Jump Rope for Heart

Students had a lot of fun exercising their heart today in P.E. class. It was the perfect timefor this activity, since we have been cooped up inside for the last couple weeks due to the snow. All students participated in the annual Jump for for Heart program and jumped for their class time today. Many students have already brought in donation forms, but if you still would like to send one ine you have until Friday. Mr. Beattie, our p.e. teacher, thanks you for your support.

Pajama Day

Today we had a pajama party to celebrate our 20th Castle Coin. This morning was business as usual, but after specials we settled down to watch The Wizard of Oz. We finished reading an unabridged copy earlier today, and the students were anxious to compare the two versions. Did you know that the ruby slippers were not actually red in the book version? They were silver. Also, Glinda was the witch of the south, not of the north like in the film.

Fairy Tale Writing

Students are working to create their own fractured fairy tale after listening to many different versions of The Three Little Pigs, and other stories. One way the students have changed their stories is by using different animals or settings. We have many versions of Cinderella in the works, as well as some 3 Bear, 3 Pig, and Jack and the Beanstalk variants. We will be publishing these books like we did with the Eric Carle classbook. Each student will be writing his or her own story this time.

We're Geologists

Today we started a new unit in science using our FOSS kits. This will teach our class about pebbles, sand, and silt. We examined six rocks today and decided that there were three groups. We also looked at them with magnifying glasses and rubbed them together to see what would happen. Some rocks could be seen better on black paper, and some could be seen better on white paper. We are keeping a Word Bank of words we use when talking about rocks, and also recorded what we learned today on chart paper.

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone made it through the snow okay. I'm glad to have everyone back today. Even though it was a shortened day, we still did a lot of learning. We went to the computer lab and practiced our math facts, took a Reading Counts quiz, and played math games. For specials we had library. In math, we learned about subtracting 2 digit numbers without regrouping. We still had time for reading and writing workshop today- just a shortened version. Tomorrow is our Friendship Day party. I hope to see many of you then!

To Sum it Up

We have been learning about double digit addition and playing lots of games to practice this concept. One of the games we play is called "To Sum it Up". In order to play you need a deck of cards with only the numbers 1-9 used. The cards are placed face down on the table, and each child takes turns picking a card. That number is written in a 2X2 grid until all four spaces are filled. Students then add the numbers and compare sums (answers). Whoever has the highest number wins. Students are not only practicing addition, but have to strategize to try to get the biggest answer. It has definately been interesting to see how the children play this game.