Reconnecting After Winter Break
/It's been a joy to be back together after a two week hiatus. Students had exciting stories to share from their breaks and were thrilled to reconnect with classmates. This week during writer's workshop we discussed and wrote about some of our family traditions. Students practiced using an editing checklist to edit their own work and fix up their penmanship and writing conventions. In math our first graders are learning to use number lines as a tool for solving math problems. Our second graders have been working in their individual math books and receiving individualized support from Ms. Sam. Over winter break we received new Flat Stanley updates from Stanleys in Utah, Texas, Washington D.C., North Carolina, New York, and Illinois. You can check out their adventures on our Flat Stanley blog. In our outdoor classroom we discovered that an ice and wind storm over break damaged some branches on one of our large trees. Thursday morning we watched as workers used an aerial work platform and chainsaw to remove the precarious branches. Students have grand plans to use the branches to create fortresses. Students were delighted to discover that the monkey bars are (mostly) completed and ready to be used. During project time students created elaborate story plots with the characters in our gnome house and artists have been creating three dimensional art pieces out of hot glue, pipe cleaners and google eyes. On Friday students practiced counting change as they paid for their popcorn at our Otter popcorn stand.
