Happy Valentine's Day!

You might wonder what the heck I'm doing on the computer right now...well I'm at school. Still. Until 8:40 pm actually. And I got here at 7:30 this morning. Some genius decided to schedule parent teacher conferences on Valentine's Day! I had a break in between school and the start of conferences at 6:30,  topped off by a delish heart donut from Dunkin, so I'm all smiles now :)

I didn't even bother with anything unrelated to V-Day since we had a 1:30 dismissal (including a 30 minute special and 45 minute lunch / recess.) All they could think about was cupcakes and Valentine cards. They were all decked out!

Here's what I taught the kids did today.

We sorted candy hearts in several ways - in ABC order,

by color (and graphed them)...

compared them to see which colors had less and which had more...

and finally, we created dialogue out of them!

Would you believe those kids didn't eat them? After begging me to eat them all morning?!?! I swear, candy makes kids go crazy!

We did math word problems using this Promethean flipchart...

We made Valentines for a special someone and wrote a paragraph with three reasons why we loved them so Beary much! Of course I forgot to take a picture of their cute decorative writing paper and the writing that was stapled onto the back!

Then the fun began... I sugared them up with Hugs and Kisses, heart shaped marshmallows, and strawberry cupcakes. I really never do it, but today I went all out!

(Here's what the marshmallow package looks like in case you can't resist buying some!)

We also had some healthy red and purple fruits and veggies. Somehow orange objects found their way in!

red peppers, radishes, apples, and grapes

The kids sorted and graphed their Valentine cards...

because come on, they had to do something other than eat the candy, take the sticker, and throw them away!

I hope you enjoyed your Valentine's Day!

The Water Cycle

We started our "Earth in Space" science unit today after some flurrying over the weekend. It's been quite a dry winter with very little snow. In fact, the only snow that accumulated here was on Halloween! I am definitely not complaining, especially because we only have one snow day built into the calendar...but you know kids. They live for snow! Either way, here are some water cycle songs and videos they enjoy.

Scholastic Study Jams video

Check out the Quiz and Lesson Plan sections too!

The Water Cycle Song

Magic School Bus Wet All Over

Water Cycle Rap

Billy Nye The Science Guy "Water Cycle Jump"

Water Cycle Song by Science Explosion

http://havefunteaching.com/songs/science-songs/water-cycle-song/

We love multiplication and division!

We made some neat multiplication arrays using candy hearts. It took 2 eight ounce bags to make 22 of them. To make it fair, I pulled flashcards to tell each student what array to make. This can also be a great division activity if you tell them how many rows they need to divide their hearts into. They can easily find the remainder!

Just arrange them into arrays, glue, color, and write your number sentence!

We have also been using fact family triangles to make the connection to division. Students wrote the fact families from the front and back of their cards on dry erase boards, then switched with other classmates in their groups.

 

We also used various manipulatives and divided them into equal groups to solve word problems. Whatever was left over was our remainders. It was a great way to understand the vocabulary words divisible and remainder!

Ellis Island and Immigration

To begin the next phase of our social studies unit, we read the Caldecott winning book Grandfather's Journey by Alan Say. The kids really enjoyed reading it since we read the Kamishibai Man by Mr. Say two months ago. 

The story tells of a man who is homesick for Japan when he is in America, and homesick for America when he is in Japan.

We made a list of reasons why people would choose to immigrate:

• religious freedom
• to escape war or violence
• famine or drought (not enough food or water)
• natural disaster
• to get an education
• to get a job
• to join family
• for adventure

My students were very intrigued, especially since many of them have relatives who immigrated to America. in the last 30 years. I told them that a great place to read about and visit is Ellis Island.

I was lucky enough to visit there in third and ninth grades. Although my paternal grandfather immigrated from Italy, he came in 1945, meaning that he did not have to pass through Ellis Island. I highly recommend the audio tour as you can actually listen to immigrants' accounts of their own journeys to American and memories of Ellis Island and their first days in America. There are also many pictures and artifacts from the time and you can see where the immigrants lived while detained or waiting or relatives to claim them. You can even search ship manifestos using their Passenger Search or have a relative's name inscribed on the Wall of Honor.

Books, Websites, and Videos about Ellis Island and Immigration:

History.com search results for Ellis Island

http://voices.yahoo.com/video/ellis-island-227746.html

Scholastic's Immigration Resources

I just added Dear America: Journey to the New World

and Journey to Ellis Island to our class wishlist!

If you order from Scholastic Book Clubs, the following are currently available:

If Your Name Was Changed at Ellis Island $5.59

At Ellis Island: A History in Many Voices $5

Dear America: Voyage on the Great Titanic $10

The Orphan of Ellis Island $5.99

Immigrant Kids $6.00

Ellis Island $18.20

A Mr. Rubbish Mood

This week's reading story is called A Mr. Rubbish Mood by Megan McDonald. It's an excerpt from Judy Moody Saves the World! I think the best things about this story are that it gets kids concerned about the environment and it also gets them excited to read the actual chapter book!

Scholastic has a great deal right now - 9 different books in the Judy Moody pack for only $32!

Of course...it also got my students excited because of the new movie Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer. Journeys really makes it too easy for me to do movie tie-ins, but my students get to choose behavioral rewards to work for and they are always #1 on their list.

Here's the trailer for Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer.

Visit the Judy Moody site of Megan McDonald (the author)!

A great companion to this book is Michael Recycle.

We also love Once I Was a Cardboard Box!

My students will be making sculptures and objects out of reused materials this weekend. Stay tuned to see pictures of their projects!