Playing Catch Up

Between the Common Core Teaching Conference and a sick baby girl, I haven't had a chance to even breathe this week - so I'm finally getting around to updating you on what we've been doing in the classroom.

By now you probably know that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow!  I don't know about you, but I am thrilled to think that spring will be coming sooner.  With Groundhog Day falling on a Saturday this year, it was a great opportunity to make class predictions before the weekend.

As you can see from our chart, the majority of our class predicated that Phil WOULD see his shadow.  Based on the data we collected, we graphed, tallied and answered questions.

We also made hats to proudly announce our predictions to our friends...

For several weeks we've been working on shapes, both 2D and 3D - understanding their attributes and learning their names.  As a means of exploration, we used toothpicks and marshmallows to create various structures using what we've learned.  The kids quickly figured out how many sides (toothpicks) and corners (marshmallows) they would need to make certain shapes, such a cube or a flat structure, such as a house.

I think the most challenging aspect of this activity was keeping the kids from eating all of the marshmallows!!

February is an extremely busy month in terms of holidays, celebrations and themes.  We've begun the month celebrating Black History because February has been designated as Black History Month.

Our focus was on Rosa Parks and George Washington Carver this past week.  We learned about who each of these black Americans was and what significant role they played in history.

We read a favorite book of mine called Back of the Bus. 

The authors, Aaron Reynolds and Coretta Scott King and illustrator Floyd Cooper, recount Rosa Parks' act of defiance through the eyes of a child.  The book kept the children engaged and had them asking many thoughtful questions.

We did a craft to go along with our reading about Rosa Parks.

 

Some students thought to put one black person, representing Rosa Parks, at the front of the bus, while the others put all of the white people at the front and all of he black people at the back.  It was interesting to me what their thought process was when placing the people on the bus.

For George Washington Carver we created a KWL chart to document what we "K"now, what we "W"ant to learn and what we "L"earned by the end of our lesson.

We decided to share more of what we learned through our "Peanut Man" writings.  It is funny to me how curious the kids are about what people look like.  As you can see, "looks" is one the things in our "want to know" category.  One student wrote "I learned that George Washington Carver had black hair."

Tomorrow we will learn about Harriet Tubman and her significant role with the Underground Railroad and her fight for women's suffrage.

Until then...

Have a wonderful week!