Creating Creepy Poems for Halloween

We have been learning about poetry these past couple of weeks. The kiddos made rough drafts about their descriptive poems based on Halloween. The students used a dictionary to figure out how to spell unknown words and then created their spider poem! We had a great time making these and listening to spooky Halloween music! They all did a fantastic job. :)

Creating "hairy legs" for the spider!

Being silly and working hard at the same time.

Looking up the correct spelling of words we don't know.

Using the new Neo technology in the classroom!

I got these 'Neos' as they are called, and each student has one. I am learning how to use this with documents through the computer. Supposedly you are able to create tests on the computer and the kids can answer through the Neos. Well, I finally got them up and running! We are currently using them to practice our basic facts and math fluency. My goal is for all of the students to know their multiplication facts by memory by the end of the year. Ask your child about the Neos! They had a blast!

The Neo2!

The kids so engaged with their new technology!

Field Trip!

We had such a wonderful time on our field trip. Here are some pictures from exploring downtown Buda, debating issues in Buda City Hall, and hanging out at the pumpkin patch!

Our little "Angels"

Sleeping and eating at the Carrington Hotel.

 

 

 

A city council member during our mock debate at Buda City Hall!

 

Thanks to the windmill, the citizens of Buda have water to drink!

 

 

Helping rebuild the gas station after the fire!

Discussing their reasons Buda should or should not have a waterpark.

 

Robbin' the bank!

Our new Clickers in our Classroom!

I just learned how to work this new software for these clickers. The kids love them! I actually used these same clickers in college! The kids love them! We are currently using them to review our math facts and word problems. We will use them in other areas as the weeks progress. :) And as Mrs.Byrne becomes more comfortable with the software :). We have ANOTHER awesome technology coming to our classroom soon. The Neo2! Hopefully we will have that up and running by the end of this week!

Water Cycle Experiment!

We made these today. They are models of the water cycle. Super fun! The shaving cream represents the clouds (condensation) the water represents the air, and the blue food coloring represents the precipitation and collection. Very cool!

Playing Around!

Playing around at recess!

Interactive Word Wall

Here is our interactive word wall we made. Yes, WE, as in my precious kids and I! The students can go up to the word wall and take the words to their desks, that way they aren't breaking their necks trying to spell the word. I also added kid friendly definitions of the words on the back just in case they need a reminder of what a concept means. I will probably only put key vocabulary on here because they have a high frequency word list on a file folder that they use throughout the day. I hope the kids enjoy it and use it!

Autobiographies and Biographies

This week we have also been learning about the differences between autobiographies and biographies. The students need to be able to determine the differences, the point of view (first and third person) and the words that let them know what type of text it is. The first day they interviewed someone to create a biography about them.

You can get this from Amy Lemon's blog by clicking HERE.

 

Today we shared what they wrote about and we discussed if they learned anything new about that person (mom, dad, grandma). Some of them didn't know certaint things about their family and ended up learning a lot!

 

Today we discussed what an Autobiography was and watched a short video on brainpopjr. The students started their daily journals today as their own autobiographies. In these journals, they were able to free write about anything they wanted. Things that they just need to get off their chest, what they did over the weekend, what they did last year, etc. Some on the entries I read made me almost cry! You never know what children are going through and how they feel if you don't take the time to really listen to them. With these journals, I am hoping to learn more about my students. The students will have until 8:00am to finish their journal entry. If they complete n entry, a full page and turn it in by 8am, I will read it and write them back that day. I may change it to 7:45am, we will just see how it goes.

 

We also played a game I created called Autobiography and Biography SCOOT! The students rotated at stations and recorded the words that showed the text was either an autobiography or biography. It was a really fun game. We didn't get to the autobiography part but we will do that tomorrow!

You can get the full version and explanation of the game HERE.

New quiet critters and completing our landforms!

This week we have been working to complete our landforms and made some new quiet critters. I found these little guys at Hobby Lobby! The kids have been helping put them together when they finish their work and we worked on a new home for them. :)

 

 

 

Their landforms are looking AMAZING! They cannot wait to take them home and show their parents. They really look perfect- it may be because their teacher is a perfectionist but hey, at least they look awesome!

 

 

 

I also found this game called 'Blurt' at Hobby Lobby. The students read definitions of words and the first person to get the vocabulary word gets to move a certain amount of spaces. It's so much fun! If I could, I'd play, but that would be unfair. Heehee

 

 

 

Rounding and Estimating

These past couple of weeks we have been learning how to round numbers to the nearest ten, hundred, and thousand. I have to admit, at first I was a little nervous when I began teaching rounding because they were really struggling with it. Now they're pros! Practice makes perfect! Here are our awesome rounding charts we made to help them remember the rules of rounding and one of my precious students playing a rounding game on the SmartBoard. Next week we will be applying rounding and estimating to word problems.