The Toothy Truth

We know the secret to maintaining a healthy smile! This week, we learned all about how to keep our teeth clean and cavity-free. We began the week by reading a book about George Washington - someone who did not take very good care of his teeth.  In the story, "George Washington's Teeth," we learned how his teeth came out one, two, sometimes three at a time. We used the amusing story to also reinforce our subtracting the skills. The students counted down on their fingers every time he lost another tooth. 

The next three days, we read books about teeth, dental health, and visiting the dentist. We wrote tips on our giant tooth chart and read and reread them each day. On Wednesday, the students wrote how they care for their own teeth in their journals. 

The students wrote all of the healthy teeth tips on their own "toothbrush bristles" in the writing center.

 We used the writing pieces as part of our Fun Friday art project. The students made their own unique toothbrushes with some heavy duty white paper (almost like cardboard) and markers.  

 

Then: Lift a bristle - read a toothy tip!

In other centers news, students sorted dominoes to show the different way to make numbers. 

They practiced subtraction by playing "Brush Your Teeth" in the math games center. Spin a number - brush that many teeth clean. (We dirtied them up first with dry-erase marker). 

They read and matched up CVC and CVCC words to their corresponding pictures in the word work center. 

And they laced in the fine motor center. 

Meanwhile, in reading groups. we began each day with some sight word work.  The students took turns writing the new sight words three times each and using letter tiles to construct the sight words. We have always done sight word work in reading groups, but all those snow days gave me some time to read other teachers' blogs and gain some new ideas.  

We had more practice with sight words on Thursday when we did a Sight Word Sort. We do this activity every other week or so.  But it had been a while since the last one. The students have a list of sight words on the Smartboard from which they choose to fill in the word blocks. 

Based on the number of letters in the word, and the heights of the letters, the students volunteer a guess. Then I slide the word over and see if it fits. Then they write it on their paper. This is one of my favorite activities because they get better at 1)recognizing/distinguishing the sight words 2)spelling the sight words 3)writing neatly. 

Next week is Seussapalooza.  There is a theme for how to dress each day. 

MONDAY: Fox in Socks- Wear crazy socks

TUESDAY: Green Eggs in Ham- Wear green (While it is St. Patrick's Day AND Spring picture day so I totally understand if you choose to opt out of this one).

WEDNESDAY: Sleep Book- wear your pajamas

THURSDAY: If I Ran the Zoo- Wear something with animal print

FRIDAY: The Cat in the Hat- Dress as Thing 1 (or Thing 2). If you're not familiar, here ya go

I will be disappointed if you don't do the blue hair. Go all out, people!

The students don't know this yet - but I will be coming dressed as the cat in the hat.

That day we will also have the Seuss Feast. I will need some help with the snack items - so if you would like to help out, send me a PM, email, or text.  I want them to have a blast and never forget it.  

By the way, the biggest highlight of this week was the return of outdoor recess. I forgot to take pics but this one from a Google image search pretty much sums it up.