week of March 9 snapshot

continuing with our Spring Has Sprung unit is our Weather Week.

during math all week, we had lots of fun with Cloudy with a Chance of Jellybeans!!!

here is a peek of WEATHER Write the Room.

we also discussed the difference between fantasy and make-believe after watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Then we made a chart and they illustrated the day’s weather in their journal.

we also had Weather Watchers everyday that would walk to the front windows and observe the weather and report back to us their findings. they had to draw what it looks like outside the window, write one activity they could not do that day and why, what season it is, draw in the temperature on the thermometer, and write in 3 words to describe the weather that day.

we also graphed the weather daily.

we discussed thermometers and the students learned how to read the thermometer.  we also discussed the meaning of the degree symbol. using the thermometer, I showed different temperatures by coloring a thermometer in with the red dry erase marker and the students had to determine if the temperature was hot, warm, cool or cold. also the clothes they would wear for each temperature. we also looked at the thermometer on the playground outside. S.K.3 S.K.9 SS.K.8 S.K.9.a S.K.2 S.K.2.a

I read The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall. and then divided a piece of poster board into 4 parts. I asked the students to name the four seasons. as they named each season, I wrote one season in each of the four sections. I asked the students to share things for each season that are special. I told them it could be weather (snow) or nature (leaves changing colors) related. I listed each as the students dictated.

 S.K.3 S.K.9 SS.K.8 S.K.9.a

to help us remember the colors of the rainbow, we met a funny little fellow 

by the name of Roy G Biv.

our Shared Reading book this week was Clouds by Brian and Jillian Cutting.

During Chinese, Mr. Bowen taught us about a very popular and important Chinese symbol that means "Blessing". He told us all about the traditional writing utensils they use in his country to create the characters. He demonstrated how to make the character and then helped us paint it, too. The bristles are made from real animal hairs and we used real Chinese ink. 

Caden, Marissa's little brother, and his mom made a tornado in a bottle at home and he came into our room to show us how to use it and share with us during Weather Week! it was awesome!

we also had fun making symmetrical cloud paintings! I always enjoy seeing what the students see in the final product!

limited centers this week...

flower pattern blocks in math...

flower cookie cutters and play-dough in discovery...

I added a video camera, microphone, US map, and other props for students to give weather forecasts on the Campus School Weather Channel...

lots of weather paintings in art...

computer games

Gerald’s Weather Wheel http://pbskids.org/sid/weatherwheel.html

Thing 1 and Thing 2’s Weather Transformer http://pbskids.org/catinthehat/games/weather-transformer.html

Dress the Bear http://archive.fossweb.com/modulesK-2/AirandWeather/activities/whatstheweather.html

one-on-one reading

journal writings:

what is the weather like right now?

write and draw about your favorite kind of weather.

do you like rain? why or why not?

do you have an umbrella? what color is it?

have you seen signs of spring outside?

weather fun in the library, too!

Dr. Minear's students did lessons with us during SWAP (Stations With Awesome People).  The first station we visited helped us learn about the insects and their bodies. We also drew pictures of bugs.  

 

We learned that bees need the pollen from flowers to make honey, which is a food for their own babies and a food for us. We pretended to be bees as we drank sweet nectar and picked up pollen with our feelers.  

Next, we learned all about the life cycle of a butterfly. We discussed the different stages of the butterfly's life and even learned the difference between a moth and butterfly. We made our very own butterfly and then watched a video of the metamorphosis of the butterfly from chrysalis to adult butterfly. 

In our last station, we learned about the body parts of insects. We read stories and sang songs about the body parts. Did you know all insects have three main body parts, six legs, and four wings? We learned about all of these parts and then made our very own bugs.