It's a New Year!

Wow, it is finally here. My tenth year to teach children. I am so excited about starting this milestone in my career with such great kids. Here is one of our "first day of school" activities. Each child had a number and voted on which part they agreed with. Ask your child what his/her number is!

Sorry, this one won't turn. 

Visitors from the UA Master Gardener Program

Thanks so much to Ms. Linda and Ms. Ginny for visiting our class. We learned so many things! We learned how to use a probe and a hand lens to observe garden soil. We made predictions and observations, which we recorded. We also learned about the different types of soil in Arkansas (sand, clay and humus or garden soil). Then we observed how much water these soil types retain. What a wonderful, hands-on learning experience!

Last we got to act out what it would be like for water to move through these different particles. Some of us were sand, some were humus, some were clay, and some got to be the water. Sometimes the water got stuck to the particles!

We are now a 1:1 iPad Classroom!

Together we are learning how to use these devices to deepen and extend our learning. Right now we are focusing on procedures and routines that help keep our devices in working order. The big one we are trying to master is to NOT LEAVE THE IPAD ON THE FLOOR! Please talk with your child about watching where they step and also putting their device in a safe place when not in use. I am so excited to see what they can produce!

AWE visit today!

Here is our whole-class tableau we made during our last visit with Dr. Pat and Mr. Jason.
We created a frozen picture with our bodies that shows the artwork in the background of the ocean and waves.

Creating Geometric Solids

After analyzing geometric solids for edges, faces, and vertices, our students created models of solids of their choice. Great job kiddos!

Class Photo

Here are some quick caption-type class photo we took one day. Love these munchkins!

Lots of Learning Going On

Here are some pictures I have snapped during some of our learning activities.....

A Conga Line matching game-
Students had to read a sentence and come up with a word using a prefix or suffix that meant that. For example, Change the word happy to mean not happy...answer would be unhappy. Or change the word from kind to mean being kind....answer would be kindness. Then students would move down to a new partner.

Our students just finished writing their own biography about an important person in the Journey to Freedom for African Americans. They could choose from people like Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, and all the way to Martin Luther King, Jr. After they wrote the biography, they could choose how to create a digital presentation. Some students created a powerpoint and some created a haiku deck. Then they had to stand up in front of the class and share their project. 

Red Hot Readers!

Check out how much growth our kids have made! Way to go, Scholars! Thanks to you parents for always making sure your child reads at night. Repeated reading is a research based best practice to help kids become better readers!

Latest Khoot and special Chatterpix video

Check out our latest episodes of KHOOT. Also the last link is to Stephany's Chatterpix video. Hers is being featured because she mentioned the lesson she learned from the book, The Grouchy Ladybug. Identifying and describing the lesson from a story is an important second grade skill. Way to go, Stephany!

KHOOT GROUP 1: Dylan, Taten, Riley E, and Alexis  http://youtu.be/3Da0OnABuIc


KHOOT GROUP 2: Dymon, Jace, Rylee, and Stephany  http://youtu.be/nvx4mV2A1iM


Stephany's Chatterpix Video:  https://youtu.be/cq42MLK9uvY

Leprechauns!

A leprechaun has wrecked our room today! He also left us a sweet treat (which we counted and divided equally and discussed if it was odd or even and why). Happy St. Patrick's Day!

KHOOT Shows for March 13

Here are the two shows from last week. Enjoy!
http://youtu.be/T1Yy7nhex3M

http://youtu.be/uqqksR6xsTg

KHOOTs from March 6

Here is this group's latest KHOOT show. They did a great job forecasting the weather in this one!

http://youtu.be/qXPlMgHZ9A0

Here is another great KHOOT from last week. They got really creative and have produced a "Dr. Seuss" edition KHOOT. Way to go, kiddos!

http://youtu.be/eKPAp438sKk

Our Trip on the Underground Railroad

Our students have been learning about many famous people who had a part in Slavery, the Underground Railroad, and the Civil Rights Era in a unit we call the Long Journey to Freedom. As part of that study, we led the students on a reenactment of the Underground Railroad. This helps the children get a better picture of what it was like, since we have "patrolman" listening and watching for any "runaway slaves" who are laughing or not hiding well. It is always super fun, and it is a great way to get the kids to reflect on this part of our nation's history.

Mrs. Christy as a patrolman. The kids are hiding from her.

At each stop the students were presented with a photo from the slavery/underground railroad period. They had to make observations and inferences based on that photo. 

 I love their faces as they look around the corner for a patrolman. We are carrying our shoes because we are "crossing a river". 

 The "patrolmen" are close!