Preschool has been learning all about bread and they've even baked some bread in their classroom! In library, we've read Nanette's Baguette by Mo Willems and Shh...I Have a Plan by Chris Haughton.
Kindergarten students were learning about story elements, so we read The Water Princess by Susan Verde, and then the kids spun a wheel on the smart board that asked them to answer the who, what, where, when, or why of the story. We had amazing conversations about this book! I was worried it would be over their heads, but we started out by talking about how we get drinks--from drinking fountains, faucets, or even our refrigerators. It's crazy to think that there are places in the world where there still isn't clean water. I experienced that first hand when I went to Africa, but that's a story for a different time.
Kindergartners also finished up their learning in science about forces and motion. That means it's time to build! The kids went to one station to play with marbles and put them down tracks that I created--using rubber bands, popsicle sticks, and marble works toys. Half of the kids used toilet paper tubes taped to the wall to create a track, as well. It's fun & messy & chaotic & we all love it!
First graders are working on non-fiction reading skills and learning about animals that live in cold places. In class, they're learning about penguins, so we're exploring other animals in library. Two weeks ago, I read them a book about Walruses and they made a Chatterpix video explaining one of the facts. Last week, the kids used Britannica online to listen to an article about polar bears. Then, we used the green screen to create a video!
Second graders reviewed our chapter book genres again and found loads of new books to read! I love spending class periods just simply reading. The kids rotated to their 3 favorite genres and read for 3 minutes at that table. Last week, we started working on using text evidence to answer questions in non-fiction. We read an article about Martin Luther King Jr since it was his birthday. Then the kids answered a question and highlighted the text where they found the answer.
Third grade splits their kids for science and social studies, so two classes are doing a science activity in the library and the other two are doing social studies. In science, they've been studying forces and motion. We are going to build Rube Goldberg machines during library. We started by watching videos of Rube Goldberg machines and writing down ideas of supplies. This week, one of the two classes got to play with some of the materials to create a very simple machine. The other class had to miss because we had an early out for a snow storm!
The kids in social studies have been learning about slavery and segregation. They are also doing informative writing in LA, so we decided to do a main idea/detail slide about a famous African American. The kids picked a person from the list, read or listened about them, and then filled in some key details that show why they are an important person in history.
Fourth graders began working on their book trailer videos. They had a choice of two templates to fill out and starting writing a summary of their book to use as the script for their movie. I'm excited to see how these videos turn out--this is one of my favorite projects in 4th grade!
