Molecules in Motion: Room 149

Matisse, Picasso and Story Telling

On Tuesday, authors used the new PA system in the Author's Chair (I earned this after completing a course through the Library of Congress).  The microphone will allow even the smallest of voices to be heard. There's nothing like the being heard, loud and clear.  Of course, some Molecules may not need to use the mic. :)

During Language Rotations Molecules are learning new poems, words that begin with the digraph \th\, story elements: character and setting, and practicing great handwriting. For many, we still work everyday on phonemic awareness which is the ability to hear sounds in the beginning, middle and end of words.

Celebrating Lincoln and Washington happens everyday this week. We made log cabins in honor of the "Log Cabin President" and wore general hats to honor Washington. Check out the serious general smiles! Poems about both "Freedom Fighters" have been glued into our poetry journals and will be chanted for many days to come.   Just let me know if you'd like the poetry journal to come home for the night and I'll pack it away in the back pack.

During Modeled Writing, we begin writing "How To" books. The Molecules have lots to share and I look forward to hearing these books! Authors are welcome to bring home their binder of books.  Just let me know and I'll pack it away in the back pack.

Thursday was a crazy day! The flexible Molecules went to PE in the morning! We changed our schedule to support the fifth graders who needed to make a switch.  PE this month is dedicated to the Winter Olympics.  Students are participating in simulated Olympic. Ms. Hall has done an awesome job creating friendly competition among classes. Mr. Riley's class takes the lead in ASFS's Olympic competition.  Even though we represent Austria, we're ahead of everyone!  Keep sending those Olympic pictures!

Thank you first graders for inviting us to your Friendship concert.  What a pleasure it was seeing my last year students singing their hearts out, and singing about my favorite theme - FRIENDSHIP! Last year's students are in good hands! The first grade team rocks and I adore them all!

Molecules enjoyed the great story telling by Nanna and Daddy Jim from the Washington Art Council.  Ask your child to share the true story about the Itsy Bitsy Spider and How Musafa Lost His Roar. What fun it was to hear these tall tales! Students participated by adding their movement and song, which made these stories even more exciting.

After listening to the story tellers we went outside to enjoy a "follow-the-leader" run lead by Mrs. V.  She knows how to keep our heart healthy! This was greatly needed before heading back to the classroom to greet Ms. Pascocello, who introduced us to the great artists Matisse and Picasso. We looked at and talked about the different styles of both and how they were both very competitive of each other. The great news was they became good friends towards the end of their life, appreciating each others talents.  Thank you, Susan, for being with us and sharing your knowledge!!

Another exciting week in Room 149; today was our 105 day of school!

We'd love to hear that you're reading our blog.  The molecules glow when the comments are read aloud.

Have a great night.

 

Great Men and 100th Day of School!

The last few days have included discussions about two important men in history, George Washington and Abe Lincoln. Yesterday, Molecules created a president necklace to honor these great men.  The face of the quarter and penny are shown on each side of the necklace and worn with pride. My goal is that students will think about George and Abe on Monday and how they affected the course of America.  We know that both men were Freedon Fighters! Washington is the "father of our country" and he helped to free our nation from England.  We also know that Lincoln was a very poor man who lived in a log cabin and went to college and studied law. Abe is considered a freedom fighter because he didn't approve of slaves and worked at making slavery against the law. On Friday we will created top hats.. way too cool!

Today we celebrated the 100th day of school by rotating to each kindergarten classroom for a different 100th day activity. When students arrived at Room 149, we read a story called, Only One, and talked about how a team works and the benefits of many people working together.  All kindergartners but their hand prints on a huge banner that read, "There May Be 100 Hand Prints But There is Only One Awesome Team of Molecules". What fun! Molecules were given a special certificate for achieving 100 day of school!

As always the Author's Chair is the place to be in Room 149. We're publishing 2-3 students a day! Great ideas, capital letters, spaces between words, resourceful spelling and "Best Effort" illustrations are being shared. This week we were delighted with the writings of Ben, Jack M., Subha, Nicholas, Alex and Lily.

Addition story problems in math continue in Math Workshop. Molecules are writing and illustrating math story problems, while using math manipulative's to support their thinking. They are coming up with math sentences to support their illustrations.  Also being introduced are the penny and nickel; what they look like and what they are worth. We are singing and reading poems about coins.

Our trip to the library on Wednesday was a very important one.  We were asked by Ms. Regan to vote for our favorite book for the Virginia Young Author's Award. Over the past three weeks we've read 10 books that were published this year.  We each chose our favorite, but it was not easy.  Please ask your child what book they voted as their favorite. My favorite was The Hungry Hen!

In PE Mrs. Hall introduced us to bowling.  Students played in groups, while one bowled, one set up pins and the other cheered! I stayed and watched this in action.

 

Thank you parents for a wonderful Valentine Day Party.  Time spent with you in the classroom is such a nice thing.  Do you notice how much kindness and respect Molecules show for one another?  Bravo to you, parents!!

Saturday Movie was a hit with so many Molecules and parents enjoying time together.  Charlotte's Web comes out in June! Stay tuned!

Poerty and Parties!

Today we marked our 94th day of school! I mean it with all my heart when I tell the Molecules how lucky I am to spend each day with them.  Next week, we'll celebrate the Molecules FIRST first 100 days of school and what fun we will have.  Stay tuned!

Our week began with great authors sharing in the Author's Chair.  Longer, more detailed ideas and creative illustrations are coming out of the authors in Room 149.  Looking at "speech bubbles" and writing about special moments will be our writing focus next week.

We welcomed to our classroom poet extraordinaire, Heidi Mordhorst.  She first read original poems from her book, Squeezed: Poems from a Juicy Universe. and then she put us all to the test, writing a group poem! What an awesome sight it was watching the Molecules come together to create what we titled, Shadows.

 

During Language Rotations we are looking words with \r\ blend such as  \br\, \dr\, \tr\.  Along with different activities, we've read books that introduce us to these new words. During Math Workshop, we continue writing addition story problems and play games that require us to put numbers together. We finished up looking at shadows and how the Earth moves around the sun to make our shadows big and small. Next week we will look at the penny and Abraham Lincoln, and then George Washington. President's Day is coming soon.

We ended last we by launching our rockets in the Investigation Station.  Molecules worked together to create one great rocket, fueled by Alka Seltzer! Mrs. V and other parents shared that this was a huge success. This was one event I did not enjoy missing.  Thank you to those parents who came.

It's going to be an exciting weekend! Movie Saturday with Curious George and on Sunday a double birthday party at Chucky Cheese for Vanessa and Jack W! What fun!

Thanks to the parents and students who rooted for the Sea Hawks. I am glad I was flying in a plane while the game was playing. I don't think I could have handled the sadness. (Thanks, Andrew, your support does not go unnoticed!)

Have a great night!