Our last week of 2014...

We were a busy little group during our final week of 2014! Along with our regular studies of reading, grammar, spelling, math and social studies, the children experienced some fun and festive events as well! 

Before we get into the holiday fun, let me update you on the learning we did this week.

Our whole group reading story was "Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type." The children practiced the concept of cause and effect as we moved through the story. The cows were determined to get heating blankets from Farmer Brown and typed a series of messages to him on a typewriter to convey their requests. They had to get serious and threaten a milk strike!

Our Text Talk story this week was also a fantasy, and also about cows :). It was called "The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down."  The children enjoyed another silly story about a cow who learned to fly, and refused to come back. Miss Beatrice tried everything she could think of to get the cow to land, and she finally came up with a very clever plan. The children practiced another set of robust vocabulary words including: sternly, contrary, ignored, glide, innovative, and rivals. The word winner of the was "sternly!" Thank you for helping your children enrich their vocabularies by using these words as often as possible at home throughout the week. The children love the challenge!

During math, the children and I practiced identifying "10 buddies," or the numbers that make a 10. We practiced adding 2, 3, and 4 two digit numbers together using our mental math strategy of finding the numbers that make a 10 first. The children were really beginning to get the hang of this!

1) We started the week with our coding lesson with Mrs. Breaux. The children loved arranging a sequence of codes to create a light display on a White House Christmas tree!

2)  Mr. Deptula brought a group of caroling 5th graders to our classroom on Wednesday morning. They spread tons of holiday cheer.

3) It was Ben's week to be our star student! Mrs. Schneider came in to spend some time with us on Friday afternoon. We learned more about the photos that Ben brought to share. Ben and his mom conducted a neat experiment that reminded us that air is always present even though we can't see it- and air pressure can be strong enough to keep a piece of paper dry underwater! Finally, Ben read a cute winter story called "How to Build a Snowman." Ben is a star student because he is smart, respectful, kind, independent and a real leader in our classroom. You had a terrific week, Ben!

 4) The children wrapped up the week in the "Winter Wonderland" prepared by Mrs. Sessler and the PTA. The children created holiday cards, sang songs, and played games. What a treat it was for all~ a much deserved hour of fun and relaxation as we sailed into the winter vacation from school.