Safety Rules

This morning, Officer McParland came in our class and told us about safety rules.  He told us that we should wear our helmets when we are riding our bikes.  If you don't wear a helmet, you could get hurt.  He also said don't go near strangers.  They could be dangerous and could kidnap you.  If you cross the road, you have to look both ways before you cross. He also talked about gun safety.  You never touch guns!  You don't know if it is fake or real.  If you see a gun, don't pick it up, tell a trusted adult!

Thank you, Officer McParland, for visiting our classroom as part of the Middleton D.A.R.E. program!
and  

BOKS

On Friday, during school, Mrs. Libby's class got to play BOKS with Mrs. Marshall, the nurse, and Mrs. LeVangie, a second grade teacher.  The class played games like Toilet Tag and Fruit Basket.  Toilet Tag is when someone tags you, you have to squat and put your hand up.  When somebody pushes your hand gently, you can run again.  

Fruit basket is when each team has a fruit name.  The teacher calls two fruits, and the two teams have to switch places. 

We also learned how to do squats correctly (partner squats was the skill of the day).  After doing partner squats, we grabbed a handful of cups and brought them back to our teams.  At the end, we worked together to build cup pyramids!

We got to do this great activity because our class brought in the most fruits and vegetables for the color week challenge.  BOKS was special and fun!

Guest bloggers

In case you haven't noticed, I have some pretty incredible writers in Room 117.  I can't believe these children came in knowing only letter names and some sounds.  Now they are writing full stories with interesting adjectives and a lot of detail.  I decided to allow my students to be guest bloggers for the remainder of the year!  They are going to share with you about parts of our day or special events while showcasing their amazing writing skills.  They will use a graphic organizer to help organize their thoughts before writing the post.  I will type the post for them.  Up first is Jordyn.  She will be sharing about our special BOKS (Build Our Kids' Success) session we had last Friday.

10 Star Thursday

My class has done it again...they earned another ten whole-class clip ups.  They are pretty amazing, right?!  I knew I had to think hard about some fun and exciting activities as these kids deserved something extra special.  We had the perfect day for it too!  The weather was gorgeous, which was especially nice since we spent most of the day outside.
We started the morning off by putting the fun in Fundations.  It was surprisingly warm at 9:30 in the morning.  The kids were eager to put their learned knowledge of trick words and digraphs to the test in the activities below. First, a digraph sort.  Children had to read a word with a digraph that was taped to a beanbag, then try to toss it into the hoop with the matching digraph.  Miss Alexis helped me prep for this event by writing the words on the index cards and taping them to the bean bags.  It has been nice to have an extra set of helping hands!

Next up, soccer skills came in handy as students had to dribble the ball around cones that had trick words taped to them.  They had to read the word as they kicked the ball around the cone.  We were lucky to have Mrs. Helecki with us in the morning.  She helped run this soccer event.

Lastly, we had sight word Zingo and digraph word Jenga.   

And that was only FUNdations!

In the afternoon, we went out on a nature walk to prepare us for writing our spring sensory poems.  Students enjoyed walking through the courtyard and finding signs of spring.

  I love that some kids took time to smell the flowers!

Kids were surprised to learn there is a pond in the courtyard!

We came in for a quick snack and then we were out again for planting. Children had to scoop soil into a cup, make three holes for their seeds, and place the seeds in the holes before covering them with more dirt.  

Photos courtesy of Miss Alexis

After giving their plants a first water, my students were excited to learn they were having centers on the playground.

    I just love these kids!  They make me smile each day!

 

  Great job, girls and boys!  I hope you had fun!

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3

Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3.c

Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).

 

Awake at Night

The children have worked hard this past month comparing and contrasting the two nocturnal animals they have been excited to learn about: the bat and the owl.
They have become bat experts!

Our bat and owl video is finally finished!  It got put on hold while we completed all of our fabulous Mother's Day gifts last week.  The students were excited to plan what facts we should include in the video and to help narrate.  They loved using the green screen for some of the scenes.
Click on this title of our video, Awake at Night to view the video.
Enjoy!

Guess Whooo

I have powerful talons. 

I have a strong, sharp beak. 

My head can turn 270°. 

I am the only raptor who hunts at night. 

Who am I?

Click here to see if your guess is correct!

Our class was very fortunate to have been offered a presentation on owls by Max's dad.  This was such a wonderful opportunity that tied in with our nocturnal unit and allowed us to compare owls with bats.  Mr. Boutilier brought in a mounted Great Horned Owl and owl pellets for the students to dissect. 

  The students learned that owls have super powers!

• Their strong, sharp beak and powerful talons tear meat.  Or, owls swallow their food whole.  They do not have teeth.  
• An owl's hearing is so good, it can hear a little mouse up to 75 feet away and can even hear other animals under snow!
• An owl's silent wings help them to fly without being heard by their prey.
• Students also got their questions about owls answered.  We learned owls do not use echolocation.  Instead, owl ears are offset.  They hear something in one ear and then a split second later, they hear it in the other ear.  This tells the owl how far away its prey or an object is.

We also learned owls eat animals such as frogs, snakes, bats, mice, and birds.

Since they cannot digest the fur and bones of their prey, they cough them up in pellets.  Each pellet contains one animal.

Children were eager to become scientists and dissect the Great Horned Owl pellets.  They had their science tools - magnifying glasses, tweezers, and toothpicks - to help them.  After carefully picking out the bones, partners worked together to determine what animal those bones belonged to by matching them up with a diagram of their prey's bones.     

   The children found this lesson fascinating and were excited they got to take the bones home to share with their families.

Thank you, Mr. Boutilier, for teaching us about owls and allowing us the opportunity to be observant scientists! If you would like to learn more about Mr. Boutilier's summer camp, check out this website: http://www.bgcl.org/#!creighton-pond/c9ld

Thank you!!

A huge heartfelt thank you to my students and their families for decorating my door so beautifully!  It was a bright and cheery way to start my rainy Monday morning.  I have enjoyed working with each of your families and seeing your children bloom into the thoughtful, hardworking, enthusiastic learners they are! Thank you to the Middleton PTO for all the love this week for Teacher Appreciation Week!  It has been a pleasure being an educator in Middleton for the past 8 years.  I feel very fortunate to work in such a wonderful town with amazing families.