What Time is it?

It's time to learn about time! This week we have been busy learning all  about digital and analog clocks. We learned how a traditional number line is different than the the numbers on a clock. We brainstormed am and pm activities and made our own illustrated clocks. We made our own analog clocks complete with an hour hand and a minute hand. We used our clocks to show the passage of time to the hour while we read, The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. We also read  The Clock Struck One by Trudy Harris and had a discussion about the minute hand and why it's easier to count minutes by fives. We created a second timeline to demonstrate time to the half hour. You can help your child at home by giving them opportunities to tell time to the hour and half hour and encouraging them to count the minutes by fives as practice. Time sure flew as we we were learning :)

Working as a group to put our timeline of am and pm activities in order.
Lots of discussion about whether to start with 12 or 1. This is how we discovered
the first difference between a traditional timeline and the numbers on a clock.

We turned our timeline into a circle and created 2 clocks! We took turns
telling time to the hour.

Telling time along with The Grouchy Ladybug.

Social Thinking 

Mrs. Goldstein was back in our room to teach us about the 3-point scale for judging problems. This is a great visual tool to help children assess a problem situation including how they should react and how to find a solution. Children can judge a problem as a 1 (a small problem that can be solved independently), 2 (a problem that requires some adult intervention), or a 3 ( a big problem that needs special kind of adult help such as an emergency.)

A visual of the 3-point scale 

Children using their fingers to judge a problem scenario as a 1, 2, or 3.

Reader's Theater
Reader's theater is a great way to practice fluency. As children re-read a story they become more fluent and can focus on phrasing, expression, intonation, tone, and stress. Each of my reading groups will be able to share 1 (or more!) reader's theater stories. 

This first reader's theater actually took place a little while back. The group practiced hard  and were really proud of their performance. We're  still working on the kinks of technology so the volume is a little iffy. I still wanted to share though, since they were so excited.

Deput Reader's Theater

http://youtu.be/jaVFv_5UW0s

We attempted a second reader's theater with another reading group. The focus was a little different this time. Instead of reading from a book, this group read a book about the Apatosaurus, (Brontosaurus), and then shared some of the facts they learned. Although I did record their reading, the volume did not come out again. Here is a picture of their performance! And somehow I'll figure out this recording thing!!!

March Madness

So many fun things to share this week!! First of all though, it was wonderful to meet with all of you during spring conferences. Hopefully you left our meeting with an understanding of your child's academic progress and social growth as well as clear expectations for the rest of our school year. Official progress reports will be sent home on Tuesday, March 25. As I iterated at our conference if you have any questions or concerns please contact me. I am happy to clarify :)

Now onto our highlights from the week!!

Monday...

Wouldn't you know, the leprechaun came and mixed things up! Can you tell what he did??

Dressed in green and working on a St. Patrick's Day poem...

Tuesday...

Curious Creatures came for a visit! Mr. Dean taught us about the many animals he's rescued on his farm. We saw everything from a bunny to a tarantula. We even got to touch most of the animals! Ask your child what they liked best about the show!

Social Studies

Over the last 2 weeks we've been studying Neil Armstrong. We learned that he was a pioneer and a legend. After reading about him we created a list of character traits that would describe him. Some of the words we brainstormed included leader, determined, daring, and brave. Then we searched through our read alouds to find evidence to support our characteristics. Here is some of the work we did to show what we learned about Neil Armstrong.

Read Across America Week!

OH NO!!I thought I published this last week....yikes!! Sorry for the lapse :)

It's Dr. Seuss' birthday!! This week children across the United States are celebrating Read Across America!

Here's how we celebrated the week at Memorial...

Monday:

Our mystery reader started us off with a Dr. Seuss read aloud, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.

Tuesday:
We had a school wide assembly to honor Dr. Seuss and learn a little more about him. Ask your child if he or she learned anything new about Dr. Seuss like that his Mom use to make up rhymes about the pies she'd sell, or that he collected hats and called them thinking caps, or maybe that he was born right here in MA!

Wednesday:
Community Reader! We were lucky enough to get Dr. Crowell. Not only did he read our class a story, but we got to see real animal x-rays from the clinic. He even brought in a special visitor!

Thursday:
 In addition to Read Across America, it's all also World Read Aloud Day! We were lucky enough to have a Skype session with a class in Maryland. We got to enjoy a tandem read aloud lead by our own Mrs. Groden and Mr. Winner, the librarian from the school in Maryland.

Greta introducing our class!

Getting ready for the read aloud: Dream Friends

We shared a screen with Mr. Winner's class. He read 1 pg, then Mrs. Groden read the next!

Beautiful illustrations

Question and answer time...Addie asked "What's your  favorite food?"

Jack wondered "What's your favorite subject?"

What a great week here at Memorial! Lot's of fun was had while we celebrated our love of reading! We also have another thing to celebrate...Congratulations to Anna for winning the overall poster contest for the Winter Carnival. Her poster will be framed and hung in the hallway of our school along with past winners. Way to  go Anna!!