Valentine's Day FUN

Since we had a snow day on the real Valentine's Day, we celebrated on Monday.  We gave cards to show how much we enjoy our friends, gave each other tons of sugar with a sprinkle of healthy foods, and went on a scavenger hunt for Valentine Math problems.  The children enjoyed searching for the facts and then working together to solve the problems.  Ball Park estimates can be fun when they are hidden around the room.  Our Olympic event today was cup stacking.  We completed this in gym with our PE teacher.  I thought about using the red solo cups but the actual cup stackers work so much better.  I still need to upload a picture of the winning teams.  With early dismissal today I still haven't gotten everyone in the picture. Hoping for this storm to pass through quickly tonight so that we have a full day of school tomorrow. 

Valentine Fun

Math Challenge

Yesterday we also had our math challenge.  Just as I used the white boards with the spelling bee I did the same for the math challenge.  I began with simple facts and then worked up to adding three digits by three digits with carrying a ten.  They had fun trying to win a medal.  I enjoyed watching them solve several math problems with zero complaints about doing another problem.  

Medal winners for the Math Bee on Monday

                                          

Russian Fact Challenge

Do you know the capital, the money used, the major language spoken, the two mountain ranges, the largest lake, countries that border Russia, or which side of the road Russians drive on?  Well the gold medal winner knows these facts.  The children came into the room this morning and with indoor recess wanted to quiz each other and look up more facts about Russia (just in case I asked a few questions not on the study guide).  Well it turned out I did need to ask additional questions.  The final question was what side of the road do they drive on in Russia.  The answer was the right side just like we do in the United States.  I was so impressed with how much information these little heads  have.  Given the tools they will rise to all occasions.  Great job Team Husky!!!

Extra Long Weekend- SNOW

 

After an unexpected long weekend I am now ready for our last week before vacation.  This weekend I worked on adding new curtains that will hold more of our anchor charts. 

Curtain to hid clutter and showcase anchor charts

 

 

I also made more Olympic medals and organized some of my files.  I think I am ready for the week to come.  More Olympic events tomorrow. 

 



 

100th Day of School

Today students were encouraged to bring in a food item for either the local food pantry or the local animal shelter.  Our goal was 100 items.  The students brought in a total of 113 items to donate to the two places.  With all of the can goods we divided them into thirds and then worked in teams to construct the digits to make 100.  It is amazing how much they can accomplish when working as a TEAM!!

Winter Olympics

 Spelling Bee- Luge Event



GOLD MEDAL WINNERS
 

Another event we had last week was our spelling bee.  I had the children write their words on their white boards and then show their answers at the same time.  Students who spelled the word correctly moved on to the next word and those who missed the word were out of the competition.  I also differentiated the groups based on their spelling groups.  This way the competition was fair and the competitors were competing against those who have similar spelling abilities.  I was so impressed with them cheering each other on and the smiles on their faces when they moved on to the next word.  Great sportsmanship during this event.

Corbin winning the gold with his final two words.
 

Winter Olympics

Winter Olympics 2014

This event is our STEM activity which was the Down hill skiing event.  The children were encouraged to build a 3D model of an Olympic athlete competing in his/her event.  The sculpture had to be covered entirely with tin foil.  They were very creative and added special touches such as the blades of ice skates, blades to sleds, and half pipe.  I was impressed with their creativity and how well they were able to help each other. 

The children are working on their STEM activity.

Carly working on her down hill skier. 

 

                                                      Final STEM Projects