Liquids and Solids and Gas - OH MY!

If you read our last post, you would know that we just completed our informational writing unit. Our final drafts are complete, along with a cute craftivity, and are now on display in the hallway. Don't they look amazing!

 

Here is a close-up of one.

 

Lion and Tigers and Bears - OH MY!

 

Our new Language Arts theme is "Fairy Tales". We started reading "The Wizard of Oz" and we are absolutely loving it. This is the version we are using for our class read aloud times.

 

 

This story has provided a lot of opportunity for discussions about friendship. Today we took our discussions a bit further and practiced our conversation skills by learning appropriate ways to "join in" when we see a group of friends playing together or maybe even other students we may not know.

 

First, we learned, discussed and reviewed the steps needed to appropriately join in and play with others. We kept with the "Wizard of Oz" theme and called it...

 

 "Follow the Yellow Brick Road - Steps to Joining In".

 

 

Second, we discussed positive and appropriate ways we could respond and created a reference chart for future discussions.

 

 

 

Next, the students were partnered up and provided a scenario that would cause then to want to join in. Here are a few of our scenario cards.

 

 

Then, together in pairs, the students brainstormed a joining in statement along with a positive response on a conversation bubble activity page.

 

Last, the students role-played in front of their classmates, acting out each of their scenarios.

We will continue with our "Wizard of Oz" friendship theme tomorrow with some more writing activities that I will be sure to post.

 

Liquids and Solids and Gas - Oh My!

 

Oh My! was exactly what I was thinking when I decided to complete some messier experiments in matter this week. At first I was worried that the mess would be too much but the students were awesome and even though there were a few shrieks of excitement, it was well worth the end result.

 

On Monday we read a  Dr. Seuss story called "Bartholomew and the Oobleck". 

 

 

This story is about some ooey, gooey green goo that a king orders from his royal magicians. After reading the story, we made our very own oobleck. It was a sunny days so we decided to take the experiment outside and have a little more messy fun.

 

 

 

 

Today, we experimented with ways to blow-up a balloon using baking soda, vinegar, a small bottle and of course a balloon. We used our super scientist knowledge to form a hypothesis, complete the experiment and then discuss our observations. The look on their faces says it all.

 

 

 

 

We had so much fun, I will definitely be searching on Pinterest for some more fun experiments to try out before Spring Break!

 

Hope you enjoy your evening!

-Mrs. Singh

How To Blow A Bubble

This reporting period, our Language Arts writing goals focused mainly on informational writing. First we worked on our non-fiction penguin themed writing. Once our penguin theme unit ended, we moved onto procedural writing in the form of "How To" booklets. To kick off our procedural writing unit, I searched through Pinterest looking for ideas that the students would find fun and engaging. I came across the cutest activity that required the kids to write the instructions for blowing a bubble. The fact that they got to chew bubblegum in class had them hooked immediately. Our "How To Blow a Bubble" writing and craftivity turned out great. They were on display in the hallway until today.

The bubblegum writing activity turned out so well that I immediately knew any other procedural writing activity needed to be as hands-on as possible. So that is exactly what we did! Over the last two weeks, students were partnered-up with another class member. Each group was given an envelope containing pictures that could be manipulated to "make" whatever product they were writing "How To" instructions for. There were 10 different products in total and each student completed approximately 6 activities each. I wish we could have completed all ten activities, but with the terrible round of the cold and flu which hit our school, it was nearly impossible. Let's hope that it is all behind us now!

(*if you are another teacher reading this post, I highly suggest you check out this resource. It is amazing. Just click here .)

This is an example of the "How To Make A Pizza" packet.

Grade one students manipulated the pieces to make the product, then sequenced the steps using transitional words as well as completing a cut and paste activity. Grade two students completed a sequencing activity but then wrote the instructions out, including transitional words, rather than the cut and paste portion. The students loved this unit and their procedural writing as well as their reading skills certainly improved. Tomorrow, we will be publishing our favourite "How To " activity to display in the hallway along with a cute craftivity.

In other news... 

Anti-bullying Day was successful. Check out our classroom full of pink shirts.

-Mrs. Singh