Taking Flight!

We had the opportunity to learn about the butterfly's life cycle!  We watched our caterpillars grow from tiny caterpillars, eat...eat...eat...and eat more to grow, form a chrysalis, and then they emerged as a butterfly!  We then released them during recess and observed them flying away.

BONUS QUESTION!!  What does "emerged" mean?  

Comment below :)

Kolton was thrilled for this moment!  He's going to write about his small moment in Writing Workshop!

iPad Time!

  Take a look at the apps we've used below....great ones to use at home too!

Once they have created something with an app, they share it on the SmartBoard to the class.  It's a great way for them to practice speaking in order to tell about what they did and also great for others to practice listening to learn about what their classmate(s) did!

 Students use the Pixntell and Chatterpix apps to retell books!

Here we used ScreenChomp to create addition number sentences.

Long and Strong Readers!

We have been building our stamina as readers!  Each day we give ourselves a goal to read independently...longer and stronger!

Place Value ~ What's the value?

We used ten sticks and ones cubes to make the first letter of our name and then discovered how much it was worth by counting the groups of tens and ones.  Here are some examples:

PBL update on our plants!

Bulbs:

 Talking vs. Not Talking to plants:

 Lima Beans:

Potato Eye:

 Plant Maze:

Can you tell the difference?

We have been learning so much about plants!  Today we took a walk around the playground and took pictures of some types of trees.  Take a look at the pictures and tell someone which kind of tree it is.  Deciduous, Evergreen, or Conifer....and tell them WHY it is that type of tree.  Go!! :)

Add your wonderful learning under the pics with a comment!:)

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Behold the Lima Bean!!

Look at the incredible changes in our lima beans!  

Challenge question:  

What is the outer covering of the seed called?  What does it do?

Sprouts alive!

Our Zinnia seeds are starting to sprout!

Lima beans in a bag!! :)

Plant PBL!

We are off to a great start with our driving questions and LOTS of reading, research, and experiments to answer our questions!  

 We planted a lima bean in each type of soil to see which one is the best for growing.

 Grass seed and potato eye!!  What will it look like??? Hmmmmmm.....

Have you ever heard of people talking to plants to help them grow bigger and better?  Well we are putting this idea to the test!  One plant will hear no words from us and the other will hear kind words and we will see if it has an effect!

 We planted bulbs in the blue container and each student planted 2 Zinnia seeds in their cup.  We can't wait to see them sprout!!

Can a seed grow without soil?  We will keep you updated!

Yay for South Carolina Day!!

We learned many interesting things about our state of South Carolina!

We're going on a bear hunt....for information!

We read a big book about bears called Bear Facts....and that got their curiosity going!  They made books about what they learned about bears, posted Wonderings about bears, and read lots of books to find the answers!  When they wonder, they think....and that's awesome!  Here are a few examples:

This a "wondering".  They write what they are wondering about and then read to do some research or we do some class exploration online to see if we can discover the answer.

 Here's a map of South Carolina to show where black bears live in our state.

If you want to share any new learning you have about bears in general, we would be "beary" happy to read your post!!! GO! :)

A surprise discovery!

This morning, Daniel asked, "Ms. Joseph when did we get two crayfish??"  I replied, "We didn't.  What is that?!"  Taking a closer look into our tank, we discovered that the crayfish molted last night.  What an exciting discovery for us as learners!   This has created all sorts of great wonderings that we are going to explore!   

Challenge Question:
Comment and tell us what it means for an animal to molt.
Go! :)

Independent & Partner Reading Time in Reading Workshop ~ Book Reviews!

We have been working hard with our reading and have challenged ourselves to give book reviews to our partners.  We are also writing book reviews in Writing Workshop!  First, we read the book and decide if it's a book we recommend, kind of recommend, or do not recommend to other readers.  Then, we have to give specific reasons as to why we recommend/do not recommend the book.  Parents, this would be a great discussion for you and your child to have together after you read a book together at home! Happy reading! :)

Our anchor chart of some reasons we use for a book review.

Reading partners in action giving book reviews!

PBL (Project Based Learning)

We learned SO many facts about our sun and moon!  Great job kids!

 A mixture of flour, cocoa powder, and rocks to recreate the moon's surface.  They came up with the idea to make astronaut's footprints in the surface along with the craters.  Ask your child if the footprints are still on the moon and why they will stay there! :) 

Wondering shows your are thinking!!

We love Dr. Seuss!

All week we are celebrating the wonderful author Dr. Seuss and his clever books!

"Oh the places you'll go!"  Some of us dressed up to show what we'd like to be when we grow up.  

You've got this kids!