Buckaroo news for March 23rd to March 27th

Welcome back from Spring Break!  I hope it was restful and enjoyable for everyone.  I caught up on my sleep in between training so even though I don't get away to a warm place I still feel like I had a restful break:).  Here is a snapshot of what we learned this week.  I hope that you use this snapshot as a way to encourage conversations about your child's school life.  In word study, well…they explained it best below:).  In writer's workshop, we are in-between studies so the children wrote on topics of choice.  Honestly, this is my favorite way to write because their creativity runs wild and the stories produced are amazing!  I get the great privilege of listening in on their conversations with each other and I can hear them making great suggestions to each other like "are you going to add more detail to your illustration" or " what about this for your character's problem…"  They also compliment and encourage each other and several have started a different genre simply because another peer shared that type of writing.  In science, again, you can read all about it below.  One picture that didn't make it on was of a balloon that is filled with carbon dioxide from mixing vinegar with baking soda.  Simple experiment to demonstrate using a mixture to make a gas.  In math, we are continuing with measurement and then moving on to telling time to the hour and half-hour.  In Reader's Workshop, we took a a literacy approach to matter and read two Dr. Seuss books that were not only enjoyable but a good look at when matter runs amok:).  We used these stories to talk about problems and solutions, making connections and story elements such as characters, setting, problem, events and solution.
Mrs. Kachinka wants you to know that the Art Show is fast approaching.  A flyer will go home on Monday with details but if you want to put it on your calendars it will be Thursday, April 30th from 6:00 to 7:30 at SCE.
Spring Pictures will be taken on April 1st.  
Mrs. Aldin is our new room coordinator for our end-of-year celebration and the Springtacular basket.  She would LOVE to have a volunteer to create our theme basket for Springtacular.  If you are interested, please let her know by emailing her at jesaldin@gmail.com.  She looks forward to hearing from you.

Our schedule for next week:  Monday - Library   Tuesday - P.E.  Wednesday - Art  Thursday - Music   Friday - NO SCHOOL!  Monday - Library

We are measuring in math.  This girl is measuring C. with cubes.  We are learning about measurement in math and on that day we were measuring big things.

A. is measuring the table that holds our mailboxes.  

A. is pointing at the words we learned during word study.  We are bracketing the root words.  We are learning about /ed/.  We learned that one of them says /d/.  One of them says /t/ and one of them says /ed/.  We are also underlining the blends.  We circled the /ed/ and put a /t/ or a /d/ on top of it.  We also circle our old hunk-and-chunks and /ed/ we underline instead of circling it.  

This is after Reader's Workshop when you can share a book, your favorite part of a book or a connection from it.  If you have something like a writing piece or a picture and you really want to share, you can.  When Mrs. McNeal says, "Would you like to share?" you say "yes please" or "yes thank you" if you want to share.

We are learning about matter.  Scissors are solid.  Water is a liquid.  Oxygen is a gas.  The three states of matter are solids, liquids and gasses and today we learned how to make Jello and change matter.  We changed solids into liquids by using hot water.  We turned liquids into solid by adding cold temperature.  Solids can turn into liquids and liquids can turn into gasses.  

J. is enjoying his Jello.  He is eating his science experiment.  It is J. versus Jello!  J. won!

This is our friend K.  Here are some things we'd like you to know.  We want you to know that we miss you!    We think you are very creative and a really, really good friend of ours!  You are very kind!  We think you are really great!  We care about you and we love you!  We hope that you are still reading this blog!  We hope that you can come back and visit us.  We hope that you are making new friends there and we hope that you still remember us and won't ever forget us.  We hope that you still keep your bucket fillers to remember us.  We hope that you have fun at your new school.  Will you send us messages too?  I hope that you like your new teacher too.  

Buckaroo news for March 2nd to March 13th

Hello Families,  I apologize for no blog entry last week but this one should more than make up for it:).  When your child comes home from school totally worn out, you will understand why when you look at these photographs.  Here is a snapshot of the learning in Camp Buckaroo for the past two weeks.

In Word Study, we have worked on the hunk-and-chunks of /oi/ and /oy/ and the "bossy r's" of /ir/, /ur/, and /er/.  In Writer's Workshop, the children have been writing on topics of choice as we are in between studies.  It's amazing to see what and how they choose to write.  Some are writing their own sequels to the graphic novels of Lunch Lady and Baby Mouse.  Some are creating dress designs with shoes and jewelry to match.  They are labeling the parts of each and at what event each dress should be worn.  A few are still enjoying writing letters to each other and others are writing fantastic stories with engaging characters and lots of details to draw all of us in.  Our final study will be nonfiction writing.  In science, we have been learning about the three states of matter and the properties of each.  When we return from break, we will be engaging in many science experiments to help us better understand solids, liquids and gasses and how they change.  In math, we have finished up our very lengthy study of tens and ones.  I am so proud of each and every child for persevering through this study to gain a better understanding of our base-10 system.  We are now moving on to measurement and then geometry to finish the year.  In Reader's Workshop, the children have continued how to make strong predictions based upon what was read to a certain point and to also make meaningful connections to help them to better understand the story.  

I hope that all of you have a very relaxing and enjoyable break and I will see your little ones again on March 23rd.  When we return, here is our schedule:  
Monday - Music   Tuesday - Library   Wednesday - P.E.  Thursday - Art  Friday - Music again

It was a snow day and we made snow angels.  The boys in the background are playing a snowball fight but we couldn't do snowball fights close to where other people in our class were building a snowman.  When we were done with the snow angels we looked at them and they actually looked liked real snow angels.

This girl is making a little snowball to make it into a big snowball to make it into a snowman.  

This is the picture that Mrs. McNeal took of all of us with our sleds, saucers, and snowmen.  The snowmen in the background have already melted.  One of the girls in our class brought snow dye to put colors on our snow people.  

These boys are kind of laying in a couch in the snow.  It was a giant hole.  They are in the snow.  

This girl is holding a bottle of water from our science experiment about matter that we are learning about.  Matter is solid, liquids, and gasses.  Solids have a shape and only force can break it.  Liquids take up the space of whatever container they are in.  Gasses are invisible and they float around us.

Mac Barnett came to our school!  He came on Monday and taught us about a lot of things about some of his books.  He was really funny.  Mac Barnett is super cool!!!  He is one of the first graders' favorite authors.  In this picture, Mac Barnett is reading one of his books called Oh No!

When he comes down from his sleep he sees a white paper in front of his face and it says, "FEED ME!" and it scares him.  The paper wants WORDS which is food to the paper!  Everytime he said, "FEED ME!" he rips off the paper.  Some kids asked, "Do you have a girlfriend?" and he said, "Yes, her name is Taylor."  Everybody laughed like crazy.  

On Thursday, we celebrated Snowmen's Birthdays.  We are scooping up snowballs from a basket of them and putting them into a basket on the other side and if they dropped their snowball on the way they were disqualified (DQed) but they got to get back in line.  P.S. They weren't snowballs.  They were cotton balls.

This girl is trying to make the cutest snow fort instead of the tallest.  The rest of the class tried to make the tallest snow fort.

This boy won fourth place in the tallest snow fort contest and someone else tied with him.

This is a snow fort but it doesn't look like a fort.  Table 5 won first place and came in 1st.  Some of our friends said that it looks like a big blob of marshmallows and toothpicks.  We tried to make it squares and then connect them together but that didn't work because it fell over so we just made it a blob.  

This girl won second place so she got two tickets.  Her fort looks like a dog standing on a cloud.  

This fort fell over five times but she got third place in the snow fort contest anyway!

This boy won fourth place and he used a lot of marshmallows.

This boy is getting wrapped up in toilet paper to make a snowman.  It was really funny!  We were wrapping one person at our table with toilet paper.

This is a picture of all of the snow people wrapped up in the toilet paper and they are all decorated.  The middle one is the funniest one because it has huge eyes and a funny nose.

I haven't sent book orders home all year so I will be making up for that by sending a few for this last part of the school year.  It is vital that your child read over the summer months.  This is one way to stock your child's home library if you choose to.  Please know that this is purely optional but I wanted to extend the offer.  Your child will be bringing home the order form as well as directions on how to order online if you choose to.  There are many other forms on this site as well if you choose to order from another Scholastic form.  This is also a great way to restock our classroom library as our class gets points that can be used to order books for our room.  If you decide to order, try to have your order in by March 23rd.  I will send the final order in on Wednesday, March 25th.