Buddy Lunch Fun!

Building Ideas

Writing is not always easy or fun.  Sometimes it is hard to come up with ideas to write about.  We got to spend some time brainstorming a list of topics.  It was still tough for some of us!

Then our teacher had us line up in two lines.  We faced the person across from us.  Then we each had one minute to tell our partner a story.  After everyone shared, we switched partners.  I think we did it three times.

When we got back to our seats we had heard three other ideas, and shared three of our own.  It was a fun and useful way to brainstorm for writing!

Words, words, words!

Working with words can actually be fun!  We have a set of purple dictionaries in the classroom that we use to learn what some words mean.  We also play different word games on our ipads.  Sometimes we do word sorts on the board.  All of these help us with our writing and spelling.

One day we learned about parts of speech.  We got to do a scavenger hunt through a bunch of magazines and newspapers to look for examples of each part of speech.  It was hard but fun!

Biblionasium!

By Ewan and Hannah

Biblionasium is an online reading log. We use it for logging our reading. You can pick an avatar and a background. When you want to change your avatar or background you can. Sometimes they even add more avatars.

When you are logging: first you have to click on reading log then you click on add to reading log.  Then you select a book, type how many pages you have read, then how many minutes you have read.  Finally, if you have finished that book then you click a box to check it off to say that book.  After that you click the save button. Each week it starts another reading log. That is how you log a book on biblionasium. It has helped us in the classroom and at home!!!

Mr. Baker's Visit

by Cody and Brandon

Do you know about Native Americans?  Well if you dont, we have some intersting facts.  On October 10th, on a Friday afternoon, at Conant Elementary, Ms. Diem's class and Mrs. Bedell's class went to the fine arts wing.  Once we reached the fine arts wing, we saw a guy named Mr. Baker.

Mr. Baker had white hair and a white goatee.  He wore round glasses and had an interesting voice that makes you want to listen.  He also had strict rules to follow.  He was super interesting!

Here are some facts we learned from Mr. Baker.  Did you know that you should hunt in the Fall or Autumn time?  You should do that because it's not too hot or not too cold.  Now, what should you do with all that meat?  If you leave it out, it will rot, so you should put it into a bog lake.  The bacteria will kill the germs and the meat will stay nice and not rot.

Native Americans played a game similar to lacrosse.  They used hard balls if they were going against different tribes, but if they were going against their own tribe, the used a leather ball filled with seeds.

Math Workshop Rotations

One of our math workshop rotations is using technology.  We start by
doing our XtraMath first, and then we play whatever math games
we are assigned.

Another rotation is where we practice our math.  Sometimes we do a
practice page with partners or by ourselves.  Sometimes we work on an
activity together with our group or by ourselves.  Sometimes we play
a game, too!

The other rotation during workshop is working with Ms. Diem.  We meet
at the work table and bring our dry erase board and marker and eraser.  This
is where we learn something new, or review something we already know.

Osmo

Osmo is a fun educational iPad game. We have done Osmo words and tangrams in class. Osmo words helps you with your spelling skills. Osmo Tangrams helps you with your shapes and puzzle skills. For Osmo Words, there are little letter tiles that you need to turn into fun words. You see a picture on the screen and have to slide the letters into the playing area before your partner. Your goal is to spell the word on the screen. It isn't as easy as it sounds! For Osmo Tangrams you turn shapes into great creations.

Osmo is a great way to build learning skills. Zoe said that "Osmo is fun for kids because of the different things they have to play with."  According to Masah, "It teaches you a lot of skills and it helps you think better and how to think faster, especially when you're playing words!"  Visit their website to see Osmo.  Buy Osmo because its a fun way to learn.  Have fun playing Osmo words and tangrams!!!!!!!                                                

By Madden and Eli

Eetchy

By Eli and Isabella

Eetchy makes writing easier for people. Eetchy is a caterpillar with different colors on it’s body. The first color is green. It means the group it’s in.  The next color is blue for "do." The next is white with the eyeball, and that is "what does it look like."  The next color is wood-colored and that means "what is it made of."  The next is pink, and those are the parts of the topic.  White is "where."  The last color is orange with a question mark which means "what else do you know?" These are all the parts of Eetchy!

Eetchy’s colors help you with writing on a topic.  Mrs. Goldman, our school’s speech teacher, comes in every Friday to help us with our Eetchy writing.  Eetchy is a fun way of working on writing.  We we wrote about fall, we focused on blue do, pink parts, and what does it look like.  a bird, and an apple.  When we wrote about a bird, we focused on blue do, what does it look like, pink parts, and what else do I know.  Eetchy is helping make writing easier for us!

Lunch Fun!

We may use a ton of tech in our classroom, but we also play unplugged, too!  We use so much technology as part of our learning time, that when we finish our lunch or have indoor recess, we play unplugged.  A favorite activity is building with the unifix cubes or the legos.  We also love playing chess!

Similarities with our Kindergarten Buddies!

Connecting with our Cultures

In our first unit of the year we learned about culture.  We learned about things the Native Americans gave us, like toboggans and snow shoes.

We had to go home and find something that represented our culture.  People brought all sorts of things in!  We had to write down what the item was and how it was special to our family.  Then we got to walk around and see the items everyone brought.

It was fun to learn about all the different things that are important to our class!