week of April 11 | snapshot

During journal writing this week, students had to look in books for their answers.

They enjoyed looking for different animals every day to answer the questions:

what is your favorite farm animal, zoo animal, forest animal, and zoo animal?

We had a lot of fun learning a new math game, too!

It's called Shake it Up Addition and you can grab the free printable {here}!

This game helps with building addition fluency. To play, you will need an egg carton (both 6 or 12 egg sizes work) and 2 small items, such as beans, popcorn kernels or buttons. Number your egg carton 1-6 or 1-12 (in order or at random). Place the small items inside and close. Shake it up! When you open, look for where your 2 small items landed. Those 2 numbers are the numbers you will use to write an addition sentence. Record them on the answer sheet and solve! Put the two items inside and repeat!

I used our Responsible People tree to see who got to pick their partners each day 

and after the first day, they really took off with it and asked to do it. 

This is something you can do at home with or without the sheet and just record your numbers and make a sentence. Great for multiplication facts for older students and she has a sheet to print out for that, as well!

We learned about several animal life cycles this week.

First up was the frog. 

Frogs lay their eggs in water or wet places. A floating clump of eggs is called frog spawn. 

The large and slippery mass of eggs is too big to be eaten. This is nature's way of protecting them. But, the smaller clumps of eggs will be eaten by the creatures living near or in the pond. After its 21 day development period, the embryo leaves its jelly shell, and attaches itself to a weed in the water. This quickly becomes a tadpole, a baby frog. The tadpoles grow until they are big enough to break free into the water. This can take from 3 days to 3 weeks, depending on what kind of frog they will become. They eat very small plants that stick to larger plants in the water. These tiny plants are called algae. The tadpole has a long tail, and lives in the water. It is extremely vulnerable, and must rely on its camouflage to protect it. 

The tadpole has a long tail, and lives in the water. It is extremely vulnerable, and must rely on its camouflage to protect it. After about five weeks, the tadpole begins to change. It starts to grow hind legs, which are soon followed with forelegs. Behind their heads bulges appear where their front legs are growing. Their tails become smaller. Lungs begin to develop, preparing the frog for its life on land. Now and then, they wiggle to the surface to breathe in air. The tail becomes larger and makes it now possible for the tadpole to swim around and catch food. They eat plants and decaying animal matter. Some tadpoles eat frogs eggs and other tadpoles. Over time, the tadpole becomes even more froglike. They have shed their skin and lips. Its mouth widens, and it loses its horny jaws. The tail becomes much smaller, and the legs grow. The lungs are almost functioning at this point. Eleven weeks after the egg was laid, a fully developed frog with lungs, legs, and no tail emerges from the water. This frog will live mostly on land, with occasional swims. The tiny frogs begin to eat insects and worms. Eventually, it will find a mate. The way this is done varies depending on the species. The female lays the eggs, the male fertilizes them, and the whole process begins again.

The students did a great job drawing the life cycle of a frog!

We watched The Frog Life Cycle on TurtleDiary.

We watched Frog Life Cycle Animation on WatchKnowLearn.org.

And we learned Froggy, Froggy!, a song about the frog life cycle.

We also learned about the life cycle of a sea turtle.

Turtles are very versatile reptiles, living on both land and in water and in various environments. There are turtles that live in deserts, and there are even turtles that live in cold-weather areas, hibernating to survive the winter. Although there are many kinds of turtles, they all go through the basic reptile life cycle---egg, hatchling and adult. 

Eggs- Though some sea turtles lay their eggs underwater or on beds of moss, most female turtles dig holes in sand or mud and deposit their eggs in clutches made up of one to 100 eggs, then bury them. Unlike the Asian giant tortoise, mother turtles do not remain near their eggs to protect them. The egg shell is pliable but leathery and requires the hatchling to use an "egg tooth" to break through when it has developed enough to emerge, usually in two to three months. 

Hatchlings- In some species of turtle, temperature determines the gender of hatchlings. In warmer temperatures, females emerge, while in cooler temperatures, males emerge. The hatchlings use an "egg tooth" (a small white protrusion on the nose) to break through the egg shell and then immediately head for the water. Sea turtles live their first years in the ocean, and many are omnivorous during this stage, eating plant and animal matter. Turtles that live primarily on land often dig holes in the dirt with their strong rough feet to keep cool and stay inside their shells to both protect their bodies from drying out and to be safe from predators. 

Adults- Adult turtles can live on either land or water. They can stay underwater for long periods of time but must emerge for air every so often because they use lungs to breathe instead of gills like fish. When it is time to breed, the male of some species courts the female by rubbing up against her or nodding his head up and down. Others bite the female's legs or bump shells with her. Some female turtles will carry their fertilized eggs with them for a year or more, laying them little by little over time. Neither parent is involved in rearing the hatchlings. Adult turtles can be anywhere from less than 5 inches long, like the endangered Bog Turtle, to over 6 feet, like the leatherback sea turtle, which can weigh up to 1,400

We watched the Life Cycle of a Sea Turtle.

And we watched One Tiny Turtle read-aloud.

"Far, far out at sea lives one of the world's most mysterious creatures, the loggerhead turtle. For thirty years she swims the oceans, wandering thousands of miles as she searches for food. Then, one summer night, she lands on a beach to lay her eggs — the very same beach where she herself was born."

But their favorite video of the day was watching an alligator snapping turtle using his tongue to lure fish in for supper :)

Our Shared Reading book for the week was The Big Toe. 

"An old lady found a big toe and took it home. Then something down the road said - "WHOSE GOT MY BIG TOE?" Wouldn't you like to know who has got it?"

Instead of making a book this week, the students finished the sentence, The big toe belonged to a...

(because we never found out at the end of the book!!!)

horse

kid

hippo

butterfly

William

turtle

lion

person

  

tiger

lion

We also learned about the life cycle of a chicken and looked at several different types of chickens.

Chickens are domestic or farm birds. The live span of a chicken is about 10 to 15 years. The male is larger and more brightly colored than the female. This is common feature in birds. The males show off their colorful feathers to attract the females.

A chicken has a comb on the head and two wattles under the neck. The male has a larger comb compared to the female. The male is called a rooster. The female is called a hen while the young are called chicks. The female is usually ready to lay her first eggs when she is around six months old.

The morning call you hear on the farm every morning is actually the rooster crowing "cock-a-doodle-doo". The female is called a hen and she goes "cluck-cluck". The young are called chicks and they go "chick-chick".

What do chickens eat? Chickens eat worms, insects, seeds, grains, snails, slugs, fruits, vegetables and many other foods. The gizzard which is a part of the stomach contains tiny stones to help grind up the food.

Who are the chicken's enemies? Animals like the hawks, bobcats, snakes, skunks, owls, raccoons, foxes and opposums prey on chickens.

Breeds of chickens: There are approximatelty 175 varieties of chickens. They are grouped into 12 classes and approximately 60 breeds based on geographical areas : 

- Asiatic, American, Continental, English, Mediterranean 

See below for some of the different breeds :

· Bantams. These are miniature chicken breeds.

· Plymouth Rock. Originated in the United States.

· Marans. They are small breeds preferred for their eggs rather than meat.

· Leghorns. Most popular commercial breed. Usually white in color.

· Rhode Island Red Chicken. This is a very popular breed of chicken. Usually raised for their meat and eggs and sometimes as show birds.

Life Cycle of a chicken- The hen does not need a rooster to lay eggs. However, the eggs will not hatch because they are not fertilized. Chicken eggs come in different colors like white, brown, blue or bluish green and pink. The unique blue eggs come from the Araucana breed, from South America. Most chickens will stop laying eggs when the weather is cold. They will start laying when it gets warmer again.

How long does it take for a chicken egg to hatch? A hen lays an average of 300 eggs per year. The hen will sit on her eggs to keep them warm so that they will hatch into chicks. A fertilized egg starts developing into a chicken when its temperature reaches 86 F degrees. A chicken takes 21 days to hatch.

We watched the Life Cycle of a Chicken (real time).

And another video Our Chickens Hatching!

Then we had fun hatching our own chicks in the fun art activity!

You can find the link to the instructions on my animal life cycles Pinterest board.

We got 2 new board games!

#happyclassrooms

One of the games is The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game.

Object of the game: Winter is coming and the squirrels are hungry! Help them forage for food by filling your log with tasty acorns that match each colored hole in your log. Fill your log first and you win!

  

The squirrel squeezer is too cute!!! 

Our other game was Zingo!

Description: Bingo with a zing - ZINGO!

This fast-paced, energetic variation of Bingo is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

Kids get a kick out of pulling the Zinger forward to reveal two mystery tiles. Quick! Be the first to call out the tiles that match the images on your card. The first player to fill his or her card wins!