This week was our first week with all 4 teachers in the room! It was a great success and the students have been having a blast. A highlight from the week was a cultural performance we attended by Tony Vacca and Abdou Sarr on West African music. It was a blast! We also ended our week with a "hands-off" play time (play without the encircling structure of adults). The idea behind this time was to have students bring in toys from home, and naturally come up with their own imaginary play. Free play is such an important part of developing children. Unstructured play encourages skills such as: cooperation, conflict resolution, critical thinking, and creativity. I encourage you all to even just Google "The power of play" and read through some articles highlighting its importance, and interesting statistics.
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We had a wonderful trip to the Sugar Shack in Weston! We were able to see how true farmers prepare to make loads of maple syrup! Of course they let us taste some too. I think this was one of their favorite parts! These photos are from our AMAZING DEC day and Valentine's Day with out affirmation hearts! This week we began to think about kindness and letting someone else go first. It was nice to see some students think about their actions and put kindness in motion! It was also nice to come in on Thursday morning to a board full of birthday messages for Eli and myself! Kids were so sweet with making me cards, and one student even made me a birthday crown. Your children are so filled with joy, and their smiles are contagious! This week we had lots of fun! Of course there was a lot of excitement over Friday's Sport Spirit Day! We made cheer banners for our favorite teams! Lots of Patriots of fans in room 3! We also watched a Middle School Music Concert in the gym. Room 3 loved singing and swaying to the beautiful tunes performed. We continue to practice our spelling and writing during Fundations, and worked more with our white boards for practice. Mrs. Pingeton came for a visit to help us too! We also discussed the difference between informational text and fictional text. We listened to an informational text on insects and then read the book The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. We discussed the differences between both texts! Thank you to families that attended the Math Open House! It was so nice connecting with many of you, and it was so great to see everyone having fun doing math! I totally forgot to take pictures of the event, but I hope you still enjoy some pictures from our week! This week we began to wrap up our measurement unit. We solved word story problems about measurement, measured ourselves with non-standard units of measurement, and even collected and graphed our own data! The students had a blast with figuring out many tiles, straws, and/or popsicle sticks long they are. In Fundations we practiced our words by using our magnetic tile boards and white boards. Lastly for some Friday Fun we challenged students with a "How to Draw a Penguin" and loved seeing the different array of penguin friends that were created. This week talked about Martin Luther King and what he did for our country. We learned about his past and what it was like for him growing up. We also brainstormed ways that we can all make a difference- big and small. I had the students take a look around the room, and see each other as the next generation of: scientists, mathematicians, political figures, presidents, movie stars, singers etc.! Such a powerful moment! This week we also had more fun exploring with measurement and worked with a partner to measure items around the room using: a digit, a span, and cubit. Ask your child what that means! Finally we had fun during morning mission following a "how to" on creating a polar bear. They came out soooo cute! This week we had tons of fun playing in the snow! When the weather permits we plan on going out twice a day, so please remember to pack your child with snow gear and extra socks! This week we had fun learning about fact and opinions, experimenting with sound by creating cup phones, and exploring measurement! Ms. Pirelli visited our classroom during Open Circle to continue teaching us about the "Zones of Regulation." Students are becoming experts at identifying the various zones! We had a bunch of classroom shares this week too! I am so proud of how the students have learned to use their "strong speaker" voices. The audience members also know that they have to provide detail to their comments! All comments always include I like it.... because......! The week leading up to vacation is always fun! We cozied up and listened to lots of winter stories including: Tacky the Penguin, The Snowy Day, and Snowmen at Night. We thought a lot about our Family Traditions and posted our pictures and thoughts on our board! We had a visit from our fifth grade book buddies, and even shared a special recess with them! We played in a dodgeball game against Ms. Germaine's class and against teachers! We created gingerbread people, and made special snowflake gifts for our families or someone special. We even got to watch a movie called, The Snowy Day (which is based on the same book we read!). So fun and lots of great memories! |