Space Word Problems

In math we have been working on solving addition and subtraction word problems using a variety of strategies. One of the strategies we use is using manipulatives. Another is to draw pictures. For Guided Math time, four or five students at a time would come to my table to write their own word problems with a space theme. The students came up with the word problem scenerarios as a group and I helped them with the spelling. They then supplied their own numbers for the problems. The students then had to solve their word problems by drawing a picture and identifying the related fact family number sentences. After all students had a chance to write and solve their word problems, the students then used beans and space problem solving mats to solve each other's problems. This also provided the students a chance to come up to the ELMO to be the "teacher." By the time we were done with this lesson, the students had the opportunity to solve eighteen different word problems. Because the problems were written by their friends and were related to our thematic unit, they were highly engaged.

How the Milky Way Came to Be

In reading, we read the Cherokee tale of "How the Milky Way Came to Be." In this tale, a family was collecting cornmeal to store for the winter when they noticed it was going missing. The mom and dad told the children that it had to be "Great Dog" who was from another world. Knowing that he would continue to steal, the parents and villagers knew they had to scare away "Great Dog" with drums. When they did, he retreated to the sky in fear leaving a trail of cornmeal behind which turned into stars. After reading, we made connections back to the constellations that the students had made and then the students retold the story on a foldable.

Constellations

In science we have been learning about the difference between night and day. This went perfectly with our two week unit over space. As a part of our study, we read Stargazers by Gail Gibbons to learn about constellations. The students then created their own constellations on black paper using white crayons and silver star stickers. The students then discussed with table groups what their constellation was and how it came to be in the sky. My teammate, Mrs. Timms, had her students create "constellation profiles" as a writing extension. This was a great idea that I will have to incorporate next year.

Space Day: Long A

Over the last several weeks we have been learning about space in both ELA and Science. We have also been learning more about long vowels. To help the students make connections and help them remember the long /a/ sound, we had "Space Day." The students were asked to wear black to school. They then made yellow starts and wrote various long /a/ words on the stars. They glued the stars to headbands and taped the extras to their shirts. They then practiced reading the words with their table groups.

100th Day Trail Mix

To celebrate the 100th day of school, the students created a 100 day snack. Parents supplied a variety of items (thank you!) for the students to use to create trail mix. Each student had made a 100 day place mat the day before using 10 circles. On the circles, they wrote numbers skip counting by ten until the reached 100. They then added 100 stickers to their placemat. On the actual 100th day, the students chose ten pieces of the different snack items to place on each circle of their placemat. They practiced skip counting to 100 while they created their snacks. They then of course enjoyed the yummy treat. We had so much food left over that the students made several bags to take home.

100 Days! Hooray!

We celebrated our 100th day of school a few weeks back but I haven't had time to post about it yet. So, here goes! We started our day by having the students write one sentence about what age they currently are and what they are like now. For example, they wrote things like "I am age 6 and I am a good student." Then then wrote another sentence pretending to be 100 years old. They wrote past tense sentences listing off some of their future accomplishments such as "I am 100 years old and I have been a doctor and a father to four children." We talk a great deal in our class about the importance of going to college so I used this lesson to reinforce the concept that you can be anything you want to be as long as you work hard. It was neat to see where the students hope to be when they are 100. They then drew pictures of themselves at these ages. Unfortunately, I did not remember to take pictures of these before I sent them home. :(

For math, we read 100 Day Worries by Margery Cuyler. Just like in the book, the students were asked to bring in a bag of 100 small items. They brought in pencils, pennies, beans, cereal, pins, etc. The students sat in a large circle and created sets of tens out of their items. The students then took a gallery walk around the circle counting the items by tens. We had a discussion about how some of the groups looked larger and some looked smaller but they all had 100 items. It was a great way for students to understand that the size of the objects did not change the quantity.

KidBlog

The students recently started publishing their own blog, hosted by KidBlog. You can visit the blog here. For their first entry, the students wrote to describe the concept of an addition double. They then listed examples of doubles. The purpose of this assignment was to assess their understanding of the concept. The following week, the students used facts learned during our space research to write a few "Did you know?" facts about space. Their KidBlog will be used in computer lab and on the classroom student stations as a way to write about what they know, write personal narratives such as they do in their journals, to show technology products created in computer class, and to share affirmations with one another. Check back often to see what the students have added. Parents, I sent home passwords to the KidBlog previously. The students are welcome to add their own entries at home. They will not appear immediately because I have to approve them first, so if you do not see them right away, do not worry. If you need the password again, please feel free to ask.

Dinosaur Dentist: Doubles -1

In math we have been reviewing how to use doubles addition and subtraction sentences to solve other math facts. The students created doubles neighborhoods to relate doubles and doubles +1. I teach the students then when they are thinking about doubles +1 the two addends are "neighbors" on the number line. The concept is the same for doubles -1. If it is +1, go up one on the number line. If it is -1, go down on number on the number line. We also discussed how doubles are always even numbers and doubles +1/-1 are always odd numbers. You can learn more about the doubles neighborhoods here.

To help the students practice this concept, we played a game in the computer lab called Dinosaur Dentist. In this game, the students pull one tooth from a dinosaur, which has the same number of teeth on top and bottom (the double). They then have to use the double to determine what the answer to the double -1 would be. You can have your child play this game at home for free along with Robin Hood Doubles where the students simply identify the sum of a given double.

My Favorite Transportation

As a part of our writing program, Write From the Beginning, the students are learning to write to explain why. This week the students wrote about their favorite means of transportation. They first created Circle Maps to brainstorm their favorites, then chose one to write about on a Flow Map. The students had to list three reasons why they chose their favorite transportation. They then wrote four sentences using their Thinking Maps. The students were required to use transition words for their three sentences explaining why. After the students wrote (the process took several days), I met with each student individually to edit their work. The students then wrote a final draft of their writing and created art of their favorite transportation.

The Main Idea: Hot Air Balloons

To assess the students understanding of main ideas, we read I Fly Hot-Air Balloons from Reading A-Z. As we read, we charted important details from each section on a Multi-Flow Map. Once finished, we discussed what all of those important details had in common and what the author wanted the students to learn from the text, or the main idea. The students then had to explain the main idea of the story in their own words. They wrote the main idea on a basket that they made out of construction paper. They then created a hot-air balloon to attach to the basket.

Ordering by Temperature

To help the students understand the differences between cold temperatures, hot temperatures, and room temperatures, we conducted an experiment. Hidden under black cloth book covers, the students felt of three objects to identify which one felt the hottest, which one feld the coldest, and which was was a normal temperature. Under one of the book covers were hand warmers, under another was a gel ice pack, and under the other was a bean bag. The students recorded the order they thought the were in using letters to match the labels on the book covers. The students then illustrated objects found in their home ordering them from hottest to coldest and then from coldest to hottest.

Landforms and Bodies of Water

The students reviewed bodies of water and landforms by creating a foldable diagram to illustrate the different features of mountains, hills, plains, oceans, rivers, and lakes.

The Main Idea: Transportation

As a part of our lessons on how to identify the main idea of texts, we read several books from We Give Books and Reading A-Z about various forms of transportation. Each day we read a new expository text and the students had to verbally identify the main idea of the text. We used Multi-Flow Maps to help chart the details that lead up to the main idea. (Sorry... I did not take a picture of these charts.) After reading about the various types of transporation, the students created a Circle Map of as many examples as they could think of. We then discussed how those examples could be divided into conceptual categories. So, we then created a spider web graphic organizer to sort the examples into the categories of land, air, and water. The students then created a three part foldable to illusrtate one example of transportation from each category. They then wrote at least one fact they learned about that mode of transportation under the flap.

Clock Match-Up

As a way to review time, the students played a game to match digital times to their analog clock counterparts. In the beginning, they just matched the two cards but eventually they played concentration with the cards to add a little challenge. The students can play these games during math stations while I tutor small groups.

Globes: Land and Water

Last week in Social Studies we talked about different landforms and bodies of water that are found on earth. As a part of that study we played a game where the students rolled the globe to one another. When the globe rolled towards them, they could only touch it wiht one hand. They then had to identify if the part their hand landed on was land or water. As each person had a turn, we tallied their response. The students quickly realized that they landed on water the majority of the time. This led to a discussion of how the earth is covered mostly in water. After the game, the students folded a paper plate into fourths. To help them remember that the earth is mostly water and that is approximately three/fourths water, they colored three out of four parts as water and one out of four parts as land. This was a fun way to also introduce a little bit of fractions and probability.

Our Class Schedule with Clocks

Last week we learned more about telling time on the hour and half hour. To help the students remember the meaning of the hour and minutes, they created clocks out of paper plates. On the top plate there were slits pre-cut to leave spaces to write 1-12 on the clock in order with correct spacing. The students numbered the plate like a clock and them glued it down in the middle to another plate. They then folded down each number and wrote the corresponding minutes behind the number. For example, behind the 6 they wrote 30. We then created a class schedule with drawings of analog clocks along with the digital and written word form of the time. We then wrote the activity or lesson that we do at that approximate time. The students then chose on of those activities or lessons and glued down hands on their clock to match that time. They then wrote one sentence to describe what they do at that time. (Sorry -  I did not take pictures of these clocks!) After creating the clocks and the class schedule, the students completed their own clock book. They had to read the digital time and draw the hands on the analog clock to the corresponding time. They then had to write at least one sentence about the activity that they do at school during the time. They then illustrated their books. You can download the book here for free!

Intro to Research: Skateboarding

Last week in reading we worked on an introduction to research: asking relevant questions and finding answers in text to those questions. With this lesson, we read Skateboarding from WeGiveBooks. If you have not visited WeGiveBooks, you should! There are so many current and classic books online for FREE! Before reading, the students shared what they already know about skateboarding which we recorded on a KWL chart under the K for what we "know." The students then divided into groups and wrote down questions they had or things they "wondered" on post-it notes. We added these to the KWL chart. We then read the book, including taking a close look at the parts of the book such as the table of contents, glossary, etc., to find answer to the questions. We then added the information under the L for what we "learned." The students then created their own skateboard out of construction paper and wrote at least one answer they learned from the book.