Sunday, January 17, 2016

Once Upon A Time

there was a worksheet with a castle, a princess, and a frog.

This colorful worksheet inspired us to write our own fairly tales with characters that included a green frog and lovely princess. Some of us added characters while some of us changed the setting from the large colorful castle to a place that inspired the writer.
An inside look of a fairy tale
After days of writing....and rewriting.....and rereading.....and editing.....and illustrating....and title creating...and laminating....there was only one thing left to do.....
share our fairy tales in a large circle. And here we are........
Gianna mesmerizes us
Eva shares fireside
Prince Domenic reads aloud 
CC listens intently to Owen
Mara and Domenic hear CC's tale


And they all lived happily ever after
THE END
Essential Question: What are the elements of a fairy tale?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.5
With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.



















Saturday, December 19, 2015

The Best Part of Me


Our inspiration for one of our writing projects
Learning to express yourself through writing has a process.
Before we began to write, we read the book that became our inspiration.
After a discussion about ideas we got into groups with like minded people.
To document our ideas in our group we completed a graphic organizer. It helped to organize and focus our writing.


Myla was organizing her thoughts on her hair while Owen decided to write about his feet

Our writing process continues, by thinking of 5 ideas to write about on our best part.



THEN, the writing begins........


Our first drafts led to the editing process which eventually became typed work. That is now bound in our class room as a book titled. The Best Part of Us.


The Grand Finale........The reading of the book.
Michael shares....
While our next readers showcase their illustrations.....

Myla  and Jana sit comfortably as they read to the audience.
Another successful day with our sharpened pencils, a blank sheet of paper, an open heart, and an expressive soul.......

Essential Question: How do writers express themselves?

Monday, December 7, 2015

Painting Number Stories

One quiet afternoon....... after days of talking about, working on, and writing number stories we decided to paint some......
Easel ready to capture story ideas....
Watercolors await their story tellers....












Four masterpieces on display


The Common Core Standard:
O.A.1 Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

Essential Question:
How do we solve addition and subtraction sentences to solve real world problems with and without concrete objects?






Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Thanksgiving Rules

To whet our appetite for our Thanksgiving feast and weekend festivities, we read Thanksgiving Rules 

and then discussed the main idea of eating a lot of food on Thanksgiving Day. Which is what Percy, the main character, did.  Here are a few of us at work, using the colors of fall to paint our fall harvest feast.
Enjoy three completed paintings of our artists' Thanksgiving Dinner.  Bon Appetit!

Essential Question: What is a main idea of a book?
Common Core Standard addressed - RL.1.3. Describe characters, settings, and major events in  story using key details.







Saturday, November 21, 2015

Halloween Remembered

Just a few photos from our day.....Enjoy!!!
A big smile during the parade........
Waiting for the directions to start the festivities.......
Myla, Christopher, and Eva.......

Thanks parents. We couldn't have had a fun time without you!!!

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Great Pumpkin Returns

Did your child tell you about the pumpkin? Did you learn how big it was and how it arrived at school???? As you continue the conversation take a look at more pictures from our Great Pumpkin Experience......
 Here is Michael exploring the bumpy pumpkin while Taylor and Mara safely get down from the trailor. It was tricky to get down!
Mrs. Hoffman takes our photo as we say "Pumpkin Pie."
An up close look at the size of this huge squash!
Don't you just wonder how many seeds live inside this pumpkin!?

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

The Great Pumpkin!!

....Just a few of us kids getting to know the great pumpkin that Mr.Lancaster brought to school on the back of a trailer. He told us all about it. You would NOT believe how much it weighs, or where he grew it!!!

Ask your Pumpkin Expert child the answer to these questions. And don't forget to ask them what else they would like to tell you about it.......like, maybe...... what it felt like or what was going to happen to it!!!

Enjoy the earthy, fresh smells and colorful sights of Fall!