Week 28

Science experiment to see how long the balloon would stay on the ceiling

Kids checking out the mess that the leprechaun left us

Kids looking at the mess the leprechaun left us

This week was crazy because of St. Patrick's Day, but we had a great time.

Special Activities: This week was St. Patrick's Day.  When I was making copies in the morning, a leprechaun came and locked us out of the room.  He totally trashed the room, leaving these for each student: candy coins, a rainbow rice krispie treat, and a note that read: "A colorful trick and treat from Lucky the Leprechaun!"

The students also earned a party this week.   We had the party on St. Patrick's Day since the students would be wound up anyway.  I taught them several recess games (500, 4 square, team jump rope, and tag games), and then we split into groups and tried out each game.  

Funny Stuff From Kids: One student asked if he could skip lunch and play the computers.  I told him no and explained why, including the part about me not being in the room because I had to eat my lunch.  Then he had a confused look on his face, and he said, "Teachers eat lunch???"

"My favorite letter is h because that's what horse starts with!"

I think it's fun to observe the kids from time to time during recess.  For example, I found some of them playing school, and the student playing the teacher put on the exact same mannerisms as me!. . .It just goes to show how impressionable kids are.

Homework: Please help students keep up on their homework!

Social Studies: This week most of our social studies time was taken up by our St. Patrick's Day party, so the main part of social studies was discussing what St. Patrick's Day is all about.  

Math: This week I introduced the concept of < and >.  I talked about how it looks like a mouth, and the mouth is always eating the bigger number. . .Just like how "so-&-so" always likes to eat a lot.  He will always want his mouth open to the bigger amount of food.  

Next week I'll be parting from our usual math program for a few weeks to try out a new program that the school is thinking of purchasing.  Let me know any feedback about the homework from the new program that you notice as parents.

Project Read/Spelling: This week we reviewed the rules from the entire year up to this point.  It was a really good review.  Students especially needed the practice with a lot of the spelling rules.  

Speedy Words and Rocket Math: This week I re-vamped how we do rocket math.  First of all, I did a writing test to see how fast students can write.  That way I'm testing them on math facts. . .and not on how fast they can write.  Now each student has a separate goal based on their writing speed.  I also backed up most of the students in their rocket math to ensure that they've really mastered those facts.  Additionally, I added another component to their rocket math fact practice that I hope will help them to pass off more readily.

AR: Students keep progressing, and we got two new Samurais this week!! Next week everyone will start over with their quarter four goal of reading twenty more AR books!

Writing: I spent this week trying to meet with students one-on-one to discuss their writing, including what they do well and what things they most need to improve.

Science: For science this week, students were given real-life scenarios.  In groups, they had to perform a skit where they would "think like a scientist" to solve their real-life problem.  It was a really fun way to help then remember why it's important for us to learn to think like scientists.

We also did an experiment with static electricity.  We rubbed a balloon on hair and tried to get it to stick to the wall, the whiteboard, the door, etc.  We tried to see what it would stick to the best.  Lastly, we stuck it to the ceiling to see how long it would stay there.   It stayed all day!