Our Day at the One Room School

We had a wonderful day at the Pittsboro One Room School.  Our authentic living history experience took place on December 6, 1892. Even though I was one of the "older" students, I did try to sneak as many pictures as possible.  Although, my zebra print iPhone looked extremely out of place!  I was not able to photograph all of the students, unfortunately.  I will take more pictures at our Pioneer Celebration on December 19th.  Enjoy the pictures! 

Sam looked great in his red suspenders as our schoolmarm, Miss Elizabeth, took the roll call.

Leah and Alana enjoyed their authentic lunches together.

Some of our boys went to the front of the class with the McGuffey readers to recite a passage.  This style of teaching was called "blab school." 

Madison and Brooklyn enjoyed their authentic lunches together.

Uh-oh!!!  Look who had to wear the dunce cap!  Tucker confessed to putting the frog in Miss Elizabeth's desk, so she put him in the dunce cap.  He was a good sport!  (sorry this is sideways)

Poor, poor Tucker.

Some girls took the McGuffey readers up to the front of the class for their recitation.

More blab school...

At recess, students played with authentic toys from the late 1800s.  Many kids enjoyed chasing the hoops.

Jackson couldn't wait to unpack his lunch from his basket!

Maya played with the popular acrobat toy.  (sorry this is sideways)

You may be wondering if this is the schoolmarm.  It is not!  This is Abe's mom, who was one of the chaperones.  She played Annie Sullivan in a production of the Miracle Worker and still had her costume.  She looked VERY authentic!  She had to go to the front of the class and show Spain on the map during our history lesson.

Tucker enjoyed his lunch on the boy side of the room.

A special thanks goes to the Delaware Trail PTSG for paying for this field trip, so that students could attend free of charge!  A huge thanks goes to Miss Elizabeth, our schoolmarm, and Mrs. Klimenko, Mrs. Vink, and Mrs. Russell, our parent chaperones.  Also, I would like to thank EVERY SINGLE parent for helping your child dress the part and pack such an authentic lunch.  As a parent, I know it was extra work for you to prepare your child for this field trip.  Your efforts helped the children truly experience living history.  I think this was a trip they will never forget!

Happy Election Day!

 Today our three candidates, Third Little Pig, Cinderella, and Peter Pan, participated in a mock debate.  Mrs. Terry was the moderator!  Each candidate did a wonderful job discussing the issues of national security, education, and the economy.  Students learned about the election process in the last few weeks.  The class was divided into three groups.  Each group had to create their own political party, create party platforms, and campaign strategies.  The three political parties were named the Peterpublicans, the Republicrats, and the Greek God Party.  We learned about the real life election in a way that kids can relate to and with candidates that they know a lot about....Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Third Pig!  Thanks to Brooklyn, Abe, and Jack for representing their parties well!

 This is the audience at the mock debate.  They may look sweet and innocent, but they were passionate about their candidates!  There was lots of cheering going on!!

 This is a shot of our three candidates before the mock debate got started. 

After the debate, we placed our votes.  Cinderella won by a landslide!!  The class really liked her vision for America.

Happy Election Day!  I hope everyone had a chance to vote!

Parts of Speech Links

In Language Arts we have been studying the parts of speech!  Here are some links to some great short cartoons from School House Rock!  Enjoy!

Adverbs:

http://www.schooltube.com/video/054c4aca89b412d90612/

Pronouns:

http://www.schooltube.com/video/cf3e7fff3db76def26a8/

Verbs:

http://www.schooltube.com/video/2f64b89f85db90e07260/

Nouns:

http://www.schooltube.com/video/21001073474c19344891/

Adjectives:

http://www.schooltube.com/video/964198d6a8d99911f4dc/

We are Scientists!

This week we learned all about the Scientific Method.  In order to practice the steps of the Scientific Method, we did a messy, but fun experiment today.  We wondered what would happen if we mixed Borax, cornstarch, and water.  Students made a hypothesis and designed an experiment.  After measuring and mixing, we learned that the materials form bouncy balls!  I put on my lab coat, which was good because this experiment ended up being much messier than expected!  My "Scientists in Training" put on their imaginary lab coats.  21 students, 1 teacher, lots of Borax, cornstarch, and food coloring came together to experience hands-on science!

Mrs. Terry in her lab coat

Amadou and Jackson show off their creations!

Sam and Evelyn show off their creations

Henry laughed as he showed off his very messy solution

Madison is all smiles as she begins to mold her bouncy ball

Scientists at work!

Some scientists had discrepancies in their measuring that effected the bounciness of their finished product.  Some scientists had amazing results!  Everyone learned a lot this week and was shocked that I was allowing them to experiment and get their hands very dirty.  Thankfully, the food coloring came off our hands easily.  At one point, some kids had hands that were completely blue!  These things happen in a scientific lab!

If any of my scientists want to do this experiment at home, here is the link with directions.  This experiment requires adult supervision!  http://chemistry.about.com/od/demonstrationsexperiments/ss/bounceball_2.htm

Reading News

In Reading, we started learning about the seven keys to comprehension and started making a flipbook that we will use as a resource tool all year.  Today's "key" was visualization.  I hope that your child can explain to you what it means to visualize while reading!  We are using Hour of the Olympics to practice the seven keys to comprehension this week.  Are you intrigued to find out about the seven keys?  Check out this website for a quick description.  http://www.delano.k12.mn.us/elementary-school/gradesstaff/third-grade/mrs-petersen/mrs-petersens-3rd-grade-class/keys-to-comprehension

Also in reading, we are beginning our first class novel of the year, The Hundred Dresses.  This is a great classic with many themes that are relevant to the kids' lives, such as bullying and friendship. 

Last week, students took the Scholastic Reading Inventory to assess their current Lexile level.  By knowing their Lexile, the kids can choose books that are more appropriate to their individual reading levels.  All this week I will be administering the beginning of the year DIBELS assessment to all of the students individually.  This is a test that measures their oral reading fluency.  These beginning of the year assessments will help me to see what your child needs help with in reading!

Many students have been digging into our classroom library and wanting to take home books that belong to me.  This is okay, as long as the books are returned and not damaged!  Our classroom is built on trust, so I trust the kids to be responsible with my books.

I am so excited about all of our great readers!  By the end of this week, I am hoping that all of the kids will have a book selected to read for their Top 25 goal for August!  I will also send out book order forms very soon.

n of reading this week! In addition toys to reading comprehension,

we will also begin our first class novel of the year,

The Hundred Dresses

. This is a novel with a great beginningof-

year message for students about friendships and bullying. I

am also in the process of administering beginning-of-year

DIBELS assessments to all students, so there will be some

time for independent reading as well.

Specials Schedule and Lunch Time

I apologize for not giving this information out at our Back to School Night!  Here is our schedule for specials. 

Monday: Art
Tuesday: P.E.
Wednesday: Media Center/Computer Lab
Thursday: Music
Friday: Flex

I will always tell the kids what their special will be on Friday in advance, so they know if they have P.E.  It is always a good idea to wear tennis shoes on Fridays....just in case Mrs. Terry forgets!

Also, we go to lunch from 11:50-12:20 each day.

First Day!!!

Happy First Day of School!!  I can tell already that I am so blessed to have such a wonderful new class!  Today flew by, and we were all beat, so I am sure there will be some sleepy kids tonight. 

I hope your child told you all about their first day!  The kids started out the day by filling out a sheet to help me get to know them.  On the sheet they could ask me any question they wanted to about myself.  That was fun!  More than a few wanted to know my age and why I like owls so much....haha!  We got to meet Mrs. Fowler, our new music teacher, today.  After music this morning we learned a lot about classroom procedures and we organized all of our supplies.  I read a book to the class about a crazy teacher named Mrs. McBloom who had a very messy classroom, and we all decided it was important to keep our room nice and neat.  Mrs. McBloom had chickens hatching eggs in her cubbies, an apple tree growing through the ceiling, and many more unusual crazy things.  I also started a read aloud with the kids that is very appropriate to current events.....the Magic Treehouse book, Hour of the Olympics.  We learned that girls were not allowed at the first Olympics....boooo!  One of our sweet second grade boys said that maybe it was okay now for girls to be there because it is safer.  Ha!  Another boy asked if the women just cooked and watched t.v. all day.....I reminded him that television wasn't invented back then!  We are super excited to be kicking off an Olympics inspired Reading unit.  In the coming weeks we will be learning different reading strategies and applying them to reading passages about the Olympics!  Then......we took a test.  It was the Everyday Math beginning of the year assessment.  It was very difficult for the kids, but I reassured them that a pretest is not for a grade and only a tool to show me what they need to learn.  After taking the math test, it was time for a brain break.  We did a fun "getting to know you" type activity where kids got to use their clipboards (always a supply they are eager to use) and ask each other questions.  The page they filled out came home tonight.  I shared my "Me Bag" and assigned Me Bags for tonight's homework.  Then we learned how to fill out assignment notebooks.  What a busy day!! 

Here are a few pictures for you. 

"Getting to Know You" activity

Ethan, Madison, and Alana interview each other!

School Supplies

Our class has a special supply list.  We do not follow the 2nd grade or 3rd grade supply list because we have different needs.  To view the supply list for all grade levels, follow this link.  The supply list for my class is on page 3!
http://www.brownsburg.k12.in.us/delawaretrail/pdf/DTSupplyLists12-13.pdf
This year, Ms. Whitton would also like for kids in my class to bring a glue bottle and a spiral bound sketchbook for the art room.  If you go to the end of the documents at the link above, you will see the art room supply lists.

See you very soon!

Phases of the Moon

We have had a blast in Science during our Solar System unit! Today we learned about the phases of the moon. We recreated the phases using Oreos! Students had to be true scientists and resist the temptation to eat their supplies! Tonight students are supposed to go home and show their families the different phases with their Oreo plates!

Students were allowed to either glue their Oreos to the plate or take the Oreos home in a baggie (to possibly eat at home). Helen, like a true scientist, decided it would be better to glue her Oreos down to her plate. She was one of only two kids who chose to go that route!

Even though Logan looks very animated as he works on creating a waning gibbous, the room was actually silent! I was shocked! Chocolate?! Plastic knives?! These are usually the kinds of things that create mass excitement in our room! However, everyone was so serious about making their phases look exactly right that you could hear a pin drop!

Natalie worked very hard on her phases. She loves doing hands-on experiments!

These two best buds show off their final plates. They plan on quizzing their parents on the phases tonight! Study up, parents!

What kind of moon will you see tonight? These kids just may be able to tell you! Here are some new vocabulary words we learned today:

full moon (we all knew what this meant already)

waxing crescent

first quarter

waxing gibbous

waning gibbous

third quarter

waning crescent

new moon

Multicultural Fair Pics....Part III

Zoe speaks to a visitor about her German heritage.

Our beautiful quilt will be hanging in our hallway for awhile, if you didn't get to see it yet! Each student created a square for the quilt in class to represent their culture!

Max amazed us with his antique family photos, genealogical history of his family, and family war medals.

Jack showed Evelyn's mom his poster and talked to her about his Irish heritage.

More Multicultural Fair Pics!

Kevin shows Helen and her mom his Powerpoint about his Indian heritage. Kevin bravely wore traditional ceremonial clothing to school, and we all loved it! We thought he looked quite regal!

Hermon showed Kevin's mom her Powerpoint about her Eritrean heritage. Hermon's parents moved to the United States from Eritrea, and we are so glad they did because Hermon is such a special girl!

Henry impressed us with his traditional summer kimono. I was quite thankful that Henry's mom arrived early to help him properly tie the obi belt! Henry shared some great information about his Japanese heritage.

Some students brought ethnic food. Everyone followed the rules....no eating-just looking! Aiyanna's Croatian cookies and Allison's Irish bread looked delicious.

Aiyanna taught us about her Croatian heritage alongside her pal, Allison!

If anyone else had additional pictures from the Multicultural Fair, please email them to me. I would love to feature them on the blog. I have posted all the photos that have been submitted so far. Thank you to Mrs. Okuhara and Mrs. Petraits for submitting these photos!

Diversity Makes Us Beautiful!

Our Multicultural Fair was a huge success! There are more pictures to come, but here are some to get you started....

Allison's bright smile welcomed guests to her table where she showed off her family heritage!

Nate explained his heritage to Lauren's dad.

Shane amazed us with his display that represented his Japanese heritage. He brought a lot of artifacts to show guests, and even convinced his mom to dress up!

For those of you who are on Facebook, be sure to check out the page for Brownsburg Community School Corporation. Tonight they posted a picture from our fair of Shane and complimented our class!! I will post more pictures as they come in.

Pudding Monday....

I am admittedly way behind on posting updates on the blog. It is always my hope that your kiddos talk about our day and share with you the amazing things we do in class. I can't tell you how blessed I feel this year to share in the kids' joy in learning. Their joy is contagious and keeps me going! I am going to attempt to post some pictures on here to get caught up.....starting with today! I find myself so inspired by this particular group of students that I continually try to top myself on great lessons! After eight years in 2/3, I have learned to take a very integrated approach to teaching and learning. Brain research supports the importance of building connections. Today I think we made more connections in class than I ever have made in my life! We were all amazed at how everything we learned this morning was related.

As you know, we kicked off a unit on Nutrition with our field trip a few weeks ago. We are reading nonfiction text about the food groups. Friday we discussed dairy. Today we started our discussion with the protein group, then reviewed dairy and talked about how protein is found in milk. I passed out a carton of milk to each child. We examined the packaging and talked about the nonfiction text features like bold text, italics, different fonts, etc. Then we learned how to read the nutritional label. We have been working on persuasive writing and learning how to provide our audience with strong arguments. We made the connection that by knowing how to read labels properly, we can make strong arguments to our parents about why they should or should not buy a product at the store. (Sorry if this leads to some crafty persuasion at the grocery!!). After this discussion, I passed out sugar free pudding mix and we talked about having treats in moderation and about how sugar free treats are good options. We examined the text features on the pudding boxes.....then.......the kids found out that they were going to make the pudding and EAT IT!!! Okay....some of you may not realize how HUGE this was to the kids. We never eat in class!!! You would think I announced that we were going to Disneyland! This was exciting stuff for a Monday morning! Kids had to work in pairs to figure out how to make pudding only using 1 box of mix, two cartons of milk, and plastic spoons. The sugar free pudding was chocolate because it was leading to our kick-off of our Chocolate Literature Circles. The healthy chocolate snack would help us build our schemas or background knowledge in order to better understand our chocolate themed novels. Follow me so far? Basically, the connections just wouldn't stop!

Below is a picture of Allison and Jack working hard on mixing their pudding.

I know these kids so well that I predicted someone wouldn't want chocolate! Nate and Keenan were thrilled to work on their vanilla schemas instead! They mixed vanilla pudding and passed on the chocolate.

After making a huge mess in the classroom, along with a TON of learning connections, the kids sat in their Literature Circle groups to eat their snack and start making predictions about their chocolate novels. Below you can see Helen, Evelyn, and Leah deep in conversation about their predictions for their story. I love listening in on these reading discussions.....lots of great thinking going on.

In our classroom, we have a bulletin board called "I Can." Each day we write "I Can" statements on the board to set the objective for our lessons that day. Today we drew arrows to show all the crazy connections we were making! The kids are learning that they can do so many things!

So.....if your kid came home today and said, "We had pudding at school" but neglected to share anything else, now you know the full story!! Who knew that nonfiction text features, the dairy and protein groups, persuasive writing, and schema building could all be rolled into one tasty lesson?

I have to give a special shout-out to Natalie and Zoe who volunteered to stay inside for the first ten minutes of their recess just to help me clean desktops. Let's just say there were a lot of traces of chocolate pudding powder all over!!

Meet Nick!

Introducing......Nick the elf! After searching near and far, I finally found an Elf on the Shelf for our classroom! After much debate and discussion, the kids named him Nick. Each morning, Nick is in a new location. He only moves at night, using his elf magic. This morning, Nick was sitting all the way on top of the projector on the ceiling!! We thought maybe he went up there so he could get a better view of each and every student, so he could give a detailed report to Santa when he returns to the North Pole.

One thing is for sure....there is a lot of Christmas magic in the air!

Shake, Rattle, and Roll!

Aiyanna works on adding heat to form her igneous rock. (Above)
Logan is so focused as he organizes his work space before creating an igneous rock! (Above)

Jack shows off his sedimentary rock! (Above)

Our wise scholars have been investigating the world of rocks and minerals. Today we did a hands-on investigation in the Science Lab. Students got to create sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous rocks. Tonight, your child has been asked to show you their rocks and tell you how each rock is created!