Happy Holidays!

I'd like to say thank you to everyone for all of the wonderful holiday gifts.  I'm overwhelmed by your generosity and so very grateful to be working with such a terrific group of parents.

We had a fantastic day today!  I'd like to say a special thank you to Mrs. Mrozcek for helping to organize our afternoon snack and for coming in to help with our snowflake craft.  Thank you to Mrs. MacKeen as well for taking the time during this busy week to help with our snowflakes.  Another special thank you to Mrs. Draper for purchasing all of our craft supplies and to everyone who contributed food and paper goods.

Here are a few fun pictures from today.  I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday and a restful vacation week.

Best wishes for 2017!
Kindly,
Sara Hartley

 

Snowflake Bentley Inspired Fun

Today we read the story of Wilson Bentley, otherwise known as, "Snowflake Bentley."  This man was a scientist and farmer who grew up fascinated by snow and the magic of all things in nature.  He wanted to capture the beauty of a single snowflake and share that beauty with others.  His entire life was devoted to doing so. Learn about him by visiting the website below.

The Story of Snowflake Bentley

To celebrate and share in his passion for snow, Mrs. Rebecca Kelly was kind enough to teach us how to create snowflakes of our own.  Some of our more experienced students did a wonderful job helping their peers with this craft, which involved a great deal of folding, cutting, and stapling in all the right places.  Thank you to our helpers, and especially, to Mrs. Kelly!

Listen to this story being read aloud by clicking on the link below!

Snowflake Bentley Read Aloud

 Section one complete!  Now, only seven more to go!

 Mrs. Kelly and Madie modeling for the class!

 Students had to be patient and use their best listening skills in order to keep up with all of these steps!  Well done, everyone!

 Cutting and folding and cutting and folding.....

 Grainne was one of our great helpers today!  Thank you, Grainne!

 Gage was focused on cutting in all the right spots!  Well done!

 The kiddos were so kind and helpful to each other today!

 Jordan somehow escaped the group shots below, so here she is with her handmade snowflake!  Thanks for being one of our great helpers today!

 Everybody say, "SNOWFLAKE!!!"

Students in Room 8 really loved this project!  

Welcome winter!!

Caine's Arcade with the Sixth Graders

We were so fortunate to join Dr. Rains and one of the sixth grade classes in the STEAM room today for their version of "Caine's Arcade."  Please view the video about Caine's Arcade by accessing the live link below.  We watched it in the classroom prior to visiting the arcade today, and I must say, students in Room 8 were incredibly motivated and inspired to do something wonderful.  This young boy has done something so unique and incredible, and in doing so, has inspired so many other young children around the world to do the same!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIFNkdq96U

Lively Literacy Centers

We have been practicing our spelling skills by using ELA Centers in class.  Students are enjoying the opportunity to work with their peers in a challenging way!

 Alex and Jacoby are playing, "Sentence Chef," to practice writing complete sentences and identifying subjects and predicates.

 Ryan, Amber, and Nate are playing "Letter Grab."  They were able to make all sorts of great words from their letters.

 Natasha and Julia are working on a variation of "Boggle."

 The girls did a great job using their letter tiles and working together to check their spelling skills!

Charlie and John are searching their board for new words!

Some Helpful Reading for All Parents....

We all want our children to be resilient and able to handle the many stressors that they are facing in today's world.  There is a great deal of talk these days surrounding "mindfulness."  If you are interested in this topic, check out the link below.  It's from the newsletter, Hey Sigmund, and is entitled, "Mindfulness for Children:  Fun, Effective Ways to Strengthen Mind, Body, Spirit."

Mindfulness for Children: Fun , Effective Ways to Strengthen Mind, Body, Spirit

Multiplication Madness

To make learning multiplication facts a bit more exciting, we are playing a variety of games in class each day.  Today, students worked with a math buddy to practice their facts with a new game that everyone LOVED!

Again, I can't stress enough how important it is for students to be practicing their multiplication facts every night.  We have been making flashcards in class to study at home, and I have been assigning this instead of regular math homework for the last two weeks.  At this time, we have learned strategies for 2s, 3s, 4s, 6s, 7s, and 8s.

It's important to note, however, that the automaticity we're seeking truly results from memorization.  The ability to work quickly, efficiently, and accurately with these multiplication facts will allow all students an easier transition into more complicated areas like division and fractions.  

Hour of Code with Mrs. Kosakowski

Today we had such a treat!  To celebrate digital learning, Mrs. Kosakowski came into class to introduce the concept of coding to students.  So many things in our world today incorporate coding in order to function.  If you'd like to learn more about coding, check out the link below!

Introduction to Coding