Taking Math Outdoors

After several weeks of freezing temperatures, we have been loving the warmer weather. So, we decided to take math outside. We have been learning about balanced equations or number sentences. The Students took a dry erase board outside and I called out various number sentences. They wrote the number sentences and then drew circles under each addend. They then counted the number of circles on each side of the equal sign to see if both sides were equal, or balanced.

Guidance Lesson

Our school counselor, Ms. Coffman, visited our class recently to teach a guidance lesson. She teaches the students about various topics including safety, respect for one's self and others, and bullying.

Valentine's Day Party

Thank you the parents who brought in treats for the students' Valentine's Day Party. They had fun passing out their cards and munching on the delicious snacks. After eating, the students read their favorite poems aloud to one another thanks to the great idea of a parent.

Valentine's Day Math

The students have been working on the strategy of "Making Ten" to help them with larger addition problems. But, in order to do that, they need to know what addends make ten quickly first. So, we reviewed by adding dark and milk chocolates. You can find this template on my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Planet Research

The students worked in small groups to research a specific planet. Each group was responsible for finding three important facts about their planet using a text source from the library. They then worked with me at the Promethean to find three additional facts from PebbleGo. After finding their facts, they worked with their groups to create posters about their planet. They presented their findings and posters to the class. The students were highly engaged because they got to become the "experts" on their planet and teach the other students.

To Be An Astronaut...

In writing the students have been learning to explain why or why not they think something. Since we were researching space in reading, they wrote to explain why or why not they would want to be an astronaut.

Space Research

The students used their questions they had about space from a previous lesson and then worked in small groups to find answers using a variety of sources. They recorded their answers on a Circle Map. They then used the Circle Map to  help them write about the facts they found on a non-fiction text feature template. They wrote details and drew pictures including captions.

Night and Day

In science we learned about the differences between night and day. We learned about stars, moon phases, and the rotation of Earth around the sun. The students illustrated their understanding of the cycles of day and night on a circle template.

Space Questions

As a part of our lessons on non-fiction texts and features, we began to research space. The students first had to brainstorm questions they had about space. They worked in small groups to record their questions on a Circle Map and then we added all of their questions to a t-chart on the Promethean board. We then used various non-fiction sources to find answers to those questions.

Aging Booth

Just for fun on the 100th day of school, we used an app on the class IPad called Aging Booth. Aging Booth lets you take a picture and then it adds "aging" marks to show what you might look like the in the future. The kids were laughing hysterically about the pictures. I will admit though that a few of them thought it was "kind of creepy." I couldn't agree more!