Portland, bike trail maps, and more. Today students began creating their first map of the unit. Students got to choose what kind of map to create first. This week we learned about Dia de los Muertos and got to hear read alouds in English and Spanish that describe the holiday. Then we teamed up with the Whales to create individual sugar skull art pieces. These art pieces are on display in our hallway. This week several students opted to lead "art classes" where they teach other students how to draw specific items. Our classroom is bursting with art, color, and creativity! This morning we had our Otter popcorn stand where students gained practice counting change.
