LREC

Room 109 paid a visit to the Litzsinger Road Ecology Center Wednesday. It was an amazing experience!  LREC is a wooded area ran by the Missouri Botanical Gardens. Educators and volunteers help run the location to educate children about nature and the outdoors. 

Checking for Understanding

Partner reading can be lots of fun but also it's a great way to work on comprehension. Room 109 has been working on the strategy checking for understanding. When buddy reading, one child is reading while the other asks the questions who and what after every page. It's a way for students to really start to think about what they are reading.

Spacemen

Room 109 has been working on using proper spaces in their writing. We use a tool called a "spaceman". This spaceman is a popsicle stick with a space figure drawing on it. It's a fun way to remember how to use spaces and to learn what proper spacing looks like. 

Make a Plan, Sketch and Write

Room 109 has a procedure for writing personal narratives. First each child makes a plan of what they want to write. They talk to their partner about their beginning, middle and in story and touch each page while they are talking. Then, they do a quick sketch on each page to help them remember what they are going to write. Finally, they write their story and add details to the words and pictures. Later, they edit and set goals for their writing. 

Observing Wind with Bubbles

Today room 109 used bubbles as a scientific tool. We were trying to determine the direction of the wind and wind speed. We blew bubbles and observed the direction they were moving.

 

Welcome

Hello room 109 parents! Welcome to my blog. I am still waiting for a few media permission or exclusion forms before I post pictures of room 109 happenings. In the meantime, I will try to post describing our learning. Stay tuned!

First Peas to the Table Contest

Room 109 is participating in Gateway Greening's First Peas to the Table Contest. http://www.gatewaygreening.org/firstpeas/

We began by reading a book about the contest written by St. Louis author, Susan Grigsby. 

http://www.amazon.com/First-Peas-Table-Jefferson-Inspired/dp/0807524522

Then each student placed a Popsicle stick with their name on it into the soil. Finally, they planted their seed. We can't wait to see which seed turns to plant first!

Time to the Hour

On Monday, room 109 students reviewed what they knew about telling time to the hour. 

Marshmallow Challenge

Room 109 students were only given pieces of uncooked spaghetti, tape, yarn and one large marshmallow. As a team, students had to construct a freestanding structure in eight minutes. Thanks to I's mom for the awesome idea, the supplies, and the help. :)

Zoomers

Today in science, we explored putting objects in motion by giving it a push or a pull. We also investigated rotation and direction. Then, a student try to devise a pulley system to open all of the science lab drawers using only string and a plastic disc. :)

Birthday Girl

Somebody had a birthday today!

Using Our Loot

Yesterday, room 109 exchanged their hard-earned loot for prizes in the school store. These students are waiting patiently to shop.

Rulers

After measuring with cubes, we explored measuring with inch rulers. 

Estimating and Nonstandard Measurement

Today we estimated the length of objects and then measured them with cubes. 

Preparing the Soil

Last week on a very cold afternoon, room 109 prepared the soil for the school garden beds. We turned the top three inches of the soil to freeze out all of the harmful bugs that eat our springtime crops. The room 109 kiddos are very excited about planting in the spring!

Spinners

Last week in science we learned that an object must have a push or pull to be in motion. We also learned about directionality. Then, we had fun construction tops and getting them to spin. 

Mobiles

Today in science lab, we took what we knew about balance and applied it to making mobiles. First, the students had to create two different mobiles based on a model. Then, they were asked to use their creativity to design a mobile. 

100 Day Activities

For our hundredth day, we focused on showing 100 in different ways. We also had an emphasis on cooperation and encouragement. We had to work as teams to construct structures out of plastic cups, make predictions about the number of licks to the center of a Tootsie Pop, and construct structures using 100 toothpicks and 100 mini marshmallows. We also read the book 100 Days of Cool.