The class started the week by learning about Fearless Felix Baumgartner, the man from Austria who broke several world records when he jumped from 38 km above the earth, last Sunday. The students wrote reports on this news event and then wrote his or her opinion about trying to do something like that! Here are the links to the videos that we watched:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uh1gChG3C2o&feature=BFa&list=FLrf7MEeyaVUPvn3w3vxTC7w
and http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49409914/#49409914
The children each finished their pillows this week by hand sewing the opening shut using a needle and thread. After learning about the key words for writing instructions, (first, next, then and finally), the students began writing instructions on how to make a pillow. The children each had his/her photo taken holding the photo for the cover of their instruction books.
We reviewed the parts of speech and used this knowledge to play "Mad Libs". This is a story writing game where you use what you know about parts of speech to choose words to complete the story. Since you do not read the story before you play, this exercise ends up creating some very silly stories!
In math, the students reviewed subtraction strategies. The easiest strategy is to use what you know about addition to help you with subtraction. By reframing the question, it's easier to solve. For example, 12 - 8 =? becomes "what do I have to add to 8, to get 12? The class also learned a clever substraction game where 3 people play to guess the value of the card on your forehead. The students also learned how to generate "fact families" or related math facts. For example, if you know 7+8=15,
you also know 8+7=15, 15-8=7 and 15-7=8.
In computers, the students practiced their subtraction strategies online. Here is the site they used:
http://www.fun4thebrain.com/subtraction.html
The topic of safety and rules for the playscape was discussed this week. Did you know there was a small old sign on the fence that has the playscape rules on it? Most of us did not! The sign is so small, so high up and covered in vines! We decided to write a letter to Ms. Farrelly about getting a new sign made. We wrote about what the problem was, what we could do to fix it and how a new sign will help the students, teachers and parents. Ms. Farrelly even came up to our class to get the envelope with the letter in it! She promised to write us back to let us know if we can get a new sign.
Our class visited with our Reading Buddies in Room 101 on Friday. This week, the kindergarten children drew a picture and their grade 3 buddy wrote down the story that went with the picture. These pictures and stories will be put in a binder and given to Room 101 as a "Reading Buddies Story Book".
The QSP fundraiser is over for another year. The school had an assembly in the gym to celebrate the hard work of the students and to recognize the efforts of all the students to raise money for our school. Emma in our class won the prize for the most sales! Luckily our class also won frozen treats for the whole class.
In science the students did several experiments to learn the best way to make a strong and stable bridge. Using plastic cups and paper, they constructed bridges that would hold a heavy load. We talked about human-made and animal -made structures. The students chose which structure they would like to know more about, and that became the topic for our first independent research project of the year. (This is a school-based project, to be completed at school.)
Books read aloud this week:
Safari - A Photicular Book by Dan Kainen
Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe (chapter book)
Learning American Sign Language with Room 5 - Episode 6
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