Projects, Opinions, and Fractions

Busy!!! The month of May is packed! We're finally enjoying the weather (on a more consistent basis). Weekend updates are buzzing with talk of lacrosse, t-ball, and outside play. Graduation, First Communions, Memorial Day...Oh my! Although Monday mornings are getting just a tiny bit harder, we are still busy filling our minds with all kinds of learning.

Last week we worked on a great Inquiry Project at the library with Mrs. Groden. She was kind enough to share the link with is. We'll be showing our finished product at our Open House (PLEASE SAVE THE DATE FRIDAY, JUNE 6TH 9-10). During math this week we have been learning all about fractions. We read a few great books and shared some cake equally among friends, (unfortunately  it was made of just paper :). During Writer's workshop we are starting Persuasive Writing. Thank you so much for helping your child bring in a collection to write about!

Check out some of the highlights from our busy week!

Here is a link to Mrs. Groden's post. Enjoy!

http://t.co/kNQfgKrF9d ]goo.gl/u7lCrL

Fractions
During  this unit children will understand a fraction as equal parts of a whole. They will recognize the difference between equal and unequal parts. They will understand and demonstrate how to share something in halves and in fourths. They will also understand that decomposing fractions creates smaller pieces. For example you'd rather share 1/2 of a brownie than 1/4!

We learned a whole is 1 complete thing and that halves are 2 equal parts
and fourths are four equal parts of a whole. 

Then we shared a cake by folding it in half and in quarters.

We also played games filling halves and quarters of whole shapes.

Writer's Workshop
In this unit, children are working on expressing an opinion about something and then giving multiple reasons for their opinion. They are learning to convince their reader by using wording such as for example, and, and because. Below, children are working on judging their collections by lining them up and comparing each thing carefully.

Here, children are reading each other's "best in show," then writing about whether they agree or disagree.

And finally...we had a lovely Reader's Theater of The Little Red Hen.

GREAT job girls!!

Stony Brook

What a great day at Stony Brook Wildlife Sanctuary! The weather was perfect, the habitats were beautiful, and the wildlife was out for the viewing. We started our field trip with a little preview from one of Stony Brook's naturalists. She gave us a quick overview of the habitats we would visit and then we were off! We learned about the forest, the pond, and the meadow. We saw birds, turtles, a salamander, and even a snake! Here is some of the highlights from our day...

The Pond

Jack found a snail!

Observing a turtle shell

 One of the inhabitants

The Forest

This tree is growing sideways!

Just hanging around

Fiddle heads have been around since the dinosaurs!

An example of erosion

Pretending to be mice foraging for food

The Waterfall

Leaning in for a closer look

The Meadow

If you look VERY closely you can see a family of geese including their little goslings.
We didn't want to disturb them, so we didn't spend a lot of time in the meadow.

A Little Extra...

Can you spot the tiny frog?
Hint: look straight at the middle..he blends right in!

Home Stretch!

I hope everyone had a wonderful vacation, whether you relaxed at home or got to get away for a bit. April vacation comes at the perfect time to help rejuvenate us for the homestretch! It's hard to believe that so much of the year has passed, but (and this is a BIG but), there's still so much to do! This week we were visited by Mrs. Goldstein again. She's helping us learn about our smarts or the unique things that we are good at and that make us who we are. We're also continuing our work with shapes, focusing on triangles and quadrilaterals. In writer's workshop we are wrapping up our teaching chapter books. The children will be sharing these with you soon! Finally, we celebrated poetry week by enjoying poems read to us by staff members during  poetry breaks!

Learning about our Smarts

Mrs. Goldstein reading us a story

Showing us how to fill our "brains" with all of the different kinds of  smarts we came up with

Working on filling in our own brains with smarts! Ask your  child what kind of smarts he or she has...

Learning about Traingles and Quadrilaterals

Sorting polygons (all simple shapes with straight sides)

Making shapes on the Geoboard with rubber bands and on dot paper

Editing our Teaching Books

We practiced reading and rereading and even rereading our stories to make them ready for our readers!

Poetry Break!

Reader's Theater

This group read a story called Snip!Snap! about an elephant whose truck kept getting in the way of the other animals in the jungle until one day when there was a fire in the jungle and Elephant and her long trunk came to the rescue. They did an awesome job!