Thursday, October 16, 2014

Fire Safety and More of Literacy Centers

Wow!  These past few weeks have been so very busy!
October is Fire Safety month.  
Last week we welcomed the P.R.P. Fire Department to our school.  They discussed the role of a firefighter and fire safety.





The students also had the opportunity to explore the fire engine!



  
  
 


Last week in math we discussed ordinal numbers.  We began our lesson by reading the book, 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle.


Then, we acted the story out using ordinal numbers - first, second, third...





It is a fun book - make sure you check it out the next time you visit the library!

This week the students began independently visiting our classroom literacy centers.  
They are doing an INCREDIBLE job!

Here are pictures from each of our centers.

The Pocket Chart Center:



We have four Word Study centers.  Here are a few examples of the activities the students complete at Word Study centers.

  
  




The Writing Center:


The Computer and iPad Centers: 



The Library Center:


The Poetry Center:



 The Buddy Reading Center (where students practice retelling familiar stories) 



Thanks for stopping by to check out what we've been doing! 

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Literacy Centers and Apples!

It is my favorite time of year!  The students have become familiar enough with our classroom routines and procedures to begin learning about Literacy Centers.

We have 12 Literacy Centers in our classroom.  Each day two students visit a center during our reading block.  The students enjoy visiting centers while I pull small reading groups.

The students visit the pirate ship each morning to see which center they are assigned to for that day.


As we practiced literacy centers each day I snapped a few pictures of the students modeling what to do.

The poetry center is always a classroom favorite!
Students practice reading the poem and highlight letters and words that they can read.

Then, they complete a vocabulary and language sort.


The students have also been practicing how to use the listening center.



The students have also learned how to visit and read books in our classroom library.


 The students use whisper phones at the center so they can hear themselves read but they don't distract their friends.

We have also been learning a lot about apples!
First, we recorded our schema, or background knowledge, about apples.
As we read and learned each day the students helped add new information to our chart.



Here are a few hard workers filling out their Apple Tree Maps.




Thanks to the donation from our wonderful families we were able to taste red, yellow, and green apples.

After the students tasted apples they voted on which one was their favorite.

Our chart says,
"Apple tree, apple tree, oh so tall.  Which apple do you like best of all?"


Red was the most popular and green was the least.

We also tasted apple sauce and juice.  The students decided which one was their favorite and then we created an apple using a glyph.
*I forgot to take a picture of the final product :( *








Last Friday we worked as a team and made fried apples.  We read the recipe and each student was able to contribute - they diced, measured, and stirred.  They did an incredible job!  

Later in the day we ate our delicious apples!





We also learned about Johnny Appleseed.
Aren't these the cutest little Appleseeds you have ever seen?


Thanks for stopping by to see what we've been doing!
Check back soon for more updates!