The Moon's Game

I am the moon and I play a game
I don't always look the same.
Sometimes I'm round, a silver sphere.
Sometimes just half of me seems to be here.
Sometimes I'm a crescent, shaped like a smile.
Sometimes I surprise you and hide for awhile!
Look up in the sky for my friendly light--
What shape will I be when you see me tonight?

When asked to draw what they think of when they hear the word moon, these are the images the students produced:
It's very interesting that most of the students' first thought of the moon is that it is a full circle with many spots on it. Today we introduced the phases of the moon. We will be tracking the phases seen each night in Medina by using a website. When the time changes in a few weeks, the students will start tracking the phsases of the moon from home.

We have been doing some amazing work here in "the pond"! Students now all have an individual reading goal that they are working on during our reading block. Check in with them to see if they can tell you what it is AND how they can practice it. I've started reading groups based on these goals as well.
In our writing process work, we have just added the editing step. Students will be checking their work for 5 things: spaces, capitals at beginning of sentences, capitals for names or people, places or specific things, punctuation, and spelling. The class as a whole has exploded with their writing ideas, and many different kinds of stories are being written!

You may have heard about our exciting (and sometimes non-working) light experiments. The class has found out first hand that science does not always go the way we plan; which is a great lesson to learn sooner than later. They have discovered though, that light travels in a straight line until it hits an object. Then it does one of four things based on what it strikes. Hopefully they came home and quizzed you on the words "transparent", "opaque", and "translucent". Today we added "reflect" to our light vocabulary.

Introducing...

Mr. Bonezzi and Miss Keiper! Our class is lucky to have two University of Akron students doing their field experience with us. You may start hearing about activities they are leading in the room. Today Miss Keiper did an ABC order getting to know you icebreaker. Ask your student what they had to do for it! Mr. Bonezzi led an activity about "coming out of our shells" and getting to know each other. It was based on an Eric Carle story; Mr. Bonezzi even made up a song to go with it! Check your student's poetry notebook; they will tell you all about the excitment of today!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

It feels like it could be January already with all of the things we are doing in class! This class is amazing me daily with how they are tuning into their work and focusing in on the task at hand. That allows us to explore more than what we usually would do!
We've moved out of our sound and heat units and are speeding "at the speed of light" into a science unit about light. :) Students will be exploring with flashlights the properties of light. They will also come home with some new animal shadows to share with families. (Make sure to ask them why the shadows work!)
We're moving ahead in reading, as almost all of the class has their first reading goal to be working on. At the end of each "round" of reading that we do daily, the students are given the opportunity to share how they used a strategy in a specific way. It is incredible to hear them talking about accuracy, flipping the sound, tuning into interesting words, and checking for understanding. We are truly beginning to understand all aspects of reading!
You are receiving the first math unit test today. Please look over the skills rubric carefully and make a commitment to work on skills needed at home.
Here are some snapshots capturing our busy busy days!

 Playing the money exchange game (learning about place value)

 How can we make this ice cube melt?

 "If we all put our hear together, it might go faster."

Playdough creations helped the students gain a basic understanding of the writing process

 Playing musical bottles- which bottle will produce the highest pitch?

 Eggs full of sound! Can you hear the difference between items that are loud and soft?

Sounds all around museum...