New Year Celebration: School Style!

The new year is here! Hello 2017! While many of us celebrated NYE and the beginning of our new year with family, friends, and loved ones.....well I didn't get to celebrate it with my kiddos and who doesn't want to throw a celebration again? (nobody, that's who!)

So Wednesday night I went and raided the Wal-Mart clearance section for tons of cheap celebration goodies. You can't pass up $0.75 for a pack of glasses! Then on Thursday, we discussed as a class what students did, what the new year means for some, and what it means for our class: This is a continuance of our learning but a new year to start off however we decide.  Then we got down to celebration mode! Cue the decorations and countdown. (and no celebration is complete without confetti.....)

 Wait for it......

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! HELLO 2017!

 Even Mrs. Payne from across the hall wanted to join in the fun!

Of course, what happens after every good celebration? The cleanup, of course. There is NO WAY we could leave that mess for our wonderful custodians (let alone continue to function in the room that afternoon) so we set to cleanup duty!

 Afterwards we jotted down our goals for the year using an updated 2017 New Year Celebration sheet that you can grab from TpT!

Some goals we had:
- Read: science, more, Junie B., less
- Learn: to read better, talk less, math, facts, more, better
- Try: to stay calm, apples, be nice, my best, harder, to listen
- Do more: have fun, learn, read, write
- Do less: be mean, talk, sit

Looking at these goals, we've got a great year ahead!

Here's to trying new things, stopping bad habits, and making memories!

What's with the box?

It's here! It's here! The excitement is like waking up on Christmas morning or your birthday! We have successfully made it to 2017! That means we are half way through the school year. We have used half of our learning time. We only have half our learning time left! Oh no! That turned downhill quickly! As I race to fit as much learning, fun, teamwork, and happiness into the rest of the year I wanted to pop in and give you a quick glance at our first day back. We crammed a ton in our day today and I can't wait to show you the awesome-sauce that resulted!

Backstory: Over break I worked on updating 7/8 of our school's iPad carts as well as working on getting 2 new carts setup. In setting up these new carts I got to inbox 60 new iPads. Can we say Christmas and birthday all wrapped into one! Well, let's just say my enthusiasm quickly fled when I realized the cardboard jungle I had then created.

So what was I to do with all of those boxes? Of course, I could just put them in the recycling but why not get some use out of them? Bring on the morning of challenges.

We started by challenging each table to try and create the tallest structure using the materials provided (each group received the same materials: 1 big box, 2 trays, 10 individual boxes). It was amazing to see them trying to figure out how to stack and stand without using tape.

Our Round 1 results are as followed:

So I walked around and measure these amazing structures. They were so excited thinking it was a competition against the other groups. Ha! Little did they know my plan was for them to compete against themselves. We discussed how different groups had tried different techniques and what they had noticed during the process. Then I challenged them to build another structure that was taller than the one they had in front of them. Their task: to beat themselves! Boy did they deliver!

 Each group was able to beat the height of their first structures! How cool is that!

For our 3rd and final challenge teams were tasked with creating the strongest structure. This would be tested with classroom textbooks. Let the building begin!

 In the end, we had two structures that tied at 24 books and counting. We simply ran out of time.

This was one of the best challenges that simply came out of nowhere. Students were challenged, resourceful, and had to work together. Who knew a box could be so fun?

Here's to imagination, creation, and collaboration!

Friday Fast 5 Catch-Up

It's that time! Here's 5 quick recaps of what we have done in our class recently....I'm even throwing in a picture of me.

That's right.....that IS a packet of ketchup. If you didn't read the title and immediately think of ketchup I bet you will next time. This picture will pop into your mind every time you read catch-up now. You're welcome! Now let's get to work!

Each month we introduce a new author to our class. This author becomes a close friend as the month goes along. We start to see similarities in their writing and illustrating techniques. We also get to become close friends with the characters.

Last month we focused on Bill Martin Jr. This month we are becoming fast friends with Eric Carle and his wonderful colors!

One of my favorite ways to review our math concepts with my kiddos is to break out the flashlights, turn the lights off, and hunt for our problems. We are still using the school math curriculum but printing the questions off and hiding them around the room is a lot more interesting than working from a book.

The kiddos had a blast. They worked well with their partners, managed the flashlights and navigating the room well, and the discussions I heard about the problems warmed my heart. We will definitely be reviewing by flashlight again this year!

Does this really even need explaining? GoNoodle brain breaks are the best kind! My kids already have their favorites: Slo-Motion Machine (Koo Koo Kanga Roo), Milkshake (Koo Koo Kanga Roo), and Don't Read Like a Robot (Blazer Fresh)

Watch us in action!

Comment below you favorite GoNoodle brain break! We'd love to try it out!

 We have started our first science unit and we are investigating Sound. I am loving the way our updated FOSS curriculum is set-up. Each investigation part is driven by a focus question that students then try and solve. This unit on sound has taught us that sound is caused by vibrations. We've also gotten a chance to explore different sound sources.

We finished off this week doing a little listening outside in our learning garden to figure out what sounds we could hear outside. We then discussed what the sources of those sounds could be. Thanks to the Kansas weather for cooperating with us! :)

https://theglobalreadaloud.com/

Last but not least, we began our journey with the Global Read Aloud. This is my first time joining this initiative but I can tell you I am hooked. If you are wanting more information be sure to clock on the header to visit the website. My kids are loving the idea of kids and classes all over the world reading the same books. After we read the specified chapters this week, groups discussed the guided questions. Check out our answers.

Q1. Why doesn't Sophie leave the window when she sees something strange?

Q2. Why doesn't Sophie wake the other children?

Q3. What were Sophie's first impressions of the giant?

Q4. What is one character trait you would give Sophie?

Q4. What is one character trait you would give Sophie?

Be sure to follow along with our journey, as well as readers around the world, as we explore this story. If you're on Twitter, follow the hastags #GRABFG and #BGFslowchat to join in the fun!

As you can see, we've had an awesome start to our year! Be sure to check-in and let us know how your start has been. We love getting comments!