Bird Adaptations

         We conducted an experiment to learn about bird adaptations today and read the book "Beaks!" to learn why birds have certain types of beaks.  Students had to use a clothes pin, a fork that was taped and an eye dropper to pick up marshmallows that represented berries to discover why birds are different.

360 Degrees!

We are beginning to measure angles and learn about circles.  Here is a funny clip we watched to introduce the topic and a dance we learned to measure different parts of a circle.  It's great!

(Funny Video)

 

(Dance Video)

 

 

At each beat, we yell out 90, 180, 270, 360, and then we jump in a circle!  Stay tuned for a class video of it!

Dissecting Owl Pellets

We dissected our mystery objects yesterday and it was really amazing what we found!  There were some owl pellets that had complete skulls and jaw bones of voles and little femurs!  Students recorded the number of each type of bone found and we are using that data in our math class to create a line plot graph after we compile our data from each group!  Stay tuned to see the line plot graphs!

 

KY Regions Project

Students are using a rubric to create a poster display of the regions of KY with information about each region!  They are almost finished and will be ready to present!

Fly Away, Butterflies!

We released our butterflies yesterday and they fluttered away!  One really wanted to stay with Kamare!

 

 

Mystery Objects for Food Chains! EWWW!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5BkWKC3Ygs

 

We have started our study on food chains and webs in science.  We began with a mystery object and students had to figure out what the object was.  Many had not seen it before and quickly figured it out after we read the story above.  It was awesome!  Our next step is to dissect the mystery objects to see what's inside!

 

 

Vocabulary Dance!

Check out Ashton leading this math vocabulary dance!

Courtyard Spring Cleanup

       It's that time of year again to straighten up the courtyard and pull some weeds.  Fourth grade adopted the courtyard as a service project to take care of for our school a few years ago when we redid it as a class project.  We love this area and have special lunches and snacks or just to come enjoy a good book!  You should see it now- it's ready to be enjoyed!

Planting a Tree

       We planted a tree yesterday with the help of Ms. Wanda Gilbert from our local Conservation District Office.  She brought a peach tree to plant with us and discussed with students the importance of plant life and why we need to take care of our environment.

Gradual Release Classroom Management Strategy

       This is something we do in our class to make sure students are working by themselves when it's time to practice independently.  We came up with some secret clue words for them to know when to move their desks apart and a secret clue of when to put their desks back together.  We usually start out a lesson with teacher modeling, then practicing together and working with partners, and the working independently.  We say "Take One- Action" to move our desks apart and we say "That's a Wrap" to move them back into groups and we stuck with our classroom movie theme for a secret clue words.

Take One- Action!

 

That's a Wrap!

Measurement Vocabulary Dances

       We are working on our measurement unit currently and to help with conversions between units, we learn these measurement chants.  It's a way to tie in brain breaks, move, and remember important information!  And it's pretty fun...

Area is Length times Width

 

Perimeter is All the Way Around

 

1 Pound is 16 Ounces

 

1000 Grams is 1 Kilogram

 

1 Foot is 12 Inches

 

 

 1 Yard is 36 Inches

 

 

1 Yard is 3 Feet

 

Math Strategies

We are really working on using multiple strategies to solve math problems and today, our bell ringer was a multiplication word problem.  Students used three different strategies to solve and explained their thinking during our "Math Talk"!

 

 

For more information about "Math Talks", please visit:

http://mathsolutions.com/common-core-support/math-talk/

We have a butterfly!

We have our first butterfly!  It was school to watch it and we can't wait to watch the other nine butterflies make their entrance to Studio 214!

Animal Card Sort

Students used the cards to sort animals into groups based on their characteristics and features.

Spaghetti and Meatballs for All!

       We read this book "Spaghetti and Meatballs for All!" in class and then tried to solve a problem to introduce perimeter and area.  This is a great book to introduce this topic.  Students used blocks and worked with a partner to try and figure out the best way to seat 32 people for a spaghetti dinner. 

Loco Beans and Life Cycles!

       We were detectives today and observed a mystery object.  What was super exciting, was as students were making observations, the mystery object began to move or "jump".  As we made our observations, we listened to the instrumental version of "Jump", but no one caught the clue. 

       We then read "Lucas and His Loco Beans" and learned about the life cycle of the moth.  We also used context clues to figure out meanings of Spanish words throughout the book.  This lesson came from the Picture Perfect Science Resources available through NSTA.

 

Autism Awareness Day!

Today we celebrated Autism Awareness Day in the Cumberland County School System!  A couple classes, including ours, participated in a blue balloon release and we all wore blue shirts to "Light it Up Blue".  It was a great day of raising awareness and celebrating our uniqueness!  I have to admit, I got a little choked up when we released the balloons!

 

 

Sleep Well, My Friend

We are observing the life cycle process and this week our caterpillars now have cocoons!  I was so excited to come in Monday morning and see a couple had changed- now for the rest!  Stay tuned- Monarch butterflies will be joining our classroom soon!