Teamwork!

We have been working on a number of projects requiring teamwork lately....  making signs to welcome visiting author Melissa Stewart, building geometric structures / designs, and measuring the length of our tables.  These kids sure do work together with enthusiasm and an eye towards shared problem-solving!

We did some garden planning this week, and we will be exercising our teamwork muscles for certain when we return from vacation and prepare to PLANT!  Happy vacation to all!

Room 10 Happenings!

Well the combo of 70 degree days, followed by snow, and soon-to-come vacation has Room 10 humming!  We are working hard to keep our energies contained, but we are indeed doing just that!

A few highlights from the past few weeks include...

• We have teamed up with Mrs. Teany's kindergarten class for Friday K/1 partner time.  We are reading together, sharing our writing and just getting to know the amazing children in each room.  Here are a few highlights...

• "Mr. President and the First Lady", as well as their growing eaglet twins are providing wonderful observations of this wild eagle family and their habitat.  We have watched the eagle parents feed their young, tend to their needs and are observing the growth and behavior of the family.  This is providing a perfect connection to our ongoing study of Organisms (which will be followed soon by our study of gardens, honeybees and other living things).  The children are making some wonderful written, illustrated and oral language observations.  Please login to the Washington DC site to check out our "first family":  DC Eagle Cam

• Thank you for helping your child send in a "collection" for our new writing unit:  Writing Reviews.  The children will be learning how to write opinions about the items in their collections, including explaining their judgments in convincing ways.  Over the course of this unit, the children will learn different writing techniques for persuading others towards their opinion, and how to use catchy introductions, comparisons and conclusions to hook their readers.  If you haven't yet sent in a collection, please try to do so by early next week.

• We were so pleased to be visited by local author, Melissa Stewart this week.  Melissa has written over 150 non-fiction science books for children.  A biology major by training, Melissa uses her background in science to write wonderful books for children.  So far we've read her books No Monkeys, No Chocolate, and Beneath The Sun.  Check out Melissa's website for lots more information about this very talented author - Author - Melissa Stewart,

Please continue to find opportunities to help your child with counting coins and telling time on an analog clock.  We are continuing to work on place value concepts in math, but will also be circling back to addition / subtraction, as well as a unit on measurement.

Lots more information will be coming soon about our garden "opening day".  Things are a bit slower this year given the wacky weather, but we will get there.  More soon!