Silver Spatula Winners

We won the "Silver Spatula" this week for our amazing lunchroom behavior and we could not be more excited!

What is the "Silver Spatula"?
Classes are awarded the "Silver Spatula for their outstanding lunch room behavior each week.

All About the "Silver Spatula"?
-Get "Caught" doing the right thing by the "Silver Spatula Spy"
-The homeroom with the most "Caught Chas" for the week earns the "Silver Spatula"
-Students in the winning class will get a small treat on Monday
-If a class earns the "Silver Spatula" two weeks in a row, they receive an extra recess or free time with their teacher
-Any class who earns the "Silver Spatula" four times will receive a "N.U.T. Award"

Color Songs

These first weeks of school our class has been working so hard on our color songs. Below are links to the songs we have been practicing in class. Feel free to sing these songs at home, in the car, or on the way to school!

Blue Song

Pink Song

Yellow Song

Orange Song

Red Song

Purple Song

Our Friend Zero the Hero

This week on the 20th day of school we met our friend "Zero the Hero". We discussed why the number 0 is important and why it is different from other numbers.

IXL

Our class has gone above & beyond on IXL! I am so proud of all my students! Within the first week our class has already met many goals and received 5 certificates. IXL will be included in the homework packet weekly. Please write down your username & password for future reference. Students may use IXL at any time! Feel free to use it as an incentive at home as well. 

Music Class

K-C had fun decorating their very own violins in music class! Watch out Picasso!

Picture Day Retakes

K-C being silly on picture day!

Don't forget Picture Retake Day is on Tuesday, September 29th!

Recess

We love to run and play! Ask your child at home how we are safe on the playground.

Here are some questions you may want to ask them:
-How do we use the slide?
-Can we play with rocks? Can we play with dirt?
-How many students can go down the slide at once?
-Can we use the monkey bars?
-Can we throw rocks?
-What type of words do we use on the playground?
-What are the playground boundaries?
-Where is the trash can?
-Can we use the bathroom outside?

Welcome K-C Parents

Hi Parents!
Welcome to our classroom blog. On this blog we will be posting fun and exciting things we are working on in our classroom. It is a wonderful space for sharing and learning together.

Bee Keeper Visit

Last week, we had a bee keeper come and talk to us about the importance of bees. She even brought her bees in for us to see! She told us about how:

Bees fly from flower to flower, sipping nectar and collecting grains of pollen. Bees have a special tongue that sucks up the nectar and a crop in their throat for storing it until they get back to the hive, where it is turned into honey to use as food.

Many plants depend on bees to spread pollen, helping them to reproduce. Flowers that attract bees are usually yellow, blue, or purple. Many bees specialize in one plant species. 

Honeybees and bumblebees live in colonies or hives. All the bees in the colony work together for the good of the hive. Each has a job to do: the queen lays the eggs and the workers build the honeycomb, care for the larvae and collect the food.

At the end we got to try honey Ms. Madonna's bees had made :)

Hot Chocolate Math

Using food makes anything more fun for our class! Especially, when we get to eat the sweet treat after :)

Fun Things to do Over Spring Break to Build Your Student's Background Knowledge

First-hand experiences are another teacher for your child. Take them to museums, the zoo, the library, parks, arts performances, & geographic locations such as the mountains, beaches, forests, and deserts. They’ll grasp concepts and skills better if they have experiences with the real thing. This gives a real-life connection. Below is a fun list of things to do over Spring Break:

1. Visit the Zoo! The Penguin's are back!
2. Visit the Science Center: They will have several free dinosaur exhibits throughout the month of April
3. Let your imagination go wild at the City Museum
4. Learn all about the history of your state at the Missouri History Museum
5. Go to the Magic House to do hands-on learning activities
6. Visit the beautiful Missouri Botanical Gardens
7. Take a bike ride around Forest Park

Don't forget to listen to your fun Spring Break CD filled with songs we use at school to learn.

Digging for Fossils in Chocolate Chip Cookies

We searched for "fossils" in chocolate chip cookies. Our class LOVED this activity. We started out of dinosaur unit with many dinosaur books and worked our way towards the chocolate chip cookie excavation.

For this activity we used:
-Chocolate Chip Cookies
-Toothpicks

 While exploring about dinosaurs, we discovered that paleontologists use dinosaur bones and fossils to figure out what life on earth was like a long time ago.We also talked about the types of tools that paleontologists use to dig for fossils like shovels, picks, and brushes to clean the bones carefully.  I gave each of the students a cookie and explained that we were going to be paleontologists and this cookie was going to be our piece of earth to explore.

The students closely examined their piece of earth to see how many dinosaur bones (chocolate chips) they thought they would find.  We recorded their findings from the excavation on our data sheets.  


The Students  got to work using their specialized tool (a toothpick) to carefully dig their bones (chocolate chips) out of their cookies.  This was a great activity for fine motor skills.  As we worked, I encouraged the students to describe what they were seeing and feeling.


They were even more excited to discover that there were more dinosaur bones on the bottom of their pieces of earth!  Once the they had removed all the bones they could (some whole and some in pieces), we used our counting skills to find out how many bones we found and record them on our data sheet...and then, we ATE them! 

 

Erupting Rainbow Experiment

Erupting Rainbow Experiment:

What a fun St. Patricks' Day! We started it off with a really fun science activity in which we made an erupting rainbow! I added food dye to the bottom of cups and covered it with baking soda before the students arrived. When we got to our experiment we found 7 cups with white powder in each one. We talked about the colors of the rainbow, identified each color and then got our experiment going! Our first mystery cup ended up being red! Each of us had a chance to discover what color was in each cup while watching an eruption. 

Linus the Minus & Gus the Plus

In math, we have met our favorite math brothers to help with addition & subtraction. They help us remember our and differentiate our math signs. Feel free to practice these poems at home as well :)

2nd Grade Wax Museum

We took an in school field trip to visit the 2nd grade Wax Museum in the gym. We learned about several important people in history such as Georgia O'Keefe, Sally Ride, Rosa Parks, Mia Hamm, etc. Our class can not wait to be in 2nd grade and be a part of this exhibit.

Bartholomew & the Oobleck

During Dr.Seuss Week, we read several Dr. Seuss books. One of the books we read was Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  The book was about a king that was bored of the 4 major seasons and wanted something "new" to fall from the sky. The king called upon his magicians and asked for something  new and their town received Oobleck. We learned the importance of telling the truth and taking ownership for our actions. At the end of the book, we did a fun experiment and made Oobleck ourselves.

You can make Oobleck at home!
All you need is:
-Cornstarch
-Water
-Food Coloring
- A Mixing Bowl

Directions:
Mix 1 cup of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of water.  It should be the consistency of syrup.  Add food coloring if you choose. 

Cloud Experiment

We did a cloud experiment in class! It is a simple experiment that can be done at home as well.

First, we put a bar of ivory soap on top of some wax paper in the microwave.

**NOTE: Do NOT use just any bar of soap. It HAS to be a bar of Ivory soap. !**

Next, turn on the microwave for about a minute and a half. Then, sit back and watch your cloud grow!

After, our experiment was complete we got to feel what a cloud could feel like.

Dr. Seuss Week

Our Schedule for Next Weeks Dr. Seuss Celebration:

Monday: Crazy Sock Day

Tuesday: Dress to Impress ( Picture Day)

Wednesday:Pajama Day

Thursday: Crazy Hair and Sock Day

Friday: Dress as your favorite Dr. Seuss Book Character

Field Trip to Schnucks

Our class had a blast on our field trip! We purchased, scanned, and bagged our own groceries. We took a tour of Schnucks, talked about healthy foods to eat, visited the deli, and the warehouse. We saw how the food gets transported into the store and even went into the freezer.

Classroom Valentines Day Party

We really had a great time at our classroom Valentine's Day party! We played a marshmallow toss, passed out our cards, and had some yummy treats. Thank you to all the parents that came to help!

Math Plate- Teaching Addition

Math Plate

Materials: plastic plate divided into 3 sections, counters or dry erase marker

Directions: Children make sets in the smaller sections and then join them together in the larger section. How many in all? *Use math plates to help children write number sentences. Put the sum in the largest section. Put the known addend in one of the small sections. What must the missing addend be? These Plates are also dry erase! SO all you need is a plate and a dry erase marker

I Love You Because...

Check out our class Valentine video by clicking on the link below:


https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0zsxyf3RJYqMHZydndaREc1WlE&authuser=0

Love Potion Experiment

To make Love Potion you will need:

Baking Soda

Vinegar

A Squirt of Dish Soap

Fragrance

Glitter (Optional)

To make love potions add baking soda to a dish along with a couple drops of food coloring and a squirt of dish soap.  We used pink and purple neon food coloring to go with the love theme.  The dish soap makes the eruptions move slower and last longer.

Add glitter and fragrance if desired.  You can use anything as fragrance- Kool-aid, bubble bath, or a bit of actual body mist or perfume.  Then pour in the vinegar and marvel at the pretty potions.

National School Choice Week

We celebrated  National School Choice all week and got some awesome scarves and moves with it!  Above is a link to the video of the official dance we learned. K-C just LOVES this dance! To see our class dancing to this beat check out GSA's facebook page next week!

100th Day of School

We had a blast on our 100th day of school.

We were welcomed into school by our 100 year old teachers.

We used the number 100 to form many different pictures. Joey turned his 100 into a rainbow with a thunderstorm above it, Olivia made hers into glasses for a person, Yazmin made her 100 into a scooter, and Lana made hers into a dog!

We visited Ms. Murphy's room where we built a 100 cup structure and Mrs. Cate's room where we made 100 day of school necklaces.

In our room we did a before & after photo project! We took a picture of us today and a future picture of what we will look like when we are 100 years old.

We shared MANY AMAZING 100 day projects! Each unique and special in their own way!

Overall, our 100th day was a success! 

Weather Experiment

Weather Experiment

For this experiment you will need:

• A clear glass or plastic cup
• Shaving Cream 
• Food Coloring (Blue would work best)
• Water

Procedure:

1. First, we filled the clear cup with water leaving room for the shaving cream on top. Filling the cup 3/4 full worked best for our class.
2. Next, we put shaving cream at the top of the glass or cup. The shaving cream acts as the "clouds" in the experiment.
3. Then,  we discussed how the rain comes from the clouds. We put in a few drops of the blue food coloring to act as our "rain". Immediately, you will see how the rain comes down from the clouds.

Snow Globe Writing

Let it Snow!

 Our class wrote about what we would do if we were trapped in a snow globe! Check out some of our responses!

 Nora Schober: " I will build a snowman"
Piper Doran: "I will drink hot cocoa"

 Matthew Dixon: " I will make a snow angel"
Kylee Tague:" I like to play with my best friends in the snow"

 Kirah Dickmann:" I will drink hot cocoa. I like to play."
Lucas Wilburn: " I will ski in the snow. I will drink hot cocoa."

 Joey Forsythe: " I will play in the snow. I will build a snowman."
Jonathan Kunze: " I like to play in the snow"

 Addison Bianchi: " I will make a snow man"
Olivia Cardwell:" I will call for help. I would be really cold"

Makenna Sellers: " I will build a snowman"