September Birthdays

Happy birthday to Aniyah, Ricardo and Valerie this month!! Feel free to send in cupcakes for your child's special day. We enjoyed some yummy cupcakes for Aniyah's 6th birthday today:)

What could it be?

As scientist we played a guessing game that only allowed us to use our sense of touch. Students were able to explore the sense of touch through feeling around in a bag of items to figure out what it was or were blindfolded and put their hand in a substance. We also explored how we can make observations using our sense of hearing. I played different noises, the students made guesses then I revealed the pictures on the smart board of what it was. We will be testing out our keen sense of smell next! 

Fun Run

While it was a hot one, fun run was a success! Way to go everyone who participated and a big thanks to all the parent volunteers. 

Literacy centers

Guided reading groups have been up and running. This is a time where I pull groups of students to work on certain areas of need or to help further develop their literacy skills. While I'm working with 4-5 students at a time the other students are working at independent centers or with the TA, Mr. Chakmakian. The students rotate through centers to ensure that I'm meeting with all groups of students. The center activities you will see below are to enforce letter Identification and sound. Even once your child learns the alphabet, it is still essential to continue reviewing and practicing to engrain it as second nature. To be able to match the letter sound with the letter fluently will help them as emerging readers. Another center below is helping them to begin to stretch out and write three letter, cvc(consonant vowel consonant) words. The kids are very excited that we have begun to use the iPads! There are apps for phonics, sight word recognitions, reading, letter ID and sounds, etc. I will direct individual students to apps that will target individual skills. 

Writers workshop

When I asked the question whose favorite subject is writing, every hand flew up in the air! Writers workshop is a time for students to start developing emerging writing skills; writing down letter sounds, handwriting, stretching out words, putting thoughts on paper, etc. This week we are working on putting thoughts to a story or event they are writing about in a sequential order. They are creating books page by page of what happened first, next, and last. After the students have finished we will begin the editing process or looking back over our work to make it the best it can be and then we will "publish" to share with the class.

Help us win $ for our classroom!

There is a contest going on for NC teachers to win up to $1000 towards their classroom! As a beginning teacher funds are low and materials are in high demand. This would be a wonderful opportunity for the class. Please take a minute to vote for me!!! Be sure to cast your vote here: http://goo.gl/LQfmLG

Becoming Scientists

What is a scientist and what do they do? These are the two essential questions we use to start our first science unit. After exploring what different scientists do and the steps they use to form ideas, we started to try it out ourselves. One of the first thing scientists need to do is make observations. As scientists, we stepped outside our school to observe nature and all the surroundings in the environment around us. Students shared what they saw, heard, touched, and smelled. Through exploration the students discovered that scientists use what we call "the five senses." 

We are going to be focusing on each sense individually to get a better understanding on how we can make observations using them. The first sense we focused on is the sense of taste. What better way to start the unit right?! I can't say we tested anything too exciting though. I used baby food to make this taste testing game a mystery. Students weren't allowed to see, smell, or feel the food(at least not in its original state). Even if the kids peeked the mushed up pears, bananas, peaches, carrots, and apples hardly resembled their original state to give it away. By taking away their other senses, it helped them to only hone in on the sense of taste. Students had to try to take what they already know to make observations on the food through taste to discover what the food was. Check back soon to see how we explore the other senses!