Global School Play Day & 100th Day

This week we celebrated Global School Play Day and the 100th Day of school. With an early release due to weather on Wednesday, it was a busy and exciting week.

Global School Play Day

Even though Global School Play Day fell on the day we were released early due to snow, the students still had a great time. They enjoyed having extra time for playing games, working on puzzles, building, and being crafty. To make the time extra fun, we invited Mrs. E Higgins's students in to play with us and we got to spend some time in their room too. 

Happy 100th Day!

Friday, we celebrated the 100th day of school! During Math Stations the students worked in groups to complete 100th Day STEM activities. As a team, they created something with 100 cups, 100 popsicle sticks, 100 legos, and 100 pattern blocks. It was interesting to see how different each group's creations were and listen to their conversations.

Creations included: a giant z; a gumball machine; and a school with desks

Creations included: a man & car; a house on wheels; and a house with a car

Creations included: a castle & garden; a flower, bicycle, & butterfly; and a train

Creations included: a castle with a wall; Legoland; and a tower


Open ended activities are important for building creativity, developing planning skills, learning how to problem solve, and learning to persevere when things don't go the way we pictured in our minds. STEM activities encourage students to plan, problem solve, and persevere. 

Snowman at Night

This week we have been reading the story Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. In the story a boy builds a  wonderful snowman but when he wakes up the next day, it looks a terrible fright. This leads him to wonder what snowmen do at night when we are sleeping. The students enjoyed this book a great deal and using this story we practiced several reading strategies that good readers use each time they read.

Visualizing: Good readers visualize what is happening in the text while they read. They use the illustrations and the text to create pictures in their minds. Visualizing helps the reader understand and remember what they are reading.

For this activity, the students were asked to write about what they visualized when the snowmen were doing tricks on the ice..

Making Connections: Good readers make connections when they read. This means something that they read makes them think of something in their own life (text to self connection), something in another text (text to text connection) or something happening in the world (text to world connection). Making connections helps the reader understand and remember what they have read.

For this activity, the students were asked to write about a time they made something and it didn't last.

Stating My Opinion: Good readers are able to state their opinion about what they have read or something related to the text. This means that good readers can state their opinion and give reasons why they have that opinion. Stating our opinion is a way to communicate our thoughts and ideas to others.

For this activity, the students were asked to decide if they liked hot chocolate or chocolate milk best and write about why they liked that choice.

Writing About What We Read: Good readers are able to write about what they read. Writing about what we read is a way to communicate our thoughts and ideas to others.

For this activity, the students wrote about what they think snowmen do at night while we are sleeping.

The students worked hard throughout this unit and really demonstrated that they are using the strategies that good readers use when reading. You can help your developing reader at home by practicing visualizing and making connections while reading together. At the end of the story, ask your child their opinion. Then ask them to give you reasons why. Encourage them to give examples from the text.  The more practice they have the more they internalize the strategies. Happy Reading!