Horns up!

Wore our Bison gear today to support the herd! Love that our loyal Sioux fans are true to their team as well!!! :) This picture was also our first class Instagram post. To follow our class on Instagram, please follow the steps in the email I sent today. 

After a long winter break we spent some time revisiting our classroom rule (Our class CARES about our learning, each other, and ourselves.) We brainstormed tons of character words for each letter in CARES and charted them (left side in the picture above). Now begins the phase of the year when Mrs. Clarey graffitis these words on kids desks (with Sharpie paint pens...don't worry, it'll come off in the spring...) as she sees these qualities in students. Today we also had a lengthy discussion about what it means to be a digital citizen (be part of an online community) and what our digital footprint is (anything we post online stays linked to us). We also talked about how to be safe and how to use technology in the classroom appropriately. Our iPads are here, but the screen protectors and cases haven't arrived yet. We can't wait for everything to be set up and ready to go!!!

Dinomummy is the story of a  mummified dinosaur discovered in Hell Creek, North Dakota. When we read about Mary Anning last fall (a researcher from England) I wanted to share this, but I couldn't find it. Frustrating!!! As I was cleaning out our basement over winter break I discovered it in a box. YES! It was so interesting to read about not only Dakota, but also about the process the scientists went through to uncover and excavate his body. Great read!!!

And before you can say, "Boo!" it's October!

This week our reading adventures introduced us to a woman who lived many years ago by the name of Mary Anning. Mary was a fossil hunter who learned to find, excavate, and preserve from her father. Her life story is quite amazing, as she grew from being an uneducated woman who found notable fossils, to someone who devoted their life to studying animals both living and ancient (she cut dead fish open on her kitchen table to study them), to being considered an expert in her field and making groundbreaking discoveries. In these photos students are discussing Mary, her life, and what words would best describe her. Many students chose curious, studious, intelligent, hard working, etc.

Our focus in math this week shifted to geometry, and we spent a few days working with lines, line segments, rays...parallel, intersecting, and perpendicular...right triangles...and a whole slew of quadrilaterals. After a day of triangle construction with slipper straws and twist ties I pulled the geoboards out of the cupboard. Before getting down to business the students took a few minutes to design and explore this tool. A unanimous favorite!!!

Today's reading recommendation comes from a fellow teacher / blogger / literacy coach and friend from North Carolina. If you or your kiddos are on Instagram, the accounts she shares here have fabulous, engaging photos paired with a manageable amount of informational reading. HIGHLY engaging, current, and relevant reading. Click here for the link to her post from last spring where she writes about resources for keeping students reading over the summer...many are still applicable year round!

Coming this week:

• Spelling / Word Work: Our first word study (there won't be a spelling quiz on these this week, but watch for more information next week on how we break down words for meaning and spelling purposes)
• Math: Unit 1 math assessment on the plethora of topics we've covered (addition, subtraction, place value, geometry). Don't worry...we'll take Monday to review!!! Begin Unit 2 - Multiplication and Geometry
• Social Studies: wrap up our study of maps and complete our final geography challenges 
• Writing Workshop: Begin developing believable characters for our realistic fiction stories
• Reading: Begin introducing several literacy-based activities to be used during small group instruction, and read an information text called, "Fragile Frogs."