Vacation Fun

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are having a great vacation!  Whether you are having fun in your neighborhood or have traveled some place exciting, I am looking forward to hearing all about it!  Add to the padlet below a sentence or two or even a picture of something you would like to share about your vacation. On Tuesday, each of us will be choosing one special moment to start a seed story. The children enjoy sharing a photo with the class and talking about their vacation.  :)

Simply double click on the board and write a note. Write your name at the top of the note as the title.

George Washington and Abraham Lincoln

Children enjoyed listening to biographies of when Washington and Lincoln were young and about their jobs and adventures before they each were president.  They were surprised that they could make text-to-self connections with these famous leaders such as loving to read and having moved as a child.  I was impressed that as Ms. Montefusco read the books about Lincoln, the children were independently making wonderful text-to-text connections with what they learned about Washington.

We practiced finding the main idea and details of a nonfiction text as evidenced below in our Washington thinking map.

Chatterpix made our Washington directed drawings come to life so we could share our new knowledge with you!

Did your child teach you anything interesting about one of these presidents?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.1

With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.2

With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.3

With prompting and support, describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.K.9

With prompting and support, identify basic similarities in and differences between two texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations, descriptions, or procedures).

Week 2 Coin Challenge Winners!

As winners of last week's PTO Coin Challenge fundraiser, we earned ourselves an extra recess.  Ms. Klipfel's class was the first grader winners so we decided to have recess together....in the snow...teachers played too....and it was the perfect day for it! There were snowball fights, snowmen and snow fort building, and snow angel making! My students loved pelting me with snowballs and tackling me!  I think we all needed this time to laugh, relax, and have fun together! Thank you parents for packing the children's snow gear and for donating coins for our school's fundraiser!

St. Patrick's Day

Students were given a STEM challenge last week to build a trap to catch a leprechaun.  Our first grade buddies in Ms. Teixeira's class joined us for an afternoon of engineering.

Students could either work by themselves or with a partner to come up with a plan, sketch a design, and use teamwork, creativity, and engineering skills to catch the little Irish man.  They loved this STEM activity!

We talked about what our traps would need:

*some type of entrance

*a clever way to lure him in

*a way to trap him

 First, they sketched their plans.

Then, they excitedly got right to work building, gluing, and taping!

Believe it or not, the Leprechaun came to Room 117 over the weekend!  He was the one who wrote the morning message.  He was the trickster who mixed up the numbers on the hundred chart. And he was the one who left glitter and footprints all around our room!

As children inspected their traps, their eyes widened with surprise that the little leprechaun had left golden nuggets and a pot of special leprechaun hats!

There was some skepticism of who the leprechaun really was, but I neither confirmed nor denied the accusations that I was behind the mischief.  I think we can all agree though that fun was had by all, including me.  I enjoyed seeing the students' creativity and teamwork!

Discovery Museum Visit

We are fortunate that the Middleton PTO provided our entire Kindergarten with a visit from the Discovery Museum to support and enhance our students' learning and understanding of force and motion.
The children loved working with Susan yesterday morning.  As we reflected at the end of the day about the special science program, many students said she was "nice", "kind" and would assist them if they made a mistake or needed help.  The students and teachers loved how hands-on and engaging the activities and workshop was.  The hour went by fast!
Susan did an amazing job introducing a new concept and science vocabulary word(s), sparking their curiosity, and then letting the children go off in small groups to explore.
Susan began the workshop by asking students to think about what things move, how they move, change direction and/or speed, and how they stop.
The students were excited to get to explore with an array of toys!  They explored applying different strengths to pushes and pulls to make the toys move.

Next, Susan introduced the term collision and the idea of balanced/unbalanced forces and the transfer of energy with balls and ramps.  
In the video below, students learned that the pumpkin gains energy when it collides with something that has more energy (the ball).

The children were so excited for this station!

After, we regrouped and discussed friction and what objects may create friction.  The children were each given a smooth sock and a sock with grips on the bottom and were instructed to place each on their hand and to rub the floor and to note what they observed.

To wrap up the workshop, a special activity was planned.  Children had the opportunity to be engineers and build a prototype of a toy that moves or has a moving part.  They were allowed to use a variety of materials.  I loved their creativity!


The Discovery Museum in Acton, MA sounds like an amazing place to visit!  Find out more information at http://www.discoverymuseums.org.
Thank you, PTO, for bringing us this amazing program!

Vacation Fun

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are having fun this vacation! I can't wait to hear all about it! Did you visit family or spend time with friends? Did you watch any good movies or travel? Did anyone bake something yummy?! Add to the padlet below a sentence or two or even a picture of a special vacation moment that you would like to share about. On Monday, each of us will be choosing one special moment to illustrate and write about. This padlet can help with our brainstorming when we are all a little tired as we settle back into our routine. :)

Simply double click on the board and write a note. Write your name at the top of the note as the title.

STEM Baking Project: Bread in a Bag

For Valentine's Day, I had a special treat planned for the students.  They would need to use their scientistic observational skills and their mathematical knowledge of measuring to make bread.  Yes, you heard me correctly, warm from the oven, golden brown, soft bread! I got the recipe here.  This recipe caught my attention because all the ingredients go in a bag, which makes for easy mixing and clean up.
I told the students the day before how they would become bakers the next morning and would bake their families a delicious side to accompany their Valentine's Day dinner.  To help prepare for baking, we would need to hone our measuring skills.  During Tuesday's math stations, Mrs. Reid, our school's fabulous math specialist, came in to assist with measurement stations.
We used sand, beans, and plastic gems to help us become familiar with using measuring cups and measuring spoons.  We also estimated how many scoops to fill certain containers and compared the sizes of containers in regards to how many scoops they could hold.  Some students also learned equivalencies such as it takes 2 half cups to fill one cup or 4 quarter cups to fill the same cup.

At the end, we came together and shared what we learned - useful information to keep in mind while we cooked the next day. :)

Wednesday morning students came in excited to celebrate Valentine's Day and eager to bake bread. Thankfully, the amazing Ms. Clemenzi had some time available and offered to join in on the fun.  After students put on their plastic aprons and gloves,  they got with their partner and started reading the kid friendly directions that I created with pictures.  Each pair of children had a gallon sized plastic bag that they put all of their ingredients into.  They took turns squishing the contents of the bag to mix all of the ingredients and to "wake up" the yeast.

Of course, once the loaves were placed in pans and left in the kitchen to rise, these bakers had to clean up their messes, and they were happy to do so!

I loved the teamwork, cooperation, and involvement of each child.  There was definitely some quality control with a few friendly reminders to fill the measuring cup all the way or to level off a measuring spoon.  What made me a happy teacher was that kids were open to their peers' constructive feedback and often thanked each other for the help or reminder.

The bread baked while the kids were at recess.  After lunch, they were anxious to try the warm bread.  Thumbs up all around!

I'm glad families enjoyed the bread!  I hope this lesson inspires children to help cook at home.  Add a comment below or send me a picture if your child helps you bake something yummy!

I could not have done this special project without the support and assistance of our wonderful cafeteria staff.  Thank you also to Mr. Sam for his help reading directions and cleaning up after us.  Thank you also to the parents who helped at our Valentine's Day party.  I appreciate your help with packaging the bread loaves so they were ready to send home.