News for June 14

News for June 14

This week, the students worked on and completed, a number of projects.

First, the students finished their books starring the sock creatures they created. After writing the good copy of their stories, they designed the front and back covers and bound the book using a "stick" binding.

In math, the children worked very hard to design and create their own board games. After planning, playing the game and making some changes, they made the final game boards. The students used coloured buttons as "men" and one dice to move the men forward. The children also had a chance to play each other's games. These board games were sent home on Friday as part of the weekly homework, so the children can play the game with their families.

During our word wall word times this week, the students learned more about synonyms. Taking an "old" word wall word, the class learned 5 or 6 synonyms to use in place of that word. Learning synoyms for common words is important because using alternative words makes writing more interesting to read.

In science, the students finally finished their research posters on the plant, fruit or tree that they chose to learn more about. They presented their favourite fascinating facts to the class. These mini-presentations were videotaped. This video can be seen at the end of this posting.

The students had their last meeting with their kindergarten reading buddies this week. Our class made cards with photos thanking their friends for being their reading buddies. We had a little party, sharing potato chips and singing "They Jellybean Song", one last time.

The students worked hard to paint wooden picture frames to hold photos of themselves, to give to a special person in their lives. They also created a "pop-up" style card to give with the photo frame.

In computers, the children visited sites to practice sudoku puzzles and to play games featuring Julius, the Paul Frank monkey. Here are the links:

http://www.kidsmathgamesonline.com/sudoku.html

http://www.paulfrank.com/plannedpines/

Books read aloud this week:

Zoom! by Tim Wynne-Jones (finished)
Lumpito and the Painter From Spain by Monica Kulling
Pablo Picasso: Breaking All the Rules by True Kelley
The Dog Who Bit Picasso by Antony Penrose

Here is the video of fascinating facts from the students' research on different plants and trees: