December is a very busy time of year and Room 200 is no exception. We had many exciting project and activities begin this week. Hour of Code was a great activity for us to begin this week. I asked the students to think critically about a few apps we were going to review and decide what they liked, what they didn't, and what they would change. We reviewed and participated in 5 ways to code. 1. Bee-Bot app 2. Kodable app 3. Tynker app 4. Lightbot app 5. No-Tech Coding
The students worked in pairs and teams to discuss these apps.
Mrs. Olsen joined us for some no-tech coding fun! More no-tech coding will happen this week. Also, keep an eye out for some more information on our favorite parts of coding.
We also started writing opinion letters to each other through our new writing unit.
The students are writing opinions about their favorite characters and books. We are currently focusing on a great lead that will get our readers attention and a sentence that clearly states our opinion.
We left comments on these letters to tell the author what we enjoyed and made kind suggestions.
Some of us even chose to write to someone outside of Room 200!
Our reading groups also worked really hard this week. One group was focusing on the skill "Drawing through the Text". The students were to pick out key pieces of information and create a quick sketch to help them remember. The goals is to be able to speak confidently about a learned topic.
This was also a fabulous week in our specials. Mrs. Holubecki prepared some great stations that focused on teamwork, collaboration, and gross motor skills. Room 200 always love to visit Mrs. Holubecki!
Mr. Fox's music class is also a class favorite. The kids write about his class often during our morning meeting time. As a music lover myself, I am so glad that I am in a building where the students have a passionate love of music because of Mr. Fox! Check out their most recent activity while studying the classic, The Nutcracker:
After a hectic and crazy November, Room 200 is ready for a productive and exciting December! We kicked off December with a week of fun and learning.
This week, we continued to focus on plant and animals by discussing their habitats. We started with the polar, desert, and rainforest habitats.
We spent time sketching, reading and discussing characteristics of the plants and animals and why they belonged in certain habitats.
We even spent some time listening to sounds and trying to decide which habitat they were from.
We also spent some time this week learning some fun new games. We started with Mystery Number and then tried a fun partner game in Fundations.
Our Reading Groups did some major work this week while focusing on some new skills.
This group is using Non-Fiction articles to practice a new skill called Drawing Through the Text. This skill helps you retell the important parts of a text.
This group is taking reading fluency to a new level. They are not only practicing reading smoothly but they are learning to follow along and listen to their reading partners through a readers theater. We started with a fun Stormy Weather piece.
Listen to it here:
Finally, this group did some major learning about fossils this week. They celebrated their learning by teaching the class how to make a fossil. This group made and tested our recipes to make sure we got it just right.
Last but certainly not least, we had a very special visit from our Skype buddy, Mr. Berger. He is a raptor expert (and 5th grade teacher at McDole) that we spoke to a few weeks ago about a Red Tailed Hawk that perched outside of our classroom.
Mr. Berger has spent time rehabbing raptors and shared his stories, knowledge, and videos with us. It was great to see him in person!
This coming week will be filled with blogging, sharing our opinions, and math problem solving. We will also be participating in the Hour of Code this week. For Hour of Code info, check out these useful links: https://hourofcode.com/us https://code.org/
Teamwork was the word of the week in Room 200. We have embarked on a Social Studies challenge with the objective to get our fiction candidate elected Mayor of KBK.
We started the unit by learning about what a candidate is and what teams support the candidate. We used a carousel activity to gather questions and to jot ideas.
Once we understood the ideas of the candidate and teams, we started talking about the important jobs that each team has and what it takes to be a member of that team.
From there, after the students had a night to ponder which team would be best for them, the students began to apply for their team of choice. Each student had to list which team they wanted, why they wanted it, and what special skill they would bring to the team.
Once all applications were collected and reviewed, the students were assigned to their teams and nominated a leader of each team. The leader's job is to guide the team through the essential questions that the team needs to focus on.
Following each team work day, the teams meet to discuss their progress. Here is our team meeting from Friday. This video contains a password because it contains names and faces. The password is in your email.
We also had the opportunity to be role models and spend time with Mrs. Momich's kindergarten class. Both classes had written on similar topics so we decided it would be fun to have our students share their writing. The kindergarteners were so excited to work with big kids and our kids jumped at the chance to be a big kid hero for the day.
When we returned to the room, we watched a great Kid President video to capture the moment.
Last but not least, we had an unusual sighting outside our window this week. Our friend J.M. noticed this friendly hawk checking out our school. He stayed on this perch for about 15 minutes. It was an excellent opportunity for us to do some unplanned, authentic learning. We have even lined up a Skype session with a hawk expert this week!
Thank you for checking in with us today. We have another great week under our belts.
Happy November! We had a wonderful end to October this week.
We started off our week with a super positive message from NED. This assembly talked to us about never giving up, encouraging others, and doing our best. This assembly was brought to us by our amazing PTO!
Thanks PTO!
Room 200 students spent the week studying our different types of pumpkins in our observation station. They measured and sketched them to gather their information needed for a project.
We also gathered information from a video focusing on Libby's pumpkins in Morton, Illinois.
Then we used our information and pumpkin specimens to make informational videos (and a huge mess).
This was also a very exciting week for two of our students... Loris and Loopy! L & L created their first podcast this week showcasing one of their most recent reads, Bink and Gollie.
Please enjoy the premiere episode of Loris and Loopy!
We also had a week filled with amazing guest readers. It is so fun to hear what talented and fluent readers they are all becoming.
Last but not least, we had a spooktacular classroom party and school parade. Thank you to all of the parents who help with the party. It was a huge success.
