Day 26- Fall is in the air!

Fall is on its way! Even if I couldn't feel the change in temperature, I'd be able to tell by looking at my students. Jackets everywhere! We didn't go outside yesterday because I thought it looked like rain. Today was a different story. It felt good and the kids had too much energy to be kept indoors!

In PE, Mr. Burney had set up an obstacle course, which was probably the highlight of their day. They came back with minds in gear!

In reading we read one of our last ABC books. Next week is the last week of our 6 week Unit using Alphabet Books. Today it was...

I found it in the Book Fair which was this week. I looked at it and it was love at first sight! It's fun, colorful, and introduced animals the kids had not heard of. (the Dodo bird. I made a quick Ice Age connection for them and they understood)
I have to say, I'm glad that this unit is coming to an end. There's really only so many ABC books in the school, and my students have seen them all! I plan on having this unit go out with a BANG! I'll keep you posted on what we are going to do next week!

Our skill this week in reading was Cause and Effect. We hinted on this topic when we read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

 

You can check out that post HERE.

In that lesson we were asking the question "Why?" Most of the answers my students gave me began with the word "because". What better way to practice the skill of Cause and Effect? We had to have a different book, of course. Today's was If You Give a Moose a Muffin.


We practiced first.
Me: Finish my sentence for me... Because I forgot to bring an umbrella...
Student: You got wet!
Me: Good! OK... Because I forgot to set my alarm clock...
Student: You are late!
You get the idea.
We then read the book and went back over it using sentences starting with the word "Because". Here is our wonderful chart. We didn't even have room for them all!

I plan on having the kids practice this skill in their center boxes next week.

Speaking of centers... Teams 4 and 1 had the special centers today!

 Good work, Soldiers!

While everyone was in centers, I pulled students to my table to give their spelling tests. I had 7 students earn a 100%! They took their tests home this afternoon. Any words that they missed will be their words for next week, as well as 1 or 2 new ones. If your child received a 100, he or she will have 5 new words next week. 

In math we were ready for the Unit 3 test. I got to grade some of them during the test, just walking around, but I will have them graded by next week. I think most of my students grasped the idea of making numbers. However, I did see that some had trouble making turn-around facts. It's not a big deal now, but we will be focusing more on it in the next few weeks.
A turn-around fact is just knowing that 3+4 is the same as 4+3. As we become more focused on fact families, turn-around fact will become more important.

After the test, I let the kids play the game that was included in their books. (I let them take it home, have fun!)

We did a quick assessment in science on the frog life cycle. It was a worksheet that they did with the sub on Wednesday. It had pictures but no words. I put the words on the board and they had to write it under the correct picture.

It looked something like this...

We added our Frog Book to our lapbooks. On Monday we are adding just one more mini book on ponds, then we will be done! For real this time! Students will be able to take their lapbooks home on Wednesday, or on Tuesday night when parents come to Parent Night!

***Next Tuesday is Parent Night! It is from 5-6pm and it is a time to come and see your student's classroom while checking out some of their work. While this is not a time for conferences, I would be happy to set up a time for one if you would like. :)

Have a great weekend and check out tomorrow's post to see who the next Celebrity is going to be!

Our Daily Brain