Thursday, December 15, 2011

Happy Holidays

Gifts (Sweatshirt), cookies, and hot chocolate with marshmallows were enjoyed by all. Our class made 3-D ornaments for the tree.
Students shared, "I liked it when we got our sweaters." "I liked the Christmas presents because they sweaters are warm on the inside." "The sweaters are soft and white inside."




Behind the scenes ~ Elves and Pirates

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

"The Googies Are Coming" by Shel Silverstein

Read the Poem and see if you can solve the math questions.
The Googies Are Coming
The googies are coming, the old people say,
To buy little children and take them away.
Fifty cents for fat ones,
Twenty cents for lean ones,
Fifteen cents for dirty ones,
Thirty cents for clean ones,
A nickel each for mean ones.
The googies are coming, and maybe tonight,
To buy little children and lock them up tight.
Eight cents for husky ones,
Quarter for the weak ones,
Penny each for noisy ones,
A dollar for the meek ones.
Forty cents for happy ones.
Eleven cents for sad ones.
And, kiddies, when they come to buy,
It won't do any good to cry.
But---just between yourself and I---
They never buy the bad ones!

Math Questions for Googies Poem

  1. How much would 5 mean and 2 clean children cost the Googies?
  2. How much will 2 happy and 3 sad children cost the Googies? 
  3. How much will 1 weak, 2 mean, and 8 noisy children cost the Googies? 
  4. How much will 3 lean, and 4 meek children cost the Googies? 
  5. How much will 2 husky and 4 clean children cost the Googies? 
  6. How much will 18 noisy children cost the Googies? 
  7. How much will 7 weak children cost the Googies?  
  8. How much will 2 meek children and 1 husky child cost the Googies?  
  9. How much will 6 mean children and 1 meek child cost the Googies?  
  10. How much will 4 dirty children and 4 clean children cost the Googies?  

Checking Account

 The Checking Account Game 

Purpose: To add and subtract decimals 
Materials
  • Number cube
  • Game markers
  • Calculator 
Game Rules:

  • Each player starts with a balance of $250.
  • Players take turns tossing the number cube and moving around the game board.
  • They subtract and add amounts in their check register as they land on each square.
  • Opponents use a calculator to check each operation.
  • If a player makes a mistake, he or she loses a turn.
  • The first player to reach Finish with more than one dollar wins the game. 
Student's shared: "It is real fun and hard to do." "Hard because it had big numbers."

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Origami

How many steps did you use? One student shared, "I used 9 steps." Students used a origami square. Then created a colored square for their final origami. 
Check out the diagrams Origami Diagrams 
Geometry Performance Standards: M5.1.1 Identify, sort, describe, model, and compare circles, triangles, and rectangles including squares regardless of orientation.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Which State is it?

Each week, a new set of clues is introduced about one of the 50 states.   
Then wait to see how long it takes students to identify the Mystery State. 

Can you guess this state?  A few students investigated and were really close. But you need to locate the state and place an  X on your hunch. 50 State Map  
Write your answer on I think the mystery state is
Clue 1: This state has the world's longest floating bridge.

Clue 2: This state is the top producer of apples in the United States.

Clue 3: The first-ever revolving restaurant opened in this state in 1961.

Clue 4: This state is the only state named after a U.S. president.

Clue 5: This state is the home of Mount St. Helen's, a semi-active volcano that erupted in 1980.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Making Glyphs

Gobbling Turkey Glyphs
Powerful way to display data
Students will:
Collect data and create pictures using the data.
Make a glyph based on personal information
Interpret glyphs made by other students
 The student demonstrates an ability to analyze data
 (comparing, explaining, interpreting, or justifying conclusions) using information from a variety of displays
(tallies, tables, pictographs, bar graphs, or [Venn diagrams L] (M6.1.2)
Body - DARK BROWN - I like dark meat
Light Brown - I like light meat
White - I don't eat Turkey
Feet -Yellow - I am going away for Thanksgiving
Red - I am not going away for Thanksgiving
Beak -On Thanksgiving we usually eat in the...
OPENED = Kitchen
CLOSED = Dining room
Wattle -Orange - I do not like gravy
Red - I like gravy
Eyes - OPENED = I will eat dessert on Thanksgiving
CLOSED = I will not eat dessert
FEATHERS - On Thanksgiving I like to eat...
RED - cranberries
ORANGE - pumpkin pie
GREEN - Green beans
YELLOW - Corn
BROWN - Stuffing
PINK - Mashed Potatoes

 Ideas from the Teaching Heart               Stop by and see the Turkeys in the hallway.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Mystery State

Mystery ~ Pen Pals
  • Students are finishing their Interest Inventory and will use the information to write a Friendly Letter. They are pretty excited to begin their writing!
  • Amelia Hits the Road - 9781883672836They are drawing a postcard of what kids in our community do on a weekend. Then writing a short paragraph of their adventure. The idea came from Jennifer Nu's story, A Weekend in Metlakatla and Amelias Road Trip. She wrote postcards to her friends.
  • They also wrote a letter  to the principal about their math history: I used to  (Second Grade); Now I (Third Grade) and What helped . . .

Monday, October 24, 2011

Technology Apps and Sites

IXL Math Site to Practice Math Facts
Math practice skills are aligned to state standards. Each grade level has its own themed game board, filled with awards and prizes, so practicing math is like one big treasure hunt.
Several students discovered that you can practice using a Kindle and the computer at home. Individual students shared that they practice IXL on the iPad.

Students are operating Notes.html

A student asked, "Can I use the iPad to write my story?" She is beginning her story, Last November Mom Dad  . . .




  • Space to do “scratch work”
  • Excellent problem generator
  • Saves their score of work completed.

Fill the Cup
  • Kids learn math concepts in an interesting way.
  • Rods in Addition/Subtraction
  • It shows how two numbers make up another one.
  • Balance is multiply 
A student shared, yesterday I figured out how to do multiplication on Fill the Cup. When I got to the home screen on Fill the Cup, I went to balance (Multiply) and I figured it out.


Voice Memo
  • Make a recording of your poem to build fluency

    The student reads text aloud by

    [3] 1.3.1 Reading orally with rhythm, flow and expression, showing understanding of punctuation and other conventions of print 

Saturday, October 22, 2011

What is Onomatopoeia?

  Onomatopoeia is the imitation of natural sounds in a word form like in the following poem.
Onomatopoeia
by Eve Merriam

The rusty spigot
sputters,
utters
a splutter,
spatters a smattering of drops,
gashes wider;
slash
splatters
scatters
spurts
finally stops sputtering
and plash!
gushes rushes splashes
clear water dashes.
Onomatopoeia click on speaker Students will view comic strips to identify examples of onomatopoeia. We have example of a jingle like the snap, crackle, pop jingle for Rice Krispies or the plop, plop, fizz, fizz for Alka Seltzer.
Front Cover Listen to Night Noises by Mem Fox and write down when you hear an onomatopoeia. Literature to support the Six Traits of Writing:Word Choice

Thursday, October 20, 2011

iNotes Introduction

Student's used the Notes App. (The notepad is set up to look like a yellow legal pad) to take notes from a on-line story. Raven Steals the Light.

Notes from the story:
An inky pitch blanketed the world making it very difficult for anyone to hunt or fish or gather berries for food.  The old man who had a box that contained a box that held many other boxes.  He  (Raven) instantly decided to steal the light.  The Raven transformed himself into a tiny hemlock needle and floated into the girl's bucket. She took a drink he slipped down her throat. He (Grandfather) caved in and gave the child the biggest box to play with.  Raven and snatching the light in his beak, flew through the smokehole and up into the sky. 
  • Next lesson, what underlined red means = incorrect spelling.
  • Another lesson Select, Select All, and Paste
The notes will be used to retell how the Raven steals the light. 

The student restates/summarizes information by

[3] 1.4.1 Retelling or dramatizing a story after reading it (L) 

Frencis said, "This day was fun! I love writing! I learned that Raven helped everyone in the village to get the sun."
Isaac shared, "This was really cool and it was fun and it was fun today. I had fun."
Avienda said, "This is really hard but I still had fun."
Douglas shared, "I felt good, I really wanted to do this."
Elijah said, "This was fun and hard. I like this because it's writing and it's easier than on a piece of paper and I want to do it again. And it is easier because I did this on my iPad." 
Joseph share, "It was hard."
Navin said, "I like doing this! Mrs. Brook's I like doing this because it's my first time doing this and it  is really fun! I like doing this because it could help you write! We could do this at home."
Jason shared, "I like it and it was fun. It was hard but I liked it.
Caleb said, "It was hard but good."
Sheriel shared, "I love it."
Tobin said, "I liked it and it was really easy because I do it on y iPod touch."
Cort shared, "This was very hard but it was better than with a pencil."

Mix-Up Poetry and Voice Memo

Using VoiceMemo in a quiet area, shh.
Typing their stanza and adding a VoiceMemo

Fun with Fluency. Fill in the lines to create your own stanza to this poem.
Sometimes my ____________ mixes me up.
____________
____________
____________
____________
That mixes me up.
  • Then type your poem on the voice memo pad and record your poem 3 times. Select your best one! (Delete 2)
Mix-Up
Sometimes my dad mixes me up.
“Stay up.”
“Go to bed.”
“Come here.”
“Wash your clothes.”
“Do your homework.”
“Never mind, don’t do your homework.”
“We have to go to the store.”
That mixes me up.
            By Avienda

Mix-Up
Sometimes my mom mixes me up.
“Go do the dishes.”
“Don’t do the dishes.”
“Never mind.”
“Go ahead do the dishes.”
“Okay, I will,” I said.
That mixes me up.
       By KayAna

Mix-Up
Sometimes my brother mixes me up.
“I want to play out.”
“Never mind.”
“I want to go home.”
“Actually I want to stay.”
That mixes me up.
         By Tobin
 
  ©Fluency Lessons for the Overhead: Grades 2-3 Scholastic Teaching Resource. p. 29

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Folk Tales

Text to Text 
This week's Reading Series title is, Harvest Birds and a connection with local folktale,
From the Pacific Northwest Coast

Raven by Gerald McDermott. Student's did a Text to Text comparison about the Zante and the Raven.

You can read folk tales from the  Raven Library

The student connects themes by

How the Raven Stole The Sun