News for January 26

News for January 26, 2018

On Friday, our class calculated that there are 99 days of school left this year…and there’s so much more to learn and do!

In writing, the children were challenged with a unique reading response activity. After reading the book, Lost and Found, the children were asked to write a story about the penguin in the story.  Actually, the class was asked to give a voice to the penguin character, since the penguin does not say anything at all in the story! To help them understand how to write a story from the penguin’s point of view, each child learned how to fold an origami paper penguin, to help them “tell” the penguin’s story. (Of course, folding origami anything is a great way to also review concepts in 2D geometry and symmetry.)

In reading, the children are doing an author study of the books of Robert Munsch. In our guided reading groups, we talked about what makes his books (or any story) funny and then applied these ideas to the other Robert Munsch books that they heard during our read aloud times. Did you know that Robert Munsch was “discovered” while telling his stories aloud to children when he worked at a daycare? Here is the link to Robert Munsch’s official website: 

https://robertmunsch.com

In science, the class began the unit, “Grow and Changes in Animals”. First the class learned about the six major groups of animals: mammals, fish, birds, insects, reptiles and amphibians. Then we talked about the characteristics of each. For example, birds have two legs and bodies covered in feathers. Next the children worked in partners to sort animals pictures/names and create posters showing what they learned. 

In math, the children learned about three-dimensional or 3D figures. They learned how to identify prisms and pyramids. The students also learned how to count the faces, edges and vertices of any figure and how to apply the math names of these figures to real-life objects. The children also learned about “3D skeletons” or three dimensional figures made using toothpicks for the edges and plasticine for the vertices. The class later wrote about how they made these figures.

Later in the week, the class learned about the 5 Platonic solids, 3D figures with faces made up of only polygons with equal length sides. These are a triangle-based pyramid (4 equilateral triangle faces), a cube (6 square faces), an octahedron (8 equilateral triangle faces), dodecahedron (12 regular pentagon faces) and an icosahedron (20 equilateral triangle faces). The children even managed to work together to create a HUGE 3D skeleton of an icosahedron. Did you know the Platonic solids were studied by the ancient philosopher/mathematician Plato who was born in Greece over 2,400 years ago?

In art, the children learned how to sew pages into the cover of a book to make a journal. Did you know that the pages of hardcover books are sewn into the book? Later in the week, the students used the art journals they made during a drawing lesson. The class was also introduced to the many drawing instruction books in our classroom that they can use if they wish.

Finally, the children learned the two most difficult homophones in English: it’s/its and their/there/they’re. Even adults have trouble with these! 

***The Room 204 Interview Show will return with two (possibly three) interviews next week! The teachers are so busy, it has been difficult to schedule time for them to come to our class.

Books read aloud this week:

Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers

I Want My Dad Back by Robert Munsch

Mortimer by Robert Munsch

We Share Everything by Robert Munsch

Pigs by Robert Munsch

Robert Munsch - A Biography by Chelsea Donaldson