Fun in Fundations: -ed Rap

Over the past few weeks in Fundations we have been working on categorizing suffixes and isolating base words to lay an important foundation for future work with suffixes. I scaffolded instruction for children by cueing them to isolate the base word before reading or spelling. This week we continued to talk about how the suffix –ed can make three different sounds /id/, /d/, and /t/. Students worked in small groups and as a team to perform this '-ed Rap' for you! Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! It has been an eventful and busy week filled with fun. Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend our Halloween party on Wednesday! We are so thankful for the donations of food and party supplies, and for taking time out of your busy day to celebrate with us. You helped to make it a special day! Thank you to our Room Parents: Mrs. Bissell, Mrs. Evans and Mrs. Chen for organizing this fun party!

Witches Brynn and Hannah

All of the officers!

Annie as Mother Nature

Surprise... it's Bat Day!

This morning we surprised the children with a special day- Bat Day! The classroom was decorated and transformed into our very own bat cave. We had so much fun throughout the day learning about bats and incorporating this fun topic into our learning.

We balanced and solved 'batty' equations, watched a fun Mystery Doug video about bats, practiced reading with expression with several texts about bats, and even created some fun bat projects during W.I.N. time! Throughout the day we also kept a live video stream of the interior of a bat barn projected on our Smartboard so we could feel like we were part of the colony!

Classes around the school were so intrigued by our bat cave and our students were so proud to work inside such a special room. Mrs. Willa, Mrs. Rhuda, and many friends came by to see our 'cave'. We had so much fun!

Here is a video of the students entering the room for the first time:



More pictures from our day!

Math Workshop: Explain Everything

In Math Workshop this week we have been working hard on subtraction with regrouping. Each math workshop group created a video on the app called Explain Everything to teach others the regrouping process! We used math vocabulary such as 'ones', 'tens', 'hundreds', and 'regroup'! Listen in and hear the chants we continue to use to help us remember when to regroup!

Regrouping in the Hundreds and Tens:

Juliet, Christopher, Annie, Dustin, Owen and Hannah:


Annika, Noemia, Drew, Lukas, Brynn and Maeva:


Regrouping in the Hundreds, Tens, and Ones:
Emma, Cyra, Jack, Landan, Timmy and Hayes:

Science/S.T.E.M.: Build a Boat Challenge

This week in science students used what they knew about MATTER and different materials to plan and build a model boat that will float!

Planning and Building:

Testing our Prototypes:

Team Wood/Paper

Team Clay

Team Metal

Team Plastic

Team Rubber

Showcasing our work for our peers:

Team Plastic: Dustin, Emma, Hannah and Drew

Team Metal: Lukas, Timmy and Juliet

Team Wood: Christopher, Landan, Annie and Brynn

Team Rubber: Cyra, Owen and Noemia

Google Classroom: Build a Jack-o-Lantern

On Tuesday in Writer’s Workshop Mrs. Klipfel, our technology integration specialist, came in to help us learn more about Google slides through our Google Classroom accounts. Using a template, students created their own jack-o-lantern by choosing their own eyes, mouth, arms, shoes, and even hats! Check out our festive jack-o-lanterns and a little story that goes with each one...

Math Workshop: Adding Three-Digit Numbers with Regrouping

This week in Math Workshop we continued to work on specific lessons as a group as well as rotating in small groups. This week’s focus was on adding three digit numbers up to 1,000. Children have used the regrouping concept to learn how to add up to 1,000. Through explicit teaching, guided practice, and independent work time, students have learned how to regroup in the ones, tens, as well as tens and ones.

This week, we have used the virtual manipulatives on Chromebooks to practice regrouping on place value mats! Students love this practice and their understanding of place value shows!