Buggin' Out

    Well this week was creepy, crawly, crazy fun!  We learned a lot about insects this week and added to a list of facts each day as we read informational text about them. Did you know ladybugs shed their skin twice before reaching adulthood? And that not all insects lay eggs? The students learned about insects they'd never heard of before and we used all those names to make insect word baskets.  The students led with "I went outside and I found a ___." This time they worked in groups of three. They had to make themselves be attentive listeners to be sure they remembered what the other students said before them. 

 



Much like we did with our anchor chart about clocks a few weeks ago, at the end of this week, we cut the sentences in halves.  The students had to find the student with the matching half and put all the facts back together themselves.  This is such a fun way to practice decoding skills, comprehension skills, and sentence structure. They're having so much fun they don't realize all that their little brains are soaking up.
     As always, the theme found its way into our centers.  In the writing center, the students reached into the mystery box and pulled out a bug - which was labeled.  They had to find the matching bug on their paper and write its name.  We are working so hard on our penmanship; shrinking it down and trying to write in a straight line. Of course, the practice of looking off of something to copy onto their own paper is really important training too.  

    In the math games center, the students practiced their addition using ladybugs.  The students spin the spinners at the same time, place the amounts on each leaf, add them up, and find the card with the correct sum.  When Mrs. Taylor, Miss Hisel, or I am working with them, we ask them higher-order questions such as, "How many more bugs does she have than you?" or  "How many more ladybugs would you need to get to 10?"  It was neat to see one student make the connection after he and his partner got the same sum but with different addends. "There's two ways to make 6!" He was so thrilled with himself.

 

The students used insects to learn estimation in the number work center.  (I didn't even know I owned this game.  I had nothing planned for this center on Monday morning and I grabbed a box from a shelf. Boom, serendipity.) Each player fills a container with bugs and hands it to their partner.  They each make an estimate (which I explain as a 'careful guess') of how many are in their container. Then they arrange them on the counting pad and see how close their estimates were.  They were making some great math deductions from this activity. "Oh, I was two off!" "Man, I was just one away!"

The puzzle center became a pattern center this week. I forgot to take a picture of it, so here's what it looks like via Google images:

     Except, ours doesn't have a sorting tray. The students spread the patterning cards all over the rug and used big tweezers to pick up the creatures (mostly insects) and place them into the patterns.

      Our phonics lesson this week was on the two sounds of /oo/. First we learned about the lovebirds who stare into each other's eyes and say nothing. So all those around them say "ooooooooo." After two days of that yucky luvey-duvey sound, we learned the other sound that the boys really appreciated.  We call them the bully brothers.  They are always wrestling and beating up on each other (as many of the boys could relate to) and saying "ugh, ugh, ugh." As always, we filled up an anchor chart with lots and lots of words. 

    We found some of these words along with bossy r words in our hallway hunt today.  Last week's egg hunt for sight words went so well, I wanted to do it again. But this time I didn't write sight words. I wrote words that used the phonics sounds we'd recently learned. 



      Along with the hallway hunt, we wrapped up the week with our Fun Friday art project. The students made ladybugs.  



 

 

      Next week will be focused on one particular insect, the butterfly.  I'll sign off with a handful of pics from recess. This week's weather was perfect outdoor-recess weather!

Catch Mackenzie and Selena on America's Next Top Model: Kindergarten Edition