The Copycat Fish

We read The Copycat Fish by Marcus Pfister and then the students retold the story in order as a class using a Flow Map. The students then individually retold the story on a foldable focusing on the beginning, middle, and end. They also colored a Rainbow Fish to go along with their work.

 

 

Ocean Animal Research

In small groups, the students visited to the library to research a specific ocean animal with our Instructional Media Specialist, Mrs. Christy. The took notes over their research and then used their notes in class to help them write a research paper. They put their final drafts inside a piece of blue paper folded in a stage fold. They also made a scuba diver face to look like themselves to go with scuba diver bodies that our PTA volunteers made for us. The scuba divers held the students' writing.

My Favorite Thing About the Ocean

Each student wrote to explain what their favorite thing about the ocean is and why. They then illustrated their writing.

Fred and Pete at the Beach

We read Fred and Pete at the Beach by Cynthia Nugent to practicing retelling stories in order. As a class, the students retold the events on a Flow Map using Interactive Writing. With Interactive Writing, each student gets a chance to write while the rest of the class helps them with word order, spelling, and punctuation.

Ocean Word Problems

The students used paper fish manipulatives to solve addition and subtraction word problems. Each student could pick their own numbers to use. They then solved the problems. After solving their own problems, they worked with their table groups to  check them.

Dory Story: Ocean Food Chain

We spent two weeks on our ocean theme. To start our theme, we read Dory Story by Jerry Pallotta. As we read, we talked about food chains and animals interdependence on one another. After reading, the students wrote the order of the food chain on a Flow Map. They then illustrated their favorite part of the story.

How to Make S'mores

During our camping theme, the students made s'mores. Since we obviously cannot build a fire, we made them in the microwave. After making and eating the s'mores, the students used a Flow Map to write the steps they took to make them. They used the Flow Map to write sentences using transition words. They then made paper s'mores to hang with their writing.

How to Draw a Tent

To practice following multi-step directions, the students learned how to draw a tent as a part of our camping theme. The students were given step by step oral directions accompanied by picture cues. They followed the steps one at a time and then colored their pictures. I love how they are all unique yet similar at the same time. After they drew their pictures, we brainstormed as a class the things that they would need to do to go camping. The students then put the steps in order on a Flow Map. They used the Flow Map to help them write a How To paper on camping.

Living and Non-Living

The students visited the garden to determine various living and non-living objects. They then drew pictures to show their understanding.

Balanced Equations

My teammate, Mrs. Guzman, had a great way of having the students show their understanding of equal, or balanced, number sentences. Each student was given a sum to show with paper color tiles in two different ways on a student drawn balance scale. The students then wrote to explain the number sentences and how they were equal.

Signs and Symbols

While studying signs and symbols, we took a walk around the school to see different examples. The students discussed what the signs meant and how they are useful.

Listen to Our Poems: Set 2

Throughout the year the students have been using the IPad app Hokusai to record themselves reading their weekly poems. We use poems in the class each week to  introduce our phonics focus but to also help with fluency. Below are QR codes to some of the poems they recorded. You can use your smart phone or IPad to scan the codes. I recommend using the app "I-nigma." I like this one because the students do not have to line up the scanner closely on the code. They can get anywhere close to the code and it will work.

It Began with a Frog

 It Must Be a Whale

 Jack and Jill

Miss Mary Mack 

 Money

 My Cat

 My Dog, Tag

 Spinning Spider

 Ted