Buckaroo News for February 22nd to 25th

Hopefully this is the last blast of winter we will get until Spring truly arrives!  I can't believe how much we've covered this week even though it has only been a four-day week.  No school tomorrow for students but feel free to email me as I will be here all by my lonesome without my precious firsties! 

Read Across America begins on Monday!  Your child will be bringing home all of the information and we hope to win the pancake challenge to earn some extra gym time!!:))  

Ask your child about the following highlights to our week.
Questions to ask:
What science project did Mrs. McNeal do in 5th grade?
Can you name three things that are solids?  Liquids?  As a bonus, can you name a gas?
What was your strategy in trying to make the longest chain?
What project are you working on on Flexible Fridays?
What was your favorite read aloud from this week?  Why?  (Hints: Chester, Scaredy Squirrel, Augustine, Willy Wonka, Measuring Penny, Bug in a Vacuum)

Specials Schedule for Next Week:
Monday - Library (remember book-in-bag! -- especially this week because of the pancake contest!!!)
Tuesday - P.E.  (remember tennis shoes)
Wednesday - Art
Thursday - Music
Friday - Library again:)

Keep those boxes, toilet paper/papertowel rolls, etc. coming!  Many of the students are working on dioramas to showcase their learning on Flexible Fridays!  Thank you for the donations thus far!

Message about Family Game Night!
Family Game Night is next Friday, March 4 from 6:30 – 9:00pm with FREE Bingo starting at 7:15pm.  Families have the opportunity to pre-order pizza, subs and salad from LaRosa’s to enjoy before Bingo (access order form here: Food Order Form).  Deadline for food order and payment has been extended to Tuesday, March 1.  Yes, we need you!!  There's a variety of short shifts still available, and you'll still have plenty of together-time to eat and play Bingo with your family.  To help at the event (click here)

We were making a chain and trying to make the longest one.  One was 392 cubes long.  

Their strategy was to make it skinny so that they would have more paper so they could make their chain long and skinny.

We were measuring how long our chains were.  These boys are using popsicle sticks to measure the chain.

These two boys were measuring their chain.  Their chain was 262 cubes long!

They worked their hardest to make the longest chain possible and one of the teams was really close. We were comparing the chains. 

He built a shield and a pick-ax to play with indoor recess.  

If you would like to donate food you can donate some food for people who are hungry:)

This is a paper of what to wear next week!  

Buckaroo News for February 8th to February 18th

Hang onto your hats!  It's going to be a windy one today!  I apologize for no post last week so that means this post will be extra heavy with great pics and information about our learning.  

Here are some highlights to our week:
1.  Your child has a new list of ten words to be studying at home.  The test is planned for Monday.
2.  We are all working on phrasing our reading so our reading sounds like how we talk to each other.
3.  We are working on connecting to the texts we read to ourselves and ones that are read aloud.  We call these "text-to-self", "text-to-text" and "text-to-media" connections.  As you read aloud to your child, allow them to share what they are thinking.  Ask them what kind of connection they are making.
4.  We are beginning a unit on matter with the focus on solids and liquids.  
5.  The children have had a blast measuring things in the room, including me:), using nonstandard units of measurement such as cubes and paperclips.

Our schedule for next week:
Monday - Library (remember book-in-a-bag)
Tuesday - P.E. (remember tennis shoes and I-can attitudes:)
Wednesday - Art
Thursday - Music
Friday - NO SCHOOL for kiddos but I will be here if you want to visit me:)

We are in need of shoeboxes, toilet paper/papertowel rolls, and paper plates.  On our Flexible Fridays, some of the children want to make dioramas to show their learning and we could use some of these things.

We were measuring how tall we were compared to an Emperor penguin.  An Emperor penguin is four feet tall.

She is smaller than an Emperor penguin.  Mrs. McNeal accidentally made the penguin too small so pretend that the feet are touching the ground.

We compared this boy with the penguin and he pretended that he was studying the penguin.  

We are comparing the objects shortest to tallest.  

We are working on Valentines in Valentine's Workshop.  We were all decorating and it was a mess afterwards!  

We were reading and getting better at reading.  We were also getting lost in our books.

We were listening to a story about a monster who couldn't find a friend to play with.  A mom of one of the kids in our class came in to volunteer to read the book to us. 

The Mom's child wanted to say THANK YOU!  The class says THANK YOU too!  

She is pointing at her worm and we were doing our worms longest to shortest.  WE were comparing them because they didn't know if they would be bigger or smaller than another.  We learned a song about an inchworm and Mrs. McNeal loves when we sing it!  Some people put jet packs on their worms.

These boys were sharing their story.  We persevered, collaborated, and shared the book with confidence.

They made a man out of paper and it was a story.  

We were measuring things around the room with cubes.  First we had to make a prediction and then we measured them with cubes.

During indoor recess, the children were watching a movie.  I noticed that they had written on small wipe boards and placed them on the shelf.  They found a purpose for their writing and did this completely on their own!  Authenticity at it's best!

Buckaroo News for February 1st to 5th

Happy Friday and 100th day of school!!!  First of all, I want to thank you for talking with your children about the choices they were making for their learning the past couple of days.  It really made a difference and I know that they are refocused and ready to continue the great learning that they've been doing all along.  

Next Friday will be our Valentine celebration.  As mentioned in last week's blog, we will be hard at work making hand-made Valentines for each other all next week.  There will be no need to purchase any at the store so buy yourself a yummy treat with that money:)  The Valentine boxes are coming in.  Your child will need a box or bag in which to hold all of the Valentine messages from his/her friends.  I've been doing this project with my first graders for several years and one of my past students reminded me of one of the messages that was written by her peer.  It went like this -- "I like you because your breath smells like meatloaf."  This still makes me chuckle but it was so heartfelt and meant in the kindest way.

I also wanted to share two quick quotes by one of the first graders this week.  We have been working on making meaningful connections to the texts that I'm reading each day.  While reading about the legend of the groundhog, one of the students spoke up and said, "A legend is where truth begins but then imagination takes over."  I stopped everything and wrote that down!  Wow!!  Later, as I was reading Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and we were at the part with Veruca Salt, this same child said, "I would rather my child to grow up with good character than to have a golden ticket."  Again...WOW!!  You are all doing a fabulous job of raising wonderful children!

The children are excited to share their learning from this week.  Please take a look!

Related Arts for Next Week:

Monday - Music
Tuesday - Library (remember book-in-a-bag)
Wednesday - P.E. (remember tennis shoes)
Thursday - Art
Friday - Music

Conferences are on the 11th and 17th.  If you have forgotten your time, please let me know and I will remind you.

The whole class put ice cream cones to see which one they liked the most which was chocolate.  Vanilla had the least.  We are showing our data which is information.  In math, we are learning how to collect data and make graphs and charts.  It was lots of fun!  

This is our question chart for questions after we make the graph.  We made this chart so we could write the five questions on the back of our papers.  Questions #8 and #9 are a little trickier.  We can teach you about questions #8 and #9 at home. 

It was Groundhog's Day and we made a picture where Buckeye Chuck saw his shadow.  Punxatawny Phil didn't see his shadow but Buckeye Chuck did.   

We were learning about penguins and how they stay warm.  We were dipping one of our fingers in Vaseline and putting the other one in a blubber glove and we were seeing which one stayed warmer.  The one in the blubber glove stayed warmer.  A penguin's feathers don't get wet because of the oil on their feathers. This was like the Vaseline on our finger.  

This was our graphing poster of Favorite Animals.  It took three days to do it.  

She is graphing about favorite treats.  She is making a circle graph and a bar graph.

This is when he was sharing his science project.  This page is about cells.  Worms have one thousand cells.  

News from Camp Buckaroo for January 25th to January 29th

I can't believe that next week we are going to be entering the month of February!  Where is the time going?  The children are growing like crazy as learners and problem-solvers and I'm so proud of each and every one of them.  We welcomed a new student to our class this week and she is already being taken care of by her new friends.  

I will let the captions that the children have dictated to me to speak for our learning and growing this week.

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and in the spirit of friendship and giving the children will be making their own Valentines here at school to give to each other.  This saves you some money:) and, quite honestly, the children treasure the ones handmade and written by their peers much more than the ones from the store.  What I am asking the children to do at home is to make a box to hold their Valentines delivered by their friends.  This is a treasured memory for me as I remember my mom and I covering a box with tin foil and cutting out hearts to glue all over it.  Of course, there was glitter involved too:).  The children can bring in their decorated boxes anytime between now and our celebration in February.

Calling all crafty parents!!  I saw some really cute seats made out of milk crates and piece of wood and fabric.  I have the crates and fabric but do I have anyone that would like to take on this project?  I would be eternally grateful.  

Schedule for Next Week:
Monday - Art
Tuesday - Music
Wednesday - Library (remember book-in-a-bag)
Thursday - P.E.  (remember tennis shoes)
Friday - Art

We have a new student!  Two girls are helping her learn about our school.  She says that she likes her new school and she has made new friends.

It is Daily Five and she is sitting and reading on a new camp chair.  She was reading a book about Betsy Ross.  She made clothes for George Washington.

During Daily Five they are doing Read to Someone.  They are trying to learn to read better.  Reading to someone gives you someone to ask for help if you need it.  Reading to someone is good because someone can read that book to you and when you want to read it you can read the whole book.  

They are doing Writer's Workshop and working on a story about Minecraft attacking mixed up animals that came out of a portal.  This is collaborating and thinking flexibly because they don't know what's going to happen after that page.

We are doing a math experiment.  The math experiment was playing basketball with crates and paper balls.  One person was the basketball star and the other person was the reporter.  The reporter had to mark down the shots and the misses with tally marks.  

We have been working on recording results using tally marks and this was a fun way to learn this skill.

When I'm having those days when I just don't feel like I'm effective enough I turn around and the sweetest face is looking up at me and handing me this!  I'm truly blessed!!!!

News from Camp Buckaroo for Jan. 19th-22nd

Hello Families!  I hope that you enjoy learning about our week of fantastic learning this week in spite of the excitement going on right outside of our window!  I am so proud of the children and how they've handled having this potential distraction outside.  It truly is amazing to watch the excavation process though:).  I just want to fill you in on some things coming up that you'll want to know about.

The first is that the second round of conferences is coming up in February.  This conference is optional unless I contact you to schedule one.  If I don't contact you but you have questions or concerns that you want to meet with me about please let me know of one of the following dates and times that work best for you.

            February 11th                                     February 17th

              4:00-4:15                                             4:00-4:15

              4:20-4:35                                             4:20-4:35

              4:40-4:55                                             4:40-4:55

              5:45-6:00                                             5:45-6:00

              6:05-6:20                                             6:05-6:20

              6:25-6:40                                             6:25-6:40

The second important tidbit of information is that the yearbook forms were sent home yesterday.  This will be the only way to order a yearbook for your child.  Please return the completed form to me by the due date if you'd like to purchase one for your child.

Finally, I will be sending book orders out for January this weekend.  I have also sent the book orders for February.  There are a lot of great books in this order and a few that I'm going to purchase for the class:)

Have a great weekend!

Related Arts Schedule:

Monday - P.E.  (remember tennis shoes)

Tuesday - Art

Wednesday - Music

Thursday - Library (please remember book-in-a-bag!!)

Friday - P.E. again  

They have made a cool creation out of pattern blocks.  

She made a queen's chair out of pattern blocks.

We made a garden out of pattern blocks.

He made a flower out of pattern blocks.

She made a bed out of pattern blocks.  We used shapes to make new shapes.  

He made a water fountain out of pattern blocks.  It is supposed to be a circle and then he decided to make it a fountain.  

This is the day that we made Martin Luther King and wrote about his dream.  Martin Luther King married Coretta Scott.  Martin Luther King was shot by James Earl Ray.  He did this because he didn't grow up with enough love in his heart or good character.    

They are researching on the human body.  This is their project for Imagination Station.  They are researching the human body on Pebble Go.  

We learned about tally marks and we used five popsicle sticks to make people to show a way to make them that isn't boring like when you just write them down in pencil.  The blue paper is our homework to learn more about tally marks when you walk around your house.  They look like sticks with faces on them but they are actually tally marks.  Everyone is catching the fifth tally mark:)

News from Camp Buckaroo for January 11th to 14th

I hope that all of you enjoyed your long weekend together!  I learned so much at the many different workshops that I attended on Friday.  I was even able to put one in place this morning for our magic /e/ assessment.  Your child will be sharing what he/she chose to do to show what they learned about this amazing letter.  

Below, you will find several pictures that will help to spark great conversation about our learning last week.  No, we did not make breakfast in room 118 last week:).  We did, however, learn a valuable lesson about life.  

Related Arts this week:
Today is P.E.
Wednesday - Art
Thursday - Music
Friday - Library (Please, please help your child to remember to bring their library books AND their book-in-a-bag!

Reminders:
I have decided to hold off sending in the book orders until this Friday.  If you'd still like to order books, please do so by Friday.