A Fabulous February!

The children worked hard and enjoyed many unique and interesting learning experiences! 

View our photos below!

 The kids found some fun ways to pass the time indoors during the cold, rainy days of February!

 Students read I'm Trying to Love Spiders by Bethany Barton with Mrs. O'Kelly in the LMC. Not only did we enjoy this clever book, but the children used this book as a springboard to learn new facts about spiders using Pebble Go! The children practiced the concept of sketch-noting to record important details to remember.

 The children LOVED our lessons on erosion during science. They investigated how erosion works by getting really dirty. They built mountains out of sand and dirt, and then made it "rain" over their mountain. They watched as small and large pieces of dirt, sand, and soil tumbled down the side of the mountain and gathered at the base. We also noticed that water formed a small river or lake at the bottom! The children carefully observed their mountain before, during, and after their rainfall, taking notes and drawing their observations in their science notebooks.

 After their mountain erosion was complete, the children were challenged to reform their mountain into another landform they have learned about. It was great to see canyons, plains, and peninsulas evolve!

 Global School Play Day took place! The children brought in their own games for home on this day, and the children worked together to organize and facilitate their games, and they also practiced the skills of collaboration, turn taking, and strategy! They were counting, planning, thinking ahead, considering angles, matching, and asking questions!

 Lessons during reader's workshop have included the skills of problem-solving the meaning of new words; using a K-W-L chart to consider background knowledge, ask questions, and jot down our learning; determining the author's purpose (persuade, inform, or entertain); and determining the cause and effect in the text.

 On the 100th day of school, the children thought about what their life might be like at the wise age of 100. They imagined themselves living somewhere warm, listening to the radio loudly, playing Bingo, and having lots of tea! :)

 During math, children worked to determine even/odd numbers by circling sets of 2 within the group. We also practiced adding equal sets, and using a picture to represent a number!

 The children built word ladders during a word study lesson. They paid careful attention to the onset (beginning part) and rime (ending part) of each word, and were challenged to change one part only to create a new word in their ladder!

 Back in the LMC, the children took a virtual scavenger hunt learning about the winter sports in the Winter Olympics! The children scanned QR codes which took them to video clips showing them the sports including curling, figure skating, ice hockey, skiing, and the luge!

 As we reached the end of Chapter 6 during math, the children completed a "Cumulative Review" together. It was great to watch the children recall the strategies and skills of our math lessons up to date and work together to solve problems. I watched terrific teamwork, problem solving, and application of learned skills!

 Happy Valentine's Day! The children enjoyed making valentine cards for their families, exchanging valentines with each other, and enjoying an afternoon of fun with Mrs. Benassi, Ms. Madsen, and Mrs. Valentin!

 Another text format that the children focused on during reader's workshop was compare/contrast.  When comparing two things, people, places, etc., we practiced using a Venn Diagram to sort out similarities and differences.  When comparing more than two things, using a matrix helped us keep track of how different things are alike or different.

 Our little "love bugs" on Valentine's Day holding their little love bugs! :)

 The children practiced their sight words with a game of "follow the path."  An added feature to the game was for the children to clap, disco, whisper, or "hair toss" the spelling of each word!

 Ms. Madsen came in to share the painting "The Letter" by Dutch painter Jan Vermeer. The children really thought critically and creatively about the clues in the painting and what these details might mean!

 One more way the children practiced their high-frequency words was to create a word search for their friends to solve. They had fun hiding tricky letter combinations in their puzzles to stump their friends and make them look super closely at the puzzle before circling words!

 Julie Jurgens stopped by from the Arlington Heights Memorial Library to visit the children and share some of the library's extensive book collection with us! She made a point to bring books that matched what we are learning about! The children were excited to check out a book to bring home and read, too!

 We worked together to plan a way to prevent erosion before testing it out with water. The children thought collaboratively about ways to use supplies available to them to keep their house in place!

 We enjoyed a virtual tour of the Australian states and territories using nearpod in the LMC!

 Preparing for our "trip" to Australia! The children created passports and suitcases!

 We celebrated Tyler's star student week! It was fun to have Mrs. Babich in during the afternoon to share a story and a science experiment with Tyler and his classmates.

 Time to investigate the states and territories of Australia! The children are broken into small groups and are searching for all of the important and interesting reasons we should choose to visit their territory over any other. The children will be creating commercials to convince us when their research is complete!

 Dr. Ernie and Dr. Jay from Costello Dental Excellence right here in Arlington Heights stopped by to talk to the children about taking good care of their teeth all year long! He talked about good foods we should eat and foods we should stay away from, as well as the importance of flossing- to get our teeth clean in the places a toothbrush can't!

 We enjoyed watching Jena dress as a dentist as the children answered questions about what we learned during the presentation correctly!

 We guessed right! Jena has more than 20 teeth after a quick count from Dr. Ernie.

 We had to take a minute to write a thank you note for such a thorough presentation- and for all of the fun treats! The children were challenged by Dr. Ernie to brush their teeth every morning and night for 30 days, and to keep track of it on a log he included in their "goody bag." Dr. Ernie reminded the kids to bring those back when they are complete to earn another surprise! Thank you for encouraging us to take consistent care of out teeth, Dr. Ernie!