Cause and Effect Stations

Today the students rotated through different stations writing either a cause or effect on a piece of chart paper. I wrote a cause or effect on the top, and the students had to come up with a possible cause or effect that would go with it. We played music while they wrote and when the music stopped, they put their caps on their markers and froze. Then they switched and the music came back on and they wrote again. It was really fun!

Proactive Choices and Their Effects

This week we have been talking about cause and effect. We watched some Christmas movies, read some books, and watched some PowerPoints and determined the cause and effect. The students have also been playing games with cards and matching up the cause with the effect. Today we talked about different ways we could be proactive in life, not only in the classroom, and the good effects that come out of those choices. The students worked in partners and wrote a proactive choice on the green strip and the good effect that comes out of that choice on the red strip. We made a proactive chain to decorate our classroom with. The students will continue to add to this chain throughout this year. Whenever they make a proactive choice that results in a positive effect, they will write it down and add it to our chain. We are trying to make it really long to show how proactive we are! We will start a new chain in January. :)

I Spy Arrays!

The kids went on an 'I Spy' hunt for arrays and recorded what they found on their recording sheet.

Winter Wonderland

Today we made snowflakes and put fact families on them. We decorated our classroom with them and created a winter wonderland! It looks amazing. The kids have decided that we would keep something hanging from the ceiling at all times throughout the year. Butterflies, rain drops, flowers. They're so creative!

Mouse Traps!

We have been studying force and motion. The kids made 'Mouse Traps' of their own. Remember that awesome game?! We looked at the game, then the kiddos made their own. They had specific criteria they had to follow. One rough surface, 2 ramps, one curved surface, and a tunnel. The objective was to see whose group could get their ball through their maze the quickest. They did amazing jobs! We tested them today but didn't have enough time to actually discuss the factors that influenced balls going fast or slow. Here are some pictures of them constructing their mouse traps/ mazes. I'll post pictures of their final products tomorrow. They made some AWESOME mazes!