Being Good Citizens

Leaf Creatures

This week was full of new exploration--in reading, we talked about our star, the sun, and in math we finished a big chapter on different addition strategies. Students also learned about what makes a good leader, and how we elect leaders in our communities. We talked about how we will not discuss any of the election politics in class, but instead will do the election process by voting for things like our favorite book characters, or kickball vs. basketball for recess. We enjoyed taking out the social studies books for the first time--another new tool in our exploration of learning! We read with partners and then talked about what we read. We read the book Leaf Man and exercised our creativity by creating our own leaf creatures. Students also had the chance to celebrate their latest writing projects. They are a wonderful and engaged audience! We're looking forward to reading books next week like Duck for President, and voting on whether or not we think Duck or the Farmer should be the leader of the farm. Hope you all have a terrific weekend and enjoy this week's snapshots!

Exploring our Social Studies books

Celebrating our Writing

To be a good citizen....

Acting out stories

Though it was a short week this week, we were still able to learn a lot and have fun! We began our unit on citizenship, focusing on what it means to be a good citizen, and looking forward to what qualities good leaders should have to help their community, and how the process of voting works. We read a book about the Pledge of Allegiance, its history, and its importance in our country. In writing, we practiced a new technique to help us remember to take small steps in our writing: We acted out our stories! Though a quick activity, the kids enjoyed it, and it got their writing going on an active note. Next week, we look forward to working more with grouping in math, celebrating our next pieces of writing, and lots more about citizenship and government in social studies. Hope everyone had a great long weekend!

More acting

"I pledge allegiance...."

Air and Weather, Oh My!

We had another full week of learning! We had our first writer's celebration, and then learned how to take a tiny topic and start writing a small moment story. We began grouping with base ten blocks and are using what we know about 10's to add double digit numbers. In science, the kids had a blast--quite literally with a blast of water in some cases--doing experiments that taught them about the properties of air. Ask them about air pressure, air resistance, and compressed air. We learned about all of it, and had lots of fun doing it! This coming week, we look forward to beginning our unit on what it means to be a good citizen, which will lead into what leaders in the community are supposed to do, how laws are made, and what the process of voting looks like.