December 14th-18th Robust Vocabulary

1. astonishing - If something is astonishing, it amazes and surprises you.

2. continue - If you continue to do something, you keep doing it.

3. doubt - If you doubt something, you do not believe it is true.

4. transform - If you transform something, you totally change it.

5. examine - If you examine something, you look at it closely.

6. devour - If you devour something, you eat it all up very quickly.

It's Christmas Time...in the Classroom!

To celebrate the Holiday season, we have a few new additions to our room. On our main bulletin board, we have written a very favorite thoughts about the holiday season on mittens.

Creating Our "Human Body"

Since Day 1 of our Human Body unit, the kids knew that we would be creating our own "body" at some point. This week, it finally happened! On Monday, we used what we know about our skeleton, muscles, circulatory system, nerves, and digestive system to create our own "body." On one side of our "body," we drew our brain, nerves, veins, our heart, bones, and even a few muscles. Then, on Tuesday, we were able to use the other side of our "body" to draw an image of ourselves.

After the students left on Tuesday afternoon, I put the "bodies" up for us all to enjoy our art work!

Learning about Subtraction

Some get it, some almost have it, and others are still trying to figure out how the whole thing works! What am I talking about? Subtraction, of course! Last week we worked in groups to practice taking quantities (of counter chips) and then subtracting a smaller quantity (usually one). The kids really enjoyed this and got to actually see subtraction instead of just writing numbers down on paper.

Our Human Body

We have been talking about the Human Body for several weeks now. We have discussed the skeletal system, the circulatory system, the digestive system, the nervous system, and the muscular system. The kids have really enjoyed learning about all the different areas of the body.

Our Bookbags are UP!!

At the end of September, I attempted to buy our class book bags from Really Good Stuff. In this process, I sent out a note asking for help with the purchase of hooks for the bags. I received the hooks and was very excited to put them to work. Unfortunately, Really Good Stuff did not tell me the bags were out-of-stock when I ordered. My original order was placed at the beginning of October. The bags FINALLY arrived on November 16, 2009. To say I was overjoyed is an understatement! I put the bags up over Thanksgiving and now they are there for us all to enjoy!

December 7- 11th Robust Vocabulary

1. reward - If you reward someone, you give something special or nice to that person for something he or she has done.

2. handsomely - To do something handsomely means to do it in a way that is great or more than you expected.

3. cruel - Something is cruel when it brings pain or makes you feel bad.

4. greedy - A greedy person wants a lot of something and does not want to share any of it.

5. consequences - Consequences are things that happen as the result of another action. If I walk on thin ice, the consequence might be that I fall through the ice.

6. regret - A person who has a regret feels sorry for something he or she did.