Spring Has Sprung!

This is a THREE week wrap-up: this week, last week, and the week before Spring Break.  I'm going to summarize starting with our most recent activities and then do a photo-summary of the two weeks before.
This week we learned about mammals and what makes them different from other animals.  We made an anchor chart which we added to each day that told mammal facts. The students read the sentences in the correct order. Then they had to reconstruct them. One day, I mixed the sentences all up and they had to figure out how to make them correct again.

 On Wednesday, we read the book, Animals Dads (Sneed B. Collins) and figured out which animals were mammals based on the clues in the text (Did it mention eggs? Does the animal have hair?). Afterward, the students wrote about what their dads and granddads do for them or with them.

The next day, I passed out tiny pictures of various animals. Each student had to decide whether or not their animal was a mammal, and then tell why or why not.

 Then they wrote about their animal in their journals, once again telling if it was or wasn't a mammal and explaining why or why not.

The students did another animal sorting activity on Tuesday.

In other learning news, we have been watching the heck out of this video for the last two weeks to learn about the r-controlled vowel sounds.

Last week was all about /ar/ (pictures of the cute craft to come later in this post). This week was all about /or/. To remember it, the students clap their hands together and bark the sound like a sea lion.
During our group literacy time, the students brainstorm with partners and come up with words that have the new sound of the week. I write them on the anchor chart and each class challenges the other to read their words.

   Just as we did while learning the letters, we check our mailbox a few times each week to find items with the new sounds.  This week we found an ear of corn and a fork. We also review the new sound with some sort of game on the Smartboard everyday. We typically use www.starfall.com - as we did this week and last week for this game, and this game, and this game. We also use the Smartboard to create word ladders. We start with a simple word at the top, then change one letter to make a new word. We keep going until we get to the bottom of the ladder.

    During centers this week, the students put together CVC word puzzles, then sorted them out by vowel sound.

 They built their own robots in the math games center. This is the exact same game we played on the Smartboard during the March calendar time, only in tangible form. The students spin an addition or subtraction problem, use the number line (or mental math) to solve it, and earn a piece of their robot. 

The students worked with math AND mammals in the number work center. The students had to count by fives to sequence the pieces to the mammal puzzles.

 In the writing center, the students recorded/copied facts about mammals.

 And in the shapes center, they got to play with our brand new wooden shape games.

Now for the last two weeks. How about I just post the pictures and explain a bit in the captions?  Have a great weekend!

LAST WEEK: SPRING IS SO EGG-CITING!

We learned about symmetry

They got the first Super Dojo Award (Given on Fridays to all who have earned ten or more points that week). 

They got to write with special pens all day and then got to take them home!

The pirates' favorite phonics sound is Ar!

 WEEK BEFORE SPRING BREAK: TELLING TIME

Students worked together to reconstruct sentences about clocks.

Students raced two little mice around the clock in the math games center after reading "Boom Chicka Rock"

Decomposing teen numbers using a rainbow visual. Sometimes we use the Smartboard to do our worksheets all together.