Monday we begin a new unit and our room will have it’s first transformation!  Come in the Lemur class this week to check it out.  The hint that I gave students was “Hoooooooo  Hooooo.”

Last week was Balloon Farm week!  In your child’s red folder you will find their Balloon Farm journal…ask them to describe to you what they journaled on each page.  Making descriptive drawings and adding words is a first step towards descriptive writing.

Group Work this week…

Monday
No School

Tuesday
Read-Aloud – Harvey Potter’s Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen – Wonderful book about a farmer who grows balloons with the help of a conjure stick.
Letter writing to Harvey Potter – As a class, we wrote the most polite letter to Harvey Potter asking him nicely for a balloon seed.  We sent the letter to his farm via 4 red helium filled balloons.
Journaling with details – All of the events during Balloon Farm week have strong visual elements.  After each event, students use markers to capture as many details as they can from what they saw.  After making a drawing, students added words the best they could to describe their drawing.  We continued this process all week.

Wednesday
Literacy – Guided Reading/iPads – I worked with students one on one on literacy skills while waiting students used Starfall on iPads.
Literacy Connection/Art – Conjure Sticks – Using some special glitter, students created their own conjure sticks in anticipation of our balloon seed.
Math – Dot-to Dots/Missing Numbers –  Dot to dots are an excellent way to build counting skills.
Journaling with details – Students created detailed journal entries about creating conjure sticks.

Thursday
Ernesto’s Ladder – Our conjure sticks floated up to the ceiling over night!  We called Ernesto to come get them down for us with his tall ladder.
Journaling with Details – Students created detailed journal entries about Ernesto on his ladder.
Game Day! Apple Letter Bingo – We played this game for a second time 🙂

Friday
Balloon Seeds arrive! Growing a balloon plant – Mrs. Perry called us that a package arrived for us by balloon!  We opened the package and found a balloon seed!  Using our conjure sticks, we planted the seed and a green balloon grew before our eyes.
Journaling with details – Students created detailed journal entries about growing a balloon.
Read-aloud – Sally’s Great Balloon Adventure & Sally Gets a Job by Steve Huneck –

We began the week by reading Harvey Potter’s Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen

We then wrote a letter to Harvey Potter asking him politely for a balloon seed.

We sent it via balloon mail.  See Video

We made our own conjure sticks to prepare for the coming seed.

The conjure sticks floated to the ceiling and we needed to call Mr. Ernesto to get them down!  See Video

Mrs. Perry told us a package arrived for us via balloon mail.  See Video

Harvey Potter sent us a balloon seed!

We planted it and waived our conjure sticks and grew a green balloon!

We sent a thank you note by balloon back to Harvey Potter.

Group work this week

Monday
Math – Coin Comparison – Over the school year we will be learning about and using coins.  To begin, we sorted coins by size and color.  Mrs. Swanson noticed that many students now don’t see coins because we adults don’t use coins often!
Literacy/Math – 10 Apples Up On Top – I read the Dr. Suess story 10 Apples Up on Top as students kept track of the apples on the felt board.

Tuesday
Math – Apple Taste Test – Students participated in a blind taste test, trying golden delicious, granny smith, and Red Delicious apples…they were labeled A, B, and C.  We created a bar chart with our results…you can see what type most lemurs preferred posted on our door.
Math – Apples 1 – 10 – Mrs. Swanson guided students to write numbers 1 – 10 on apples to go on top of their heads.

Wednesday
Literacy – Guided Reading/iPads – I finished reading assessments last week, so this week I began focused individual literacy skills with students.  As the rest of the group waited they used Starfall and Letterschool apps on the iPads.
Math – Dice Roll Apple Picking – With a tree full of apple pom-poms, students rolled the dice and picked that many apples off of the tree.  They tried to get all of the apples off of the tree.
Problem Board – Sitting on Carpet -Occasionally a problem comes up in class that gets put on the “problem board.”  Students recognized that there was some conflict about who sits next to who on the carpet.  We discussed the problem and brainstormed ideas to solve the problem.

Thursday
Cooking – Baking Real Apple Turnovers – We cut up some apples, mixed them with cinnamon and brown sugar, then folded into puff pastry dough, sealed it with a fork, cooked for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Our room smelled so delicious!
Play – Making pretend apple pies with play-doh – using cinnamon-scented play-doh, we practiced making apple pies.
Read-Aloud – Fletcher and the Falling Leaves – Beautifully illustrated book about a little fox who tries to save the poor trees from losing their leaves.

Friday
Literacy – White Board letters/Words – We practiced correct letter formation for all of the vowels.  Then we tried sounding out some cvc (consonant vowel consonant) words.
Game Day! – Apple Letter Bingo – Mrs. Swanson played a version of Bingo with students…this version used letters that were picked from apple trees.
Read-Aloud – Leaf Man – Leaf man pictures – We looked at the creative book Leaf Man by Lois Elhert.  Then we tried making our own leaf pictures with paper leaves.

Group work this week

Monday
Science – Photosynthesis – Plant Food
Math – Button Sort

Tuesday
Recipe for Plant Food
The silly story of how cleave change colors
Math – 10- Frames

Wednesday
Literacy – REading assessments/ iPads
Literacy – “I am” books
Magic School Bus Gets Planted

Thursday
Friends with Leaves reader – sight word search
Math – Pete the Cat Groovy Button subtraction

Friday
Literacy – White Board Letters
Game Day – Go Fish!

Amazing Video of our Monarch emerging