Molecules in Motion: Room 149

Artists and Writers!

Idol (guilty) is over and now President Bush speaks -  perfect time to Blog.

This is a week of celebrating- artists, The Year of the Dog, and writers! What fun we're having in Room 149 as the many talented Molecules are over flowing with creativity.

The week began with a Chinese parade celebrating the Year of the Dog.  The Molecules created masks to wear for our parade through the halls. Traditions were shared along with characteristics of each sign. A few rabbits in this group..very close to my heart! Let's not forget the dragons; we have lots of those.

Today was Celebrate Writing Day at ASFS.  We were joined by Ms. Riverson's first graders in our Science City groups.  Sharing in the Author's Chair were many writers reading their best works. Compliments, along with bright stickers and special writing pencils were shared.  Enjoy the photos of these great writers.

Art in the Classroom happened today and we experienced how  Michelangelo felt when he took four year to paint the Sistine Chapel.  After learning about the life of this great artist/sculpture, we laid on our back with paper taped under our desks and told a story through our drawings. Some artist created murals using fresco techniques. These pieces of art will decorate the classroom, but look for them to come home soon.

Learning about life in space, creating a design brief for a rocket, and how gravity would effect our daily lives, and launching rockets will take place in the Investigation Station this week.  Join us on Friday as we launch these partner designed rockets. Launch time is 1:15!

Addition, probability and story problems is being practiced and played during Math Workshop. During language rotations, Molecules are being exposed to words with the \l\ blend...  \bl\, \sl\, \cl\. We are also looking at the letters that dip below the bottom line and we're calling these the monkey letters...\q\. \y\, \p\, \g\. During our read aloud, we're on the last chapter of Charlotte's Web. Charlotte is very tired and doesn't think she'll return to the farm, but she's leaving the world with 514 eggs in her sac. What will Wilbur do?

The Virginia Reader Choice Award is happening and in Room 149 we are reading the top ten nominees and and then will vote on what we think is the best picture book of 2006. Discussing characters, setting and plots for each story happens after each book. I wonder which story will win our vote? -  my favorite so far is Jam and Jelly by Holly and Nellie. We will read five more this week.

Have a great night!  Thank you to the parents who spend time our classroom. You make such a difference. Thank you to those parents who work from home to support us; you make a huge difference!!

The Year of the Dog!

The Chinese New Year begins this weekend and today we celebrated the up coming year of the Dog.  We talked about Chinese traditions, looked at fire-cracking parades led by colorful lions going for the cabbage. Our room is adorned with traditional lanterns that shine hope, health, happiness and wealth on all of us.

During language rotations, Molecules are being exposed to \s\ blend words.  Which is our favorite, \sw\, \sc\, \st\, \sp\, \sn\, \sm\? Handwriting will continue through the end of the year. Practice is always a good thing, as is good habits and neat handwriting. Mrs. V reviews popcorn words with a new poem each week... this week Little Mittens will be added to the poetry journals.

During Math Workshop, Molecules are talking about estimation and using strategies on making a guess that is reasonable. We're having lots of fun putting numbers together to find that number that is equal. Probability and logic end the week and start us up again on Monday.  We'll be looking at spinners, coins. and colors as we decide which is more probable.

Still the hottest chair in town, the Author's Chair. Thank you to the parent that take time to be with us.  We have an opening on Monday and Thursday.  Can you think of a better way to start your day?

Signs and symbols have been the focus during Social Studies this week. With our clipboards in hand we went outside the school to hunt for different symbols and signs. After sketching our discoveries, we went to computer lab to create a multimedia presentation that highlights our understanding. Stay tuned for this to be linked to the classroom web page.

Movie Saturday is happening on Saturday, February 11.  With most of you responding, the majority would like to see Pink Panther.  Listening to the Molecules today during lunch, I am not surprised.  They don't know like we know the Pink Panther, but they sure are excited about meeting Inspector Jacques Clouseau. More information about when and where coming soon. Yes, all family members are invited!

Do you recognize this extremely loved Easter Bunny? The photo was taken many years ago.  This bunny was destined to be with kids!

Have a great night!

We Celebrate MLK!

A long weekend and the following week dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King! So many great conversations can be tied in with the great life of MLK. In room 149 we are chanting poems, singing songs, watching videos, looking at pictures and reading stories about why MLK made such a difference and why his work was so important

Last week we visited the the Arlington Planetarium.  We watched how the planets rotate around the sun, we explored different stars and planets. What fun we had while learning so much. We will visit the planetarium two more time this year.

Sharing in the Author's Chair is this week is Alex and Lily.  We're writing more and more! We can write stories with a beginning, middle and end. We can chose different words that mean the same. We know where to use capital letters and when to use punctuation.  WOW!

No cameras allowed when it comes to taking pictures of Mr. Bosley or Mrs. V. Not sure what the problem is, but I am not giving up. These are very important people in our classroom.  We love them, they love us... let us take your picture, please!!

In Math Workshop we are reviewing the past few months of number thinking.  We're looking at patterns, tally marks, sorting, counting, and positional terms.

We'll try to keep the blogs more regular. A lot happening, but calm seas straight ahead....

Have a great night!

Celebrate Good Times, Come on!

Two weeks without a blog! There is no excuse.  And I must say, the way my sinuses  are feeling at this moment, it would be so easy to just slip into bed for a long winter's nap, but I have many photos to share and thoughts that need to be put down.

Our week before the holiday break is dedicated to Mr. Markowitz (Jack's dad); he joined us twice and share lots of his knowledge. On Monday, Mr. Markowitz shared his appreciation for art and showed us a famous work by Raphael called School of Athens.  He talked to us about Raphael's life and how he depicted emotions in his art.  We had a great time doing an exercise that involved us guessing different emotions.

On Wednesday, Mr. Markowitz joined us again and shared the many traditions of Hanukkah.  He read a great story, a retelling of a famous Christmas story with a Hanukkah twist!  The story was a big hit; thank you again for being with us!



Modeled writing had a guest writer on Tuesday!  Thank you to Ms. Savaress who wrote about a special Easter Bunny. This bunny was was holding Ben, Nicholas's brother, many years ago during an Easter egg hunt.  The bunny was the great Ms. Hawkins.  She's been loving kids for such a long time! (stay tuned for these pictures to be posted soon)

Our Molecules of the Week were Rahmat, Subha and Nicholas. They all brought in many personal objects and shared stories. Nicholas invited his brother Ben to share a special book that he wrote about his brother and Rahmat invited his mom to be apart of his special presentation. What a pleasure it was watching them share the specials things in their life.

On Tuesday, we had our Book Exchange Celebration.  Each student brought in a special book to exchange with another student.  Molecules were given a number and then given a book with that matching number. Lots of smiles here!  After the book exchange, we enjoyed snacks and holiday bingo! Lucky Ms. Hawkins, Mr. Bosley and myself, as we were presented with very thoughtful gifts!

Wednesday was our pizza party for Ms. Hawkins.  Along with the pizza, Marcus and Nicholas brought in special desserts that were enjoyed for two days. Each Molecules shared why they loved Ms. Hawkins. These were compliments that one will never forget; we will never forget Ms. Hawkins.  For three months we had the pleasure of enjoying her caring and loving ways.

Ms. Hawkins was missed when I returned to the classroom this Tuesday. The head cold and her absence made for a very strange morning.   I am so delighted that Ms. V is back, I am even more pleased that Ms. Hawkins will be visiting ASFS as a visiting teacher. Her first visit will be this Friday for the end of the day in Room 149! I am watching over of the Molecules very closely as we go through this time of transition.  Thank you parents for talking about it at home.

As this new week begins we are visiting the Investigation Station.  We are exploring water and all it's different forms. Math Workshop, we begin talking about putting numbers together.  We'll do this through a variety of card games and story problems.

Have a great night!