Ocean

Ocean Unit is one of my favorite units and we sadly are only spending 3 days on ocean because of a short week.  However, the students have had a lot of fun making ocean things and learning and writing about the ocean.  

We started the unit off by reading the book I'm The Biggest Thing in the Ocean.  The students helped make a list of all kinds of ocean animals.  Then the students did a writing where they filled in the blanks with our word wall words and then picked an ocean animal.  They drew a picture and painted the ocean water on top of their picture.  Here a a few of my favorite.

The next day we read the book Mister Seahorse.  As we were reading the book we discussed personality traits about Mr. Seahorse and then we wrote them down on our sheet.  The students learned that he was kind, friendly, nice, caring, proud, loving.  They used a lot of adjectives that are higher level thinking.  The students got to enjoy a fun activity where they made a seahorse using tissue paper.  They look great!

Each day the students got to learn about a different sea animal.  One day we learned about sharks, fish, octopus, and jellyfish.  As a class, we would complete a tree help of what the animal is, can, and has.  Then we used the tree map to help write three sentences.  Here is what the students did when they learned about jellyfish.

 A jellyfish is a swimmer.  A jellyfish can glow.  A jellyfish has a mouth.

 A jellyfish is a swimmer.  A jellyfish can glow.  A jellyfish has a bell shape body.

MLK

Our class spent two days talking and learning about Martin Luther King Jr..  The first day we read the book Martin's Big Words and we talked about his dream and what he wanted to see people do.  We learned about how the inside of a brown and white egg are the same and how we are all the same on the inside.  We also talked about how we should love everyone and be kind.

The second day the students wrote about a dream they have for their future and then they illustrated their writing.  Here are some dreams my students have...

 I have a dream that one day I will catch a shark.

 

I have a dream that one day I will be a teacher.

 I have a dream that one day I will fly.

 I have a dream that one day I will read.

I have a dream that one day I will be a zoo keeper.

Snowglobes

We spent some time talking about snow globes.  What is inside of them, what they are doing in the snow globe, why people like them, etc.  Then the students got a change to draw and write what they would do inside of a snow globe if they lived in one.

 

If I lived in a snowglobe I will play with my dad.

 If I lived in a snowglove I will make a snowman and a snow puppy.

 If I lived in a snowglobe I will make a snowman. 

Snowmen At Night

For Christmas we read the book Snowmen at Christmas.  The students enjoyed the book so I decided to read them the book Snowmen at Night.  Its a cute book about what the snowmen do at night when everyone is sleeping.  After reading the book, the students shared with a friend what they think snowmen do at night.  Then I had them write and draw about it.  

 My snowman is playing teacher at night.

 My snowman is playing football at night.

 My snowman is drinking hot chocolate at night.

 My snowman is drinking cold cocoa at night.

My snowman flies a kite at night.

The Mitten vs. The Hat

This week we have been working on making connections to stories.  We have used The Mitten and The Hat for the students to connect to.  One thing I am working with the students on is being able to explain why they like something.  I want them to be able to use details about what they like about the story instead of saying "it's funny".  Since the students LOVED both of these books I decided to have the students pick their favorite and write why they liked it.  Here are some of their writing.

 I liked The Mitten book because the bear sneezed.

 I liked The Mitten book because the boy dropped the mitten.

 I liked The Mitten book because the bear sneezed.

"I liked The Hat book because the animals laughed at the hedgehog."

The Biggest, Best Snowman

Today, we read the book The Biggest, Best Snowman by Margery Cuvler.  This book is about a little girl who was told she was too little to do anything.  So with the help of her friends she created the biggest, best snowman.  

We made the biggest, best snowman in our class today.  It felt fitting seeing how it was snowing lightly this morning as we were coming to school.  I had all the pieces ready all we had to do was put the snowman together.  Check out the awesome snowman we made!

 The students give me instructions on what to do first, second, third, etc.  As we made our snowman we wrote down the steps we used to create the snowman.  Here are the steps the students gave.  I wrote all of the words that are in green.  The students used the blue marker to write our word wall words.

Penguins

We have been reading about Penguins in class this week.  We had fun reading and laughing as we read the Tacky the Penguin books.  Today the students were asked to draw a penguin whatever size they wanted.  Then we used the cubes to measure how tall they made their penguin.  The students worked hard and did a great job!

Here the students are working on drawing and coloring their penguins.

The students are learning to measure using cubes.  They know they are suppose to start at the bottom and work their way to the top.  Next, the students will count their cubes and document how many cubes tall their penguin is.

Check out some of the great Penguin measuring the students did!

Later we did some Penguin math where the students made a penguin using construction paper and then we added how many fish the penguin was going to eat by giving our penguin two sets of goldfish.

 

Fairy Tales

The students have enjoyed the Fairy Tale unit.  We have read all the great fairy tales and fables.  Of course, the girls LOVED Cinderella and the boys LOVED The Three Little Pigs and they also enjoyed The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig.  

For Cinderella, the students were asked to think about what they would ask their Fairy Godmother for.  I challenged them to think outside of the norm.  They did a great job!  Here are a few of my favorite.

 When we read the book Jack and the Beanstalk the students were asked to be creative and draw their own Giant self.  Then we used cubes and measured how tall our giants were.  Here is an example of one students giant. 

One of the students favorite books was The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig.  It is a cute book where the roles are reversed from the original book.  The wolves set out to build houses, they build super strong houses but the Big Bad Pig still finds a way to bring the house done.  But the wolves always seem to escape.  But the wolves out-smarted the pig by building a house made of flowers and the Pig enjoyed smelling the house instead of blowing it down.  The students used their imagination and drew a house made of whatever they wanted.  Here are a few of my favorite.