Veteran's Day by 5th grade student Megan L.

Veterans Day is the day where we appreciate the people that serve our country, such as people in the Navy, Air Force, Army and Marines. My class took time and wrote thank you letters to those veterans. We also watched a video about them to see all the things they do for us because some people probably didn’t know all of what they do. We put time and effort into our letters and made them special. On Veterans Day, we should all be thankful for all they do to keep us safe and free. So just take some time and maybe write them a letter or pray for them. If you know a veteran, give them a big hug and tell them thank you. I know they will appreciate it a lot.

 

Fish in a Tree Review by 5th grade student Emma P.

 

This year in Reading we are doing a Global Read-Aloud. It is so much fun because the book we are reading is Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. This book is about a girl, Ally, who has dyslexia and hates school. When she gets a new teacher who makes ever thing better, she feels like she can actually do something, and tries. This book is really good and Mrs. Smith makes it so fun because we do some of the things that they do in the book. For example, there was a code they were trying to figure out, we tried. Also, they did a game where you figure out what’s in the boxes, we did that shortly after. She also created suspense by reading all the chapters but one, saving it for the next day. I have really enjoyed this book, and can’t wait to read the last chapter. I can just feel myself in Ally’s shoes and almost can say I’ve been through what she has. At least I can relate, and feel she and everyone else is real and in the classroom down the hall. This book is awesome and I recommend it. Check it out at the TWE Book Fair this week.

Confidence by 5th grade student Megan

Mrs. Ratliff came into our room today to talk to us about confidence. If other people make fun of you and tease you, you need self-confidence to ignore what they say. Being self-confident is much greater than what other people say, even if they’re saying a positive thing about you. You need to like yourself and think positive things about yourself or else you will believe all of the bad stuff people say. Stand up for others and know what you’re good at.

  Here are some ways to get confidence:

Set a goal for yourself

Say positive things to yourself in the morning

 Just remember that it doesn’t matter what other people think of you, it matters what you think.

Fish in A Tree by 5th grade student Aditri C.

In 5^th grade we read our global read aloud book Fish In A Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. As we read the book, we followed different classes on Twitter and joined their conversations to know what other people were thinking across the world. As we read, Mrs. Hernandez posted discussions on Canvas where we talked to our classmates about the book. We have used Padlet to talk more about the book. The author read us a few chapters, and we got to read chapters as well. If you saw the fifth grade teachers at the Book Character Parade, they were Fish In a Tree characters! Thank you very much for reading my blog on our global read aloud!

SKYPE by 5th grade student Rumaisa

Next week in the 5^th grade we are doing Mystery Skype! If you don’t know what that is Mystery Skype is when your teacher picks a class in the world and the class Skypes with them. The teachers talk before and the students have to figure out where the other class is located. Mystery Skype is a fun way to learn about geography and how to read maps because you ask questions like,  "Do you border Mexico or do you live in the United States?" Today in class we did a practice, and we got jobs and had a really fun time doing this. This is a creative activity and I am looking forward to it with another class.

Let’s Motivate! By Marilyn J. Triolo

 

As teachers, we play multiple roles in the eyes of our students. As each new school year comes around, we all know that the task of learning who our students really are will be one of the first set of goals that we aim to achieve.  When you look at this same task from the eyes of a parent, one might say, “Of course I know what my child likes”, or “I know exactly what motivates my child.” However, as time goes on these “likes” and “motivators” may change.  So, as I was thinking about what to blog about, I wanted to find something that may really touch our families at TWE, as well as our staff.  I found an excellent article titled Unmotivated Child? 6 Ways to Get Your Child Going by Debbie Pincus, MS LMHC.  As I read through her article several times, there were these 4 questions that were included in the article that kept popping back into my head.  The questions are as follows:

• What motivates my child?
• What does he really want?
• What questions can I ask that will help him discover and explore his interests?
• What are his goals and ambitions?

As a parent myself,  I started thinking about these questions and answering them to myself, as well as wondering if my own children’s teachers had done something similar for them at school.  I know that as a teacher, we all have to find and develop ways to motivate our students, as each child is different in what truly motivates them.  With that said, the motivators can change over time, and need to be "tweaked”, in order to have the best effect on the child.  This year at TWE, we have implemented a new system, still using our “Leader of the Pack” tickets.  Through this new system, our students are learning responsibility, accountability, and financial literacy skills.  It is awesome to see them treating these tickets as they would real money.  As the year has gone on, the system has been analyzed to be sure that we are still achieving the same motivation for our students through the use of these tickets.  I again realized as I read through those 4 questions, that I have asked my students what “rewards” would motivate them to want to earn more tickets in order to cash them in. By doing this, I have given them the opportunity to have a decision in the type of motivation that they were wanting to work for.  I saw this as a great way to begin teaching them financial literacy skills as they are “saving” in order to “spend” their tickets on something they really wanted which was something that motivated them to want to earn more tickets so they could “purchase” the reward.  Our students are learning and earning at the same time!!  That’s a great motivator in itself!!  When you have a minute, sit back and think if you, as a parent, can answer those 4 questions about your child(ren), and if you are stuck on one, just ask them….. they will be glad to share their ideas!!! 

Read more: http://www.empoweringparents.com/Unmotivated-Child-6-Ways-to-Get-Your-Child-Going.php#ixzz3qkl3STeN

Technology in Second Grade Math by Sage Smith

Second graders are loving using technology in math this year! From iPad and Apple tvs to our wonderful Smartboards! Technology has made math extremely engaging for our kiddos! Second grade students are using their iPads to learn and practice math facts in ways that make basic facts seem fun! They also, use their iPad with QR readers to have self-directed and checking activities. Students can access their online textbooks and complete math assignments. The online textbooks also have videos that explain math concepts step by step which students can use at any point in an class assignment that they struggle with (and yes they know how to do it all by themselves!).

 

 

 Smartboards are used for lessons daily from introducing new concepts to practice to review. Having this awesome piece of technology takes learning to a whole new level!

 

 

 

IPads in Second Grade! By Lisa Ross

 

 

 

Thanks to the generous support of TWE families, our second graders are enjoying  classroom  ipads this year. We have been using them in many different ways.

 

In reading, students have learned to create pic collages of story elements, participate in QR code activities, and research using a website called KidRex.

 

In science, students are creating pic collages to differentiate between magnetic and nonmagnetic objects and in math students are using QR codes to solve math problems.  Students are also enjoying many math games on devices during math rotations.

 

In Social Studies, students were able to describe landforms using a fun app called Chatterpix.

Kahoot is another fun way to use devices to review skills learned in any subject, and many students are using istation on classroom devices to practice reading skills.

 

Here’s what some second graders have to say about our classroom ipads:

 

“Math games on the ipads are fun because they help you learn about math.” – John B.

 

“I like chatterpix and pic collage because you can make stuff and talk on it.”  –Julia T.

 

“IStation is fun because it’s interesting and there are different things to do.”  -Aidan B.

 

“I like to listen to books.”  -Lincoln B.

 

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month by Ginny Lund

 

 
 Welcome to Mrs. Lund’s class! When you look at our picture, you may notice something a little different. We’re ALL wearing BLUE! November is Diabetes Awareness month.

We have a student who has Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). Only 10 % of diabetics are type 1. There is nothing you can do to prevent T1D, and- at present- nothing you can do to get rid of it.

T1D is an autoimmune disease in which the person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food.  Low blood glucose can cause confusion, fatigue, seizures, coma or death.

To show our love and support for this student, everyone in our class wore blue! 

 What does this look like in our classroom?

A person with type 1 checks their blood glucose 8 or more times a day.  While he's at school, he wears a DexCom to constantly monitor his blood levels.   When his levels are low, the machine beeps letting him know he is low.  Then he will go to see the nurse and eat a snack to bring his levels up. 

 

 

Right before lunch, he goes to the nurse to get insulin for the carbs he will eat at lunch.  Then after recess, he goes back to check his levels.  Each time he visits the nurse, he needs a buddy to go with him.  Our class loves to volunteer to take him!    

               

 

He wears a Diabetes bracelet to let others know he has diabetes.  Students and teachers are aware of his condition. We are all learning about diabetes care and the importance of taking care of yourself!

 

 

2nd Grade Push and Pull by Christy Williams

 

 

What is Push and Pull?

Second graders have started a new unit of study in science.  We are learning about force and motion.  To kick off our learning, we visited the science lab to find out what a push and a pull were.  A push is moving something away from you.  A pull is moving something toward you.  Students went to four different stations to practice pushing and pulling objects.  They were able to use toy cars, straws and ping pong balls, balloons and a box of books.  Students were urged to start using a small amount of force to push and pull the objects.  Then students used more force to push and pull.  They had to decide on what was different when they used more or less force.  When students returned to class, we had a class discussion on which was easier to do-a push or a pull.  Second graders love hands on science experiments! 

 

 

First Grade Writer's Workshop Small Moments by Jenny Heinold

 

 

1st grade just completed a unit of study on Small Moments in Writer's Workshop. They were taught to write about something they did or something that happened to them. We used the mentor book, Night of the Veggie Monsters, to give students a model of how to write a small moment and show the strategies the author used to write his small moment. 1st graders learned to show how they acted, felt and talked in their writing. We ended our Small Moment unit by sharing a published piece of writing. We then celebrated with an apple juice toast!

 

 

 

 

Number Talks in First Grade by Jenny Heinold

What is a Number Talk?

A Number Talk is a short, ongoing daily routine that provides students with meaningful ongoing practice with computation. A Number Talk is a powerful tool for helping students develop computational fluency because the expectation is that they will use number relationships and the structures of numbers to add, subtract, multiply and divide.

 

1st grade does a Number Talk 3 times week. Students sit in a "fish bowl" and the teacher flashes a card to the class. Students let the teacher know that they have a response by giving a thumbs up close to their chest. They then share the answer and the strategy they used to solve. This is a fun and engaging way for students to show their understanding of numbers. Sometimes their strategies and responses even surprise the teacher!