We had a wonderful day together! We started our day by filling in the blanks to this funny Halloween story and then we shared them with the class! The great part about this is that we still have more stories to share on Wednesday!
There were lots of treats today and even a few tricks!
After that, we headed down to the boogie-a-thon to dance the morning away!
I got to meet a character from my favorite movie of all time!!!
After lunch, we had some fun with a Halloween story (a true story of Halloween revenge...dun, dun, dun!) along with some stenciling fun and some spooky Witches Brew! Who would have thought that the secret ingredient was ginger ale??? Bugs blood, snail slime, pumpkin guts and then of all things...ginger ale! Thank you to Miss Penwarden for capturing the brew-making steps for me!
I had some fun with the kids telling them what the color of their cup meant for their Halloween night! I can't remember off the top of my head, but one of the cup colors meant that your Halloween candy would magically change into shoelaces at the end of the night. Another color meant you'd have onion breath for a year. Regardless, drinking the Witches Brew meant your Halloween was ruined with a capital "R"...LOL!
Thank you to all the boys and girls for a terrific Halloween! I can't wait to read what students write on Wednesday morning when they complete their "Halloween Reflection"!
The boys and girls wrote their first Math test today. We started, as we always do, with a review of the test on the Smartboard, along with test expectations. Students were reminded not to talk during their test, raise their hand if they needed assistance and use the timer displayed on the Smartboard to help them manage their time. The boys and girls were given an hour to write the test and then an addition 20 minutes if required. Some students needed reminders to focus and make the most of their time and this may be reflected in their overall score. I'll do my best to have the tests returned to students on Tuesday. At that time, they will be asked to bring them home for parents to sign. Students will also be expected to complete any corrections they have.
This week, we read Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds. This hilarious text includes some of the key writing conventions we've been talking about throughout the school year such as: italics, ellipses and text size to indicate emotion. This book is a treasure trove of literary fun!
Have a look at these creepy, yet adorable pumpkins the kids made on Friday afternoon! We used orange Solo cups that I picked up at a Pittsburgh-area Target last year on clearance, black peel and stick felt and battery operated candles that I got at Michaels a while back with my 50% off coupon. This was a great craft for kids and at the same time, easy on the wallet!
Special thanks to my classroom photographer Claire! While I was busy helping other students, she roamed the room with my camera taking all kinds of great pictures. Students are learning about the difference between what we call "working photos" and "smiling photos". We're learning about digital citizenship and every opportunity I can give my students to safely practice this is a real win!
I made this instructional video for my students. There's no sound so that I could explain it to them while they watched. If you're a teacher and you'd like to make this craft with your students, feel free to use my video as well!
On Monday, the boys and girls had their first Math quiz (pictured below). Based on the data, I think students will need further practice with solving word problems, so we're going to spend the rest of the week focusing on problem solving.
Students are asked to become very familiar with this graphic from their math booklet as it will help them to determine the correct operation required to solve the problem.
To help the boys and girls understand the requirements to score a 4/4, I made this super quick video that we watched this afternoon. I've encouraged students to watch it again to understand the success criteria that might help them on future quizzes.
Students returned from their Thanksgiving weekend ready to get back to work and get back to work we did!
We've been talking about what good readers do and the kids know that good readers, viewers AND listeners ask questions. In fact, we're actually reviewing a communication bulletin board set I have as part of our Morning Message. There's no room for it on our walls this year, so I took photos of it. It's actually working out quite nicely because each morning we look at the previous photos and then add a new one.
This week, the boys and girls learned about asking questions for clarification, piggybacking an idea and listening effectively. These all came in handy when this mystery package appeared in our room on Wednesday morning. I asked the kids, "What questions do you have about this?" "What do you think it might be?" Of course, we quickly realized that with so little information (dog wrapping paper, a pink bow and a rattling sound) you didn't have much to go on!
Buuuuuuttttt!!!! If you removed a wee bit of the paper, listened carefully to some casually mentioned clues, you could formulate more questions and begin to narrow things down. It was a great way to teach my students that good readers/listeners/viewers use their own prior knowledge plus evidence presented to draw conclusions. Without those two things, your thinking is just all over the place. This is one of the reasons we often abandon books and movies: we become confused and uninterested because there's not enough "stuff" to keep us engaged. Like nachos without cheese...what's the point?
One of the big, big clues to what was in the box came later in the day on Wednesday when I casually handed out the booklet pictured below. We didn't even start it, I just gave it out and ask the kids to put it in their desks for use later in the week. My little detectives read the title and I could see the light-bulbs go off! As the package was unwrapped and the pieces all fell into place, the kids realized it was indeed an apple peeler and I explained that we would be making applesauce as part of our Fun Friday activity! I also explained that we'd be writing out the process. We'd use the little flip-booklet I gave out to become familiar with procedural writing.
We're really only dipping our toes into this writing format now. We'll come back to it in December, but the applesauce activity is a really rich learning opportunity, it seems foolish not to take advantage of the chance to at least introduce it. So off we went on Friday! I got everything prepped before the kids arrived so that when they came in on Friday morning, the applesauce was already cooking. It takes a few hours and the last thing I want to do is have kids go home for the weekend without trying the applesauce because it wasn't cooked! Miss Penwarden was kind enough to film this "behind the scenes" video so I could show the boys and girls what happens before the pot goes on the stove.
After watching the video, we gathered together and looked at the next steps. There's a copy of the recipe at the bottom of this blog post if you'd like to make the applesauce yourself!
Around 1:30 on Friday afternoon, we ate our applesauce and I think it was the best batch yet! Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and that was my goal. We talked about what to do if you don't care for it and let's face it, it might not be for everyone! I told the kids, "I don't want to know if it's the worst thing you've ever tasted." We reviewed how to discreetly dispose of your applesauce and still be positive about the experience itself and we talked about Grandma's adage, "If you don't have anything nice to say..."
Overall, it was a really fun day! I loved that so many kids decided on their own to bring in their own aprons! We'll have lots of opportunities this year to cook together. I love sharing these experiences with my students!
Next week, we'll finish up the applesauce booklet and bring them home to share with our families. As I mentioned, we'll come back to procedural writing in December when we write about what Mrs. Claus does on Christmas Eve!
This is a favourite blog post from 2016 that I wanted to share with my new students, their families and visitors. We made applesauce again on October 13, 2017 and while preparing for that blog post, I came upon this one. 😍 Every now and then, I like to record parts of my instruction. I typically use my document camera because then, you can hear the action, but I don't have to worry about compromising the privacy of my students. So it tends to be a lot of my hands, but more importantly, a lot of sweet conversations. This video is just that. I watched/listened to it again on Saturday morning and I love how cozy it feels. We were just getting our Fun Friday rolling. The applesauce was cooking and the kids had just had lunch and finished their little after-lunch chores.
As mentioned in the video, the boys and girls will be writing the instructions (we call it procedural writing) for how to make applesauce. Then, we'll take it down to a kindergarten class and buddy up and read! the class was super-excited when I told them this! They loved the idea of being the leader in this capacity!
It was a super-fun day on Friday. The kids were in great spirits and could.not.wait. until we ate that applesauce! Our student of the day, Miss Mikaela acted as our server AND photographer! Great job Mikaela! I heard some hilarious comments about the applesauce ranging from, "I've never had applesauce, but this is the best applesauce I've ever had!" to "Are we allowed seconds? What about thirds? Can we have sevenths Mrs. M?" It's a super-easy recipe and now that the kids know how to make it, I'm sure they'll be happy to help with the apple peeling! Click here for a printable copy.
