Room 29's Week in Review

Since I am keeping this blog public, I won't be posting any photos of students or mentioning any names here. However, if you would like to see great pictures of your kids at work in the classroom and out, please visit our Edline site. There are photos located under each content area in the right hand sidebar.

We had a great week (check out the pictures!) in Room 29. The highlight of our week was our Publishing Party where all our writers got a chance to read their personal narratives to the class! What amazing storytellers we have! The kids really grew tremendously as authors in the 7 weeks we worked on this unit.

In reader's workshop, we had a lot of fun preparing for our mystery mask project (due on Thursday, October 30). We read short mysteries in class and then broke up into groups and answered questions about them. I cordoned off the desks with real police crime scene tape and gave all the children magnifying glasses to set the mood! They had a great time. Next week we will try to work on writing our own mysteries!

We wrapped up our unit on rocks and minerals in science with a few fun experiments to learn more about sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. There are some pictures on Edline of the kids working to make samples of sedimentary rock using layers of clay. They learned about how small pieces of sediment settle on the bottom of bodies of water and how, over time, weather and pressure press the layers together to form solid rocks. Likewise, we learned that when rocks under the earth's crust are pressed and squeezed together under great heat, they can change into metamorophic rock. Students did another fun experiment using clay to demonstrate this process.

In math, we began learning about telling time to the minute, a skill that everyone needs! We used a numberline as a strategy to help us figure out application problems involving elapsed time. On Friday, we played a really fun game called What Does the Clock Say (Tell Time and Move It). With the music What Does the Fox Say in the background, clockfaces were projected on the Smartboard. Students had to write the times on their dry erase boards and hold them up. Randomly, we would have to stop everything and Move It! A timer counted down 30 seconds during which time students had to do a variety of movement activities like jumping jacks, arm circles, running in place, etc. Everyone had a blast!

A reminder that as the weather gets colder children will need appropriate outerwear for going outside. We go out for recess every day unless it is raining, so children should be dressed for the colder weather.