2nd Graders heading to their lockers for the 1st time and lining up to greet me with a fist pump, handshake or hug-their choice! Getting to know each other by playing the game Under the Sea with their new table friends. I loved reading first day notes that parents packed in their child's lunch in the Balanced Cafe! I'll never forget the smiley faces my dad made with mustard on my salami sandwiches growing up! To start the day they reflected on how they felt by drawing an emoji that represented their feelings, later in the day we read the story: First Day Jitters, discussed what that meant, graphed our results AND of course made some Jitter Juice! They were busy here creating their hand puzzles that I hope they shared with you over the weekend as they shared what we did all week. On Tuesday we had a snowball fight with the Guess Who sheets that I sent home this summer. If your child forgot or didn't get my packet this summer I made it with them so they could participate too. All the students helped put together our GIANT Kerplunk. The first round is looking for a class ON TASK. So every time we are all on task a student gets to pull a stick out. Once they all fall down we will have a class reward. Students got to work with a partner and go on a Classroom Scavenger Hunt to help them get acquainted where everything is located in our room. After they found the item they had to write the # and location of the item. They had a lot of fun and now they know where everything is at! Our 2 o'clock Snack/Playground Time is a great time to reconnect with a friend from their class last year or to enjoy the new friends they are making this year. We did a lot of work and discussed why we need rules at school. The students were able to tell me many times that we need them to be safe and to learn. We are practicing and modeling these expectations every day. They also know the consequences for not being safe or allowing others the chance to learn. This book was a great example of why non stop talking and blurting out is not allowing others to learn. They got to create their own volcanoes with words and phrases that would interrupt learning. Table teams took a break to play some Jenga with each other. Students were challenged to find objects in our room that went with every letter of the alphabet. They were allowed to work with a partner or in teams but had to complete their own sheet. These will come home Friday if your child completed theirs. Have them share what they found with you.
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I can't wait to meet all of you soon! Hopefully you can make it to one of the 2 supply drop off times. I hope you saw the latest info on the HOME page about Class Messenger being switched to REMIND. If you didn't please head over to the CONTACT tab above and join.
The 3rd Grade Willy Wonka performance this week was amazing! I loved it for two reasons- 1) because my 2nd graders get to see what they will be able to do next year AND 2) I get to see my former students shine on stage! We also partnered with a kindergarten class and helped them get there safely:) The girls came up with a game to see how many people they could get to wave to them on our walk to 20,000 Leagues under the Sea on Wednesday. They created their own Math Workshop and enjoyed every minute of it! I think their total was 110!! They not only got them to wave they got them to smile- spreading happiness around the city-Love it! In Mandarin they got to play a fun game with a partner naming body parts. At the K-5 Morning Meeting we got to hear our middle schoolers perform which is always a great way to start our day. We learned about growing our own vegetables, the importance of donating blood, the 4th grade trip to Columbus and action from one of our 5th graders exhibition projects. On Wednesday, April 24th AKA Balloon Racer Day students got to show us what they learned about forces and motion and mostly persistence!! with the Scientific Inquiry Method. This was a hard lesson for some of them to learn BUT an important one. As parents we always want our children to succeed but we do learn through our mistakes. They need to learn that not everything works out but we can keep trying and learning. Yes there were cheers! and Yes there were tears but ALL Balloon Racers and Scientists were celebrated. An inquiry into simple machines in small groups. Students explored ramps, pulleys, levers, wedges and inclined planes.
Have you been on the live eagle cam yet??? (Avon Lake Eagle Cam) It's hard to get off once you turn it on. This picture is from Sunday, April 7th. Case even made a nest, eggs and eagle out of paper-such an Action Taker! Jenesis brought in this book and said, "Mrs. Humphrey this book has information on how time and technology changes communities!" So proud of her for taking Action by remembering our central idea and then wanting to share it with her classmates. Fuel for Thought Friday was a quote about Spring. Their perspectives and ability to articulate what these quotes mean to them are just amazing. This week they did their summative by choosing an object and explaining how time and technology have changed and its affects on the community. Throwback Thursday really had them inquiring. This is when they write about what they See, Think and Wonder. Some thought it was a storage compartment like a folder, or a cassette tape and even a CD player. After they found out what it was (a floppy disk) we discussed why this object has changed over the years. We took our Math on the road by going to the Kindergarten lunch period and doing some research by gathering data to make tables, picture and bar graphs. I don't know if you heard but I had a little bit of fun with them on April Fools Day. They were teasing me all morning so I decided to tease them a little bit in the afternoon with an impossible word search and them some brownies (brown E's!!) I wish you could've been there to hear them do the word search. I did bring them real brownies on Tuesday though:) They made these in Mandarin this week to be used in a project-can't wait to see what it is?! Beatrice took action by bringing in a jug of water for us to carry so we could see how heavy it is and to try and see how it might feel to have to carry it in order to get clean water. Case nursing students came in and taught us lessons to help us deal with our feelings in positive and healthy ways. They did some breathing techniques, charades, and schedule making to give them ideas and ways to deal with stress and managing their feelings. Second Graders in Mr. Morris and Ms. English's Classes performed their fables for us. We performed The Country Mouse and the City Mouse for the other Second Grade classrooms and for Kindergarten lunch. They did a great job setting up the scenes using props and making background scenery to go with their fable. Ask them what the moral of the story was for all the fables on that day? I had the students do a See, Think, Wonder on a picture that I had teachers inquire about during a training I did to discuss some of their similarities and differences as inquirers. Amir brought in a treat to celebrate his birthday. We took them outside during our break and the students really loved them. I stopped by the 2020 Art Gallery owned by a CIS student's father to check out and support the art work on display from our 3rd graders. He also has lessons for students and fun nights for adults too.
Students working on their Passion Projects Playhouse Post Show on Emily Brown and the Thing Have they told you about what's going on in Avon Lake at Redwood Elementary School? Action Takers in 215 Throwback Thursday Reflections On March 4th at the K-2 Morning Meeting Mr. Brooks read the book: All Are Welcome Here, We went over the Essential Agreements and Learner Profile Awards were chosen Congrats Xavier! Weekend Wrap-Up: This is when we talk about what we did over the weekend and ask each other questions to get more information. Mandarin Time Starting our day off with a Dr. Seuss Quote to choose to reflect on and wonder about for his birthday. Did you know he invented the word "nerd" and there's a new book coming out from him September 2019?!?! They also got a Dr. Seuss pencil and a bookmark from me :) Their Black History Month Projects look great in the hallway! We've had many compliments about all the hard work they put into them. Explaining our See, Think, Wonders... Trying different ways to learn how to state our opinions using Sentence Starters and coming up with reasons to support our opinions through a game. When we were done we got to play Kahoot to see how much we learned.
In Mandarin students were learning their animal sign on the Chinese Zodiac Calendar Mr. Eric from the Playhouse came and did a Pre Show Workshop for Emily Brown and the Thing. We went and saw the Musical: Me Jane about Jane Goodall's Life A special thank you to all the families in our class that sent in items for the WALL OF LOVE. The amount of stuff our school put out was very impressive and for a very good cause. Making the World a Better Place starts where we live and go to school. On February 14th we celebrated Valentine's Day by calling it CARING DAY. The students loved handing out their cards and treats throughout the day. On Caring Day students were put into random groups and worked on a STEM about mailboxes. They Feist got on computers and researched mailboxes that matched the criteria. Take a look at their creations... Then we tested the mailboxes to see if they held the candy and cards while standing on their own. During our day we took CARING DAY Snack breaks sent in by our families. Thank you for the yummy and creative treats! Fuel for Thought Fridays always have such great perspectives and reflections. Case Nursing students came in and taught a lesson on Healthy Eating Habits and why our bodies need these healthy foods. Then they took our class to the Cooking Kitchen to make and eat a healthy snack. At the K-5 Monday Morning Meeting some of our students got up and talked about their Black History Month person, Ms. Beers told us a little about Harlan Sands the new CSU President, 2nd Grade Learner Profile Awards were given out, Harlan Sands stopped by and kindergarteners came up and shared things they are brave about. Congratulations Jude for winning the Communicator Award and showing us what a good communicator looks and sounds like on a daily basis. On Monday, February 25th students presented their file folder projects on their Famous African American they chose to research for the month of February. Some came dressed in character or had a prop that represented their person and some even did both. One thing is for sure they were the most knowledgeable people in the room and they were so proud of that. They kept asking to share more and were wanting to come back up and tell us more about their person. They even enjoyed looking at the projects from the other 2nd grade classrooms, especially the ones who researched their same person. In Mandarin the students learned about her seals and how they are used. She even let the students come up and try them out. On Tuesday, February 26th we headed to the Playhouse again for the performance of Emily Brown and The Thing. When we came back they wrote an Opinion piece on their favorite part and gave the performance a rating- Ask them what their opinion and reasons were when you get a chance.
When we work together in Math Stations we learn to problem solve, communicate and work on our self management and social skills. Fuel for Thought Fridays give us the chance to reflect on our own perspective of a quote and then share it with our classmates. For the month of February we are reflecting on quotes from Famous African Americans. They love the "Hello, Neighbor!" Greeting! They are still working on the Kindness Kerplunk. One of these sticks are going to be the one. I enjoy hearing all of their theories on which one it is. All we need is some more Kindness Actions in Room 215... At the K-2 Morning Meeting on February 4th Ms. Beers talked about researching Famous African Americans and adding to the board downstairs. She also invited a couple of my former 2nd graders who wanted to take action and share some quotes with us. I like to think I planted the seed in them:) In Mandarin she talked about Chinese New Year and had them do an activity together where they had to put the animals in order. When they code they are either the navigator or the driver. Both jobs require a lot of self management and social skills as they problem solve through building algorithms. They got to practice writing Reasons and Examples for OPINION Writing using Skittles and M&M's this week in Writer's Workshop. I'm still not sure they understand the concept so we will continue to practice but they sure did love the treat! On Tuesday Case brought in some fortune cookies to celebrate Chinese New Year. We each read our fortunes and reflected on what they mean. There were so many good ones and many actually fit the person who got them perfectly! And on Thursday Araya brought in a Healthy Treat to Celebrate her 8th Birthday! We enjoyed it as we read Click Clack Moo Cows That Type.
On Monday, January 14th at the K-2 Morning Meeting my students were celebrated for their Kindness Missions in December and then we celebrated the Living the Learner Profile "Thinker" Award winner- Nathan Chilcote! Learning how to say different foods in Mandarin When we think about Opinion Writing we NOW think about O.R.E.O.'s and this is the Anchor Chart in the room that helps us remember all the important parts in a good Opinion writing piece. Throwback Thursdays always get us thinking... Students think about what they see, think, and wonder. They try to think about what we use today that is similar to what they are inquiring about and the most important piece is that they share their thoughts and ideas with each other and listen to how others come up with their ideas and thoughts and connections. Our Fuel for Thought Friday quote was a powerful one from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Their interpretations and perspectives are amazing for being 7 and 8 years old. We ended our week at the CSU Girls Basketball Game and came home with a win! It was also nice to hear our CIS Choir Sing and watch our CIS High Steppers Dance on the court. This week was very short but we still did a lot of inquiring with our planner on Families and Trade, during writing's workshop as we develop our opinion writing techniques, in math as we discovered which method we prefer to use to subtract double digits, and in Reader's Workshop as we explored synonyms and character traits. We also did a STEM project about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous speech that incorporated reading, writing, math, social studies and science! Not too mention all the collaboration and team work they used to complete the challenge. They also had to research to get a visual of a rectangular prism and then they were ready to start sketching their designs to share with their groups. Teams had to work to come up with one design out of the four they had and then build it. Lots of scientific, mathematical and historical conversations were going on during this time. Not to mention a lot of questioning and debating on whose design was better or going to work or why someone's might not work. The final products looked so good so I just had to pull up Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" Speech and play it as we checked each podium out to see if each group met the criteria for the challenge. We also ended our week at the Playhouse to enjoy Rainbow Fish and two other stories about Rainbow Fish. They really are so lucky to be this close to Playhouse Square and all the opportunities CIS has to go there without having to pay. Neither of my own children have had the opportunity to go with their school districts. ALSO if you have not checked out the amazing opportunities Say Yes to Education has for CMSD students you really need to look into it. Pictures are not allowed during the show but I snapped a few during the question and answer segment at the end of the show where they allow students to ask questions about anything. The questions are always really good and it's cool learning about how they create the puppets. I hope they came home and shared what they liked or learned with you- if not ask them or show them the blog and see if that sparks some conversations.
Our Final kindness mission of the year and starting 2019 off with some challenges and inquiry1/12/2019 Our last KINDNESS Mission was to surprise Mrs. Smith with as many emojis as we could to show her how HAPPY we are that she joined our CIS Family this year, BUT unbeknownst to us she was not at work on Friday, December 21st so we had to send her our surprise via text that made her excited to see it when she returned this past week. She was so happy that she went out and bought each of them an emoji eraser!! The REALLY cool thing about spreading kindness is that it comes back to you. We sure had a lot of fun with these kindness activities and I'm hoping they start to do more random acts of kindness on their own. (PLEASE email me if/when they do) For sending in 20 pajamas we got to wear our pajamas, eat donuts and milk and watch a little bit of The Polar Express down in the Cafe on Friday, December 21st. Even though that can be a lot of fun this group wanted to come back to the room and hang out with their classmates in their pj's and socks before our Winter Break. During Lunch on that day I heard they would be entertained by our CIS Dance Team so I came down to enjoy the performance with them. In the afternoon my good friend and former teaching partner, Mrs. Taylor, came down and sang Christmas Carols with a few middle schoolers. I miss having her in a room with me and the students that had her as their kindergarten teacher were happy to welcome her to play and sing in our room. During Winter Break I went through my teaching bag that I cart back and forth to school everyday and had this surprise envelope waiting for me. My bucket was overflowing when I opened it up and realized I was the special person Brielle chose to write her kindness letter to. Man I'm going to miss our Addie missions. Twas the Day Before our New Year... and all thru the classroom, not a student was stirring, but maybe a teacher was!! So excited to see all of my THINKERS Tomorrow!! Tuesday morning we started off by talking about what we did over Winter Break. What our favorite activities were, what family or friends we got to hang out with, if we got to sleep in and if we played in any snow. Then we got to mix and mingle and try to find friends in our room that did certain things over Winter Break and had them sign their name by what they did until the whole sheet was filled up. I loved hearing all about what they discovered about each other during our Morning Meeting and then we started on our first challenge of the day. A STEM activity that involved a polar bear, toothpicks and marshmallows. Let the collaboration and inquiry begin... First they came up with their own design that met the specific criteria... Then they got with their groups and shared their designs and then started to brainstorm which design might be the best or how they could use a little of all of their ideas... Once their group design was finished the building began... And Finally they got to test their designs to see if their polar bear could fit into their dens. Can you believe that all of that collaborating and inquiry happened during our first morning back??? Our afternoon was spent with A LOT OF BRAIN SWEAT trying to UNLOCK the NEW YEAR with solving math problems with a partner of their choice. As you'll see from the pics they didn't get too far and many are still working on them! We ended our first day back with a toast and cheer to a year of learning, friendship, kindness and action taking by watching how countries all over the world ring in the new year and then redid the New York City countdown with a Dixie cup of sparkling apple cider! Our loud excitement even brought Ms. Beers to our room right as we were toasting! All week we ended our day with Our New Year's Resolution Poem. We spent a lot of time talking about what a resolution is this week and coming up with some goals for school and home. Now the hard part is making ourselves accountable for reaching them. I'm just happy I have 23 of them to keep me on track :-) They also added their goals for the year to our classroom door so they can see them and reflect on their progress as they enter and leave our room every day. This week we spent a lot of time talking about what we already know about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and researching what actions he took to make our world a better place. We talked about how it isn't enough to only know that he was killed because he did so much for our country that he would want us to focus on his accomplishments and his dreams. This week I had many books from my library outside in the hallway with questions for them to think and wonder about. It was an instant conversation piece as soon as they saw them. We found more information than we ever knew about through the library books, internet and a movie I picked up at the library. It was awesome to hear them go around and share their new found information with each other. Did you know Martin wasn't even his real name??? Take a look at our Throwback Thursday image. Many good discussions were had on what they saw, thought and wondered about this image. I'm still waiting for one of them to find out what this image really is. Teams got together to act out our new vocabulary words to our story How Chipmunk Got His Stripes. We spent some time solving a real world math problem in our classroom. Each of their tables have Jenga in a zippered pouch that they get to play when they finish work or as a random incentive prize. Well, over the course of the past couple months many pieces have been moved around from table to table and each bag had different amounts in them so they came up with a mathematical way to solve this problem. Ask them what we did to solve this problem. On Friday we started with some Fuel for Thought by connecting and reflecting on a quote while we celebrated wearing jeans! What a Great First Week back!
We started our week off with the K-5 All School Morning Meeting with shirts that had positive messages on them. I enjoyed reading all the shirts about Being Kind as that has been our monthly mission. Then we had a grade level Kindness Challenge that ended in Charlierose from 3rd Grade challenging her teacher Ms. Webb. Charlierose beat several students and even beat her teacher. This is a game they also get to play at Lunch with Ms. Beers. Right from the meeting we headed to CSU to practice for the Winter Concert. The weather was great for the walk and the practice went very well. When we got back it was already time for Mandarin and Lunch so we didn't even get to start our Kindness Mission until after Think Tank in the afternoon BUT the first two on or list this week was our secretaries: Mrs. Robinson and Ms. Hawkins. We made a mini Thank You Card garland for them and also brought them some poinsettias. These ladies work very hard to keep our Office running smoothly and WE APPRECIATE THEM! We did some brain storming on some of our new Central Idea words: Economic Activities, goods, and services. Our daily Read Aloud: Frindle By Andrew Clements also has allowed for good conversations on what consumers are as well. As you can see we have lots to learn when we come back in January. Tuesday was HAT DAY and For our Talking Tuesday Soft Start they read the article: Be Here Now. It talked about Mindfulness and its benefits. Ask them what they learned or wondered from this article. For our Kindness Mission on Tuesday we took the time to appreciate our Security Officers. We consider them our Superheroes because they are the ones that protect our doors and school and have been trained to keep us safe. Officer Palmer visits our room at least a couple times a week just to say Hi and check in on us and since the other two women are newer we decided it was our mission to get Ms. Ervin to smile and I'm HAPPY to say we did it! Ms. Glover works the side door and I don't get to see her but her job is just as important too. We also gave them some Contigo bottles since they work right by the doors that keep hot liquids hot for 5 hours and cold liquids cold for 12 hours. During our afternoon Math Stations students got to come over and make their family a Christmas Tree Ornament. I hope they all made them home safely. My mother in law went through a huge down sizing this year moving away from the family farm and towards the end of the packing was just throwing things away. Those bulbs being one of them!!! I just knew that we could turn them into something creative and here's a glimpse at just a few that I know will make their trees look great for many years to come. This was also another great activity to see if they could listen and follow directions. On Wednesday (HOODIE DAY) we learned through Ady that Ms. Beers' word for the year is JOY so we came up with a list of things at school that bring us JOY in hopes that when she read the list it would bring her JOY in knowing these were the experiences and places or people that meant that to us. After that we made a collage of those words and framed it as well as delivered it with a candle called Joy + Laughter so she could take some JOY home over Winter Break too! Ok so we got some tears from Ms. Beers but they were HAPPY tears and we actually got to sneak into her office which most if not all have never been to so that brought them a lot of JOY! My Thursday started off with two of our explorers prepping the hot chocolate for the Hot Chocolate Bar for the Holiday Party. I Loved hearing their thoughts on how to measure and what to use so that we had enough hot chocolate for the whole class. If you've never cooked or baked with your children I highly recommend it. It's not only good for measurement skills but it builds vocabulary and it's also a great time to just have conversations just about anything in a fun setting. Twin Day pic thanks to Mrs. Taseff Once the students arrived in our classroom Thursday morning they started prepping the stage for our Reader's Theater Performance of "The Three Snow Bears" by Jan Brett. The stage crew, scenery creators, readers, actors and actresses were very busy getting the room set up. The props they brought in were amazing. The details were very thought out right down to the spotlight (aka flashlight :-) Sorry it made the pictures dark but the effect was heartwarming. We definitely will be doing this again. Dr. Parcell and Ms. O'Rourke stopped by to enjoy all the hard work and were very impressed. I did video the rehearsal the day before and will try to post it on SeeSaw. Then we travelled to Ms. Lestock's Room for The Wild Christmas Reindeer performance, Ms. Englsh's Room for Christmas Trolls and Finally Mr. Morris' Room for The Mitten. All the stories were by Jan Brett and each room had really good performances and ideas we thought about using the next time. Before lunch we started our Kindness Mission to turn Ms. O'Rourke's Office into a Winter Wonderland because there's SNOW one kinder than her!! and her commitment to IB at our school. She is also in our room a lot to see what we are doing on a daily and weekly basis. AND this was the best surprise yet because as she happened to turn around the corner we were sitting there taking our picture! Our Thursday ended with Hot Chocolate, Holiday Treats and our Book Exchange. I hope they enjoyed it. That's not to say we didn't have some reflecting and learning to go along with the experience. Some didn't want to give their books away and others didn't like the book they got BUT Ady (the Kindness Elf) even let them know in the morning in his letter and we talked about it and what we could do if we didn't like our book. (Give to a girl/boy, friend, cousin, sibling or Little Free Library)
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AuthorMrs. Humphrey
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