We Love Bike Week!

The sounds of bike bells and horns filled the air last week during bike week and it was such a wonderful week!  We are so grateful for the rain holding off so we could use all our recess time outside on our bikes.  It is such a joy to watch our kids grow in their confidence on their bikes and support one another as they learn to ride. 

Math
In math, we have been working on strengthening our understanding of numbers and place value.  We are spending time here to help us build a strong foundation in number sense that will help us work with bigger numbers and utilize different strategies when solving addition/subtraction problems.  We also continue to work on our addition math facts.  Some are working on adding three numbers together and developing strategies to do this process easily (like finding two number that make ten, finding two number we already easily know the answer to, or adding smaller numbers onto a bigger number). 

Today, we had a special guest visiting our class and Brett's class.  Stephen brought in all sorts of math puzzles and building supplies that were super fun and really worked our brains!  I was so amazed watching the kids put together puzzles that I was still trying to figure out!

Language
Writing workshop continues to be a favorite.  We are adding words to our word wall to help us spell those common and sometime not so phonetic words.  Our spelling lists will be going home next week which will include these great words.

We have been working on an animal alliteration book during literacy centers.  The kids have been having fun creating artwork and sentences such as, "The leaping lizards like licorice lollipops." and "The zebras zip zucchini."  Fun!  We are also working on our lowercase letters and learning the strokes that are helpful for fluid writing.  Magic C got to sing her rap today about a, d, g, o, and q - ah yay!

We having begun meeting in our reading groups and reading together.  The books we read go into a "Fluency Bag" that the kids then get to pull from to help gain fluency in their reading. 

Buddy reading has begun!!  Most of the kids are in groups of three with one older and one younger buddy.  They take turns reading a book to the younger friend.  They LOVE buddy reading and look forward to it and get so excited when it is time to get their buddies.  I'll post pictures of this sweetness next week!

Theme
We have officially begun our theme!!!  Looking at the globe and a map of the world was a good start for us and we learned where the seven continents are located.  Ask your child if they remember the "Continents" song and the body actions!  We then looked at North America and the United States.  We had fun sharing the puzzle pieces of a U.S. puzzle and taking turns putting in the states that we each had.  Next, we will focus our attention on Washington state.

Art
Be sure to check out our cool spider webs!  We played with blending colors with chalk pastels.  We also learned a bit about spiders and just how exactly they make the silk thread to make their webs.  Ask you child how spiders do it!

Friday Workshops
I love the creativity the children bring with them for Friday Workshops.  It also warms my heart to witness the sweet, caring ways they teach their friends and the special attention they give their younger friends.  Here are a few shots from last week's workshops.

 See you all at conferences!  I'm looking forward to connecting with each of you!