Week 27

One of our new Samurai readers!

Student doing an experiment

Student shaking the egg jar for our experiment

Student shaking the egg jar for our experiment

Student shaking the egg jar for our experiment

Student shaking the egg jar for our experiment

New Samurai!

Guest showing students the inside of a semi-truck

Students next to the semi

Our class on the flatbed of the semi

Student showing her dog to the class

Student bringing in her dog to show the class

One of our new Samurai readers!

We had a hectic but fun week!  Sadly, we had a lot of sickness this week, so we’ve been disinfecting things and trying to keep everyone healthy.

Special Activities: We had a visit this week from a student’s father who is a truck driver.  The kids loved being able to see his truck.  It was great for them to see the importance of reading and math in every profession.  It was also a great way for them to gain background knowledge.  They learned so much and had so much fun!  It just worked out well all the way around. 

Funny Stuff From Kids: “It stinks in my mom’s room.”. . .Gotta love how kids are honest.  Like the old teacher saying goes, “I’ll only believe 50% of what they say about home if you only believe 50% of what they say about school.”

One girl had the water on for a long time when washing her hands and I asked what she was doing.  She said there was a spider crawling in the sink, and she was giving him a shower!

One boy was in trouble and owed me time at recess.  I set the timer for the amount of minutes he owed me.  As he sat at his desk watching the timer tick down he said, “You need to get a faster timer!”

One boy really likes to catch spiders at recess, and he said, “My mom likes spiders but my sister doesn’t.”  I wonder if his mom would agree with that statement. J

Students have been on a kick of calling every spider they see a black widow!  I had to explain to them that black widows are poisonous—and there are a few around—but that doesn’t make every spider you see a black widow.

One of our incentive programs for reading is becoming a Samurai by reaching your AR reading goals.  When one student got his Samurai, I said that his dad will be so proud when he finds out.  He replied, “My dad doesn’t know what a Samurai is ‘cuz he was born in 1980.”

Homework: Please help students keep up on their homework!

Social Studies: We got to have a visit from a local truck driver, as described above. 

We also continued our discussion about things changing over time by talking about how toys have changed over time.  We saw some pictures and video clips to help students visualize how toys have changed over time.

We also got to watch a short version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in Spanish, allowing the students to pick up on several Spanish phrases. 

Math: I really tried to solidify their understanding of writing big numbers.  They should be able to write numbers over 100 with no problem now. 

Project Read/Spelling: This week we reviewed red words from throughout the year.  Once in awhile students struggle with reading them, but mostly they struggle with spelling them.  I think they’ve mastered them more deeply now.  I hope it sticks. 

Speedy Words and Rocket Math: Students are working hard to earn their ice cream party.

AR: Students keep progressing, and we got two new Samurais this week!!

Writing: This week we re-focused on complete sentences.  Students have gotten out of the habit of forming complete sentences, and I want them to make sure every sentence is complete.

Science: For science this week, we put an egg in a Mayonnaise jar.  If you shake it, the egg cracks.  Students had to figure out what would happen if we filled the jar with water and shook it.  When it was filled with water, it was nearly impossible to crack the egg.  Students had fun shaking it to see if they could do any damage.  Students loved this experiment!!