Greenhouses

We sent these home last week, but for 12 days we had a classroom full of greenhouses! In order to be able to see the whole growing process, we started bean seeds in our greenhouses and observed them every few days. Some of them grew to be quite large!

Wooden creations

My husband, Bill, is a cabinet maker and has lots of wood scraps hanging around his shop. Thanks to the Stine family, the Greene family and Bill, we now have a new station in our classroom complete with wood glue! The children helped me move furniture around, carry in boxes of wood and then got to work!

The glue dried really quickly, allowing kids to paint their creations! We also had a meeting to discuss discoveries kids made about working with wood glue (Miles said don't use too much, Cora said don't use too little) and about building a base for your structure so it wouldn't stick to the table! I can't wait to see where the kids take this!

 

Seeds!

Last week Jeannie came to plant seeds with us. We planted herbs for Claire and Yuko to use in the kitchen. We also planted some flowers. We have been learning about what seeds need to grow, the seed life cycle and identifying plant parts.

The seeds are being carefully cared for in our classroom and we just noticed the first sprouts today!

Sugar House

We had a lovely field trip to the Sugar House in April, thought it was slightly disappointing because they weren't boiling when we visited. We loved the sugar on snow taste test and the short hike we took through the woods. Thank you to everyone who helped us!

Newsletter

In case some of you didn't receive the newsletter (or find it in your child's backpack), I'm posting it here for your reading pleasure!

April 28, 2015

Dear Families,

I can’t believe we are entering the final 7 weeks of school! This time of year always goes by so fast and the students always amaze me with the progress they make in the Spring. I wanted to write a formal newsletter to make sure you all know what exciting things are happening in our classroom!

Our study of opinion writing continues with a focus on writing letters. This unit has sparked a passion for writing in many students. The children are empowered to write to solve problems that they see in their world from drying up markers to kids running in the halls at school to parents with messy mud rooms.  Ask your child what problems they are working on solving and to whom they are writing letters.

In phonics we continue to work on reviewing letter names and sounds, building and reading words.  We will continue to practice the digraphs (two letters that make one new sound) th, sh, wh, ch, ck.  Sentences are also a new focus- both writing and reading them.

Our focus in math moves to working with number sentences and continuing to practice working with the teen numbers.  Practicing counting up to 50 (and even through 100) would be great. Car rides are excellent for counting practice. Practicing those tricky teen numbers would also be beneficial for all. You can do this in many ways: asking your child to grab 15 of an item, asking them to show you 16 fingers or flashing fingers for them to recognize the amount (show a full group of 10 fingers first and then some more to build a teen number). 

In science we will begin investigating plants, seeds and gardening. We will be conducting many exciting experiments in the classroom, starting and caring for herb seeds with our school gardener Jeanne Sargent that will be planted for Yuko and Claire to use in the kitchen and reading many, many books about seeds and plants. 

To keep things exciting in our classroom space, I’m going to be introducing a sensory table so stay tuned to hear what items are in the table. I’m also going to be adding some new art stations- building with wooden pieces, stamping and painting with leaves, beading and more. I am looking for donations of wood glue. If you have extra wood glue at home, or are willing to purchase some for our classroom, we would be very grateful! 

Even though it doesn’t really feel like Spring yet (hopefully soon!) our class seems to be coming down with a case of Spring Fever- meaning that everyone is a little chatty, unfocused and silly. I have found that when parents have a conversation with their child expressing  their expectations for their child at school, positive behavior increases dramatically. Please talk to your child at home reminding them of their job here at school- to listen, follow directions and do their best. I will be following up with you with a note, both if I notice positive changes or not. I’ve talked to the class about the problem we are having and how you will be helping. When children realize that teachers and parents are communicating it makes a huge difference! 

Thank you so much for your involvement, commitment and support. As always, please come see me with any questions or thoughts. 

Writing to change the world!

We just wrapped up our study of How To writing. Our new unit has sparked a new kind of passion for writing! We are learning about opinion writing and we are calling it "writing to change the world". Children have looked around our classroom and school and noticed problems that they think should be solved. Next they thought about how the problem could be solved and then they are writing to solve it! Kids are writing songs, posters, letters and books.
Because this writing is so self-directed, the children are loving it! I've had begging for 5 more minutes of writing on multiple days. Ask your child what problem they are working on solving!

Deirdre visits

For the past few weeks, Deirdre, our nurse, has been visiting our class once a week. She's taught us about healthy food, keeping our bodies healthy and visiting the doctor. Today she brought in a bunch of her tools to try out in the classroom on our friends and her teddy bear.

We listened to hearts and lungs.

We gave pretend shots.

We checked temperatures.

We even took our blood pressure!