~ YOST FEST FRIDAY ~
This week and next I have challenged the students to pick their favorite quote from around the room. Then they are to share why it was their favorite quote and what it taught them. Two classes completed this project this week because they were excited for it. If they complete it, they can earn one last pick from the prize box. I already enjoyed reading the quotes some have chosen. I will share with you some of the favorite quotes and what some students learned from them next week.
IMPORTANT DATES
May 12th: Muffins with Mom 3rd Grade at 7:45 a.m.
May 12: Yost Fest
May 19th: No School - Reserved Snow Day
May 26th: Field Day
May 29th: No School - Memorial Day
May 31st: Last Day of School & End of 4th Grading Period
LANGUAGE ARTS
KINDERGARTEN: WEMBERLY WORRIED: This week we finished working with our reading analyzer. We just began it last week, so we went through a quick reminder of our first two responses. Then I gave them the book and let them look for interesting or exciting words to add to our paper. For defining the image, I had them close their eyes and let me know what they imagined when thinking of our story. This is a great exercise to help them visualize a picture. We finished with this sheet by discussing the main idea it taught us - to not worry so much! They did a very good job filling out this sheet.
We ended the day brainstorming some worries a kindergarten student might have. They created a great list and we picked our favorite to work further with in our project. What if our first grade teacher is mean? Now it was time for us to brainstorm ways to make our worries go away. We came up with a great list of ideas to help our problem. Some of them included: to meet our teacher, visit the classroom, remember that our friends will move-on to first grade, to follow the classroom rules, and listing fun things we will do in first grade.
We took our project one step-further, as we discovered one of our worries was first grade would be no fun because they don’t have free-play. We created a list of fun things they do in first grade and then took a walk to explore some of the fun activities they have on display. We were all smiles and our worries of first grade were already disappearing, as we walked back to class.
1ST GRADE: HIEROGLYPHICS: This week we learned all about the Hieroglyphic Alphabet. This gave us the perfect opportunity to practice writing our name in Hieroglyphs. In our first attempt to write our name, they matched the letters in their name to the pictures, struggling when they came to some of the vowels, as they didn’t have a Hieroglyph.
On Tuesday, I reminded them that we read each picture stand for sounds of a letter. So I had them first write their name and then write their name with only the sound they hear.
This was a struggle as the wanted to write all of the letters down, but eventually they caught on. Then we read on to discover that there weren’t all the vowels because they didn’t use them. This explained a lot for them. They had lots of questions deciding what sounds they heard in their name. As we read further, we discovered that you can write it in more than one way and it would still be correct. 
We had time to read on a little further and discovered some of the symbols that represent words too.
We will end the unit with a fun project next week.
2ND GRADE: THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX: We had a brief discussion on our 3 chapters from over the week. We did re-read chapter 44, I had a few get confused on to stop or read for that chapter - so we played catch-up together for those student.
On Tuesday we began the movie. I passed out a sheet that they are to fill out while watching the movie - comparing the book to the movie. This led us into a quick discussion on differences a movie may have to the book. We also quickly reviewed the order of our story, as I warned them this would be a big difference to pay attention to in the movie - they were quick to identify this in our movie!
3RD GRADE: REVIEW: On Monday, we read a Native American version of Cinderella. This folktale had the most differences of all the versions we heard. It was perfect to lead our discussion. We talked about why the story would change with each culture based on what the culture is in need of for the lesson. The homes and setting changed based on the culture telling the story. We also saw some differences with the characters. 
On Tuesday it was time to prepare to review for our KaHoot fun for next week. Our theme to KaHoot will of course be folktales. So we spent the day writing notes and reviewing what we have learned throughout the year on the different folktales.
4TH GRADE: IT’S A MYSTERY: We have just about wrapped up studying a mystery! Today I had students present their mysteries they created. We have a few students that are finishing their details to their ending. Unfortunately, I also had some that did not finish their stories. I am going to give them an opportunity to present their stories at the beginning of class on Monday - before we move onto solving our Class Mystery. At the end of class, we discussed rules and guidelines to the mystery. 1st and foremost of course do not share your information with your classmates. I also asked them to not share last names of their characters - just yet.
They drew for their parts and have a few pieces of information to look over for their character. I dismissed the detective from class to explain to our characters - that they should look over these clues. They will want to share this information at some point in class, but shouldn’t just give it away to the detectives. Our detectives will be in charge of running the investigation and hopefully ask the right questions to get the information our characters are eager to share with them! We have a total of 6 suspects - it is anyone's game to win - as even the guilty party - doesn’t know they are guilty yet. Whoever solves our Mystery will get to choose a prize from our prize box. Let the Mystery begin!
Due to the 4th Grade field trip to WIS, we did not meet on Tuesday.
MATH
KINDERGARTEN: ENRICHMENT: For this week decided to be math detectives and solve some math mysteries. We worked through two different math puzzles – 1 focusing on logic and the other addition. Our first case was the case of the mixed-up lunches. 5 students were given the wrong lunch and we needed to solve who should have received what order – with no two orders the same. 
Then we solved the case of the missing number. Our computer had a number taken out of it messing up any of our addition problems. They did a great job with these puzzles. We ended the day practicing our skip counting.
We did not meet on Thursday because of their field trip.
1st GRADE: ENRICHMENT: On Wednesday, this group also took their turn at solving some math mysteries. First, they solved a puzzle that worked on reasoning and then one that worked on computation. Our second mystery may have been too easy as they were quick to shout out the answer after we had it all written on the board. We ended the day with our riddle game from last week because we one of our friends missed it – we thought they would enjoy playing it too!
On Thursday, I introduced them to KaHoot. This always seems to be a favorite with my groups and I think it holds true for them too, as I already had requests to play again next week. This week our topic was measurement. We played a round to learn the rules and then two more rounds that were more challenging. I could not have planned a more perfect 3 rounds, as we had a different winner each round – meaning each child won once!
We will end our year of HA next week with some more fun activities.
2ND GRADE: CAPACITY: These guys were amazing this week, as we had a quick-mini lesson on capacity - so they would be prepared for their end of year assessment. First, we went over the different measurements in a cup. For extra practice, we increased our measuring cup to 2 cups in capacity and worked through some questions together. To wrap-up our lesson, we worked through a few pages in our workbook. 
On Thursday, we had a quick review and made sure everyone felt comfortable with capacity. I asked them some sample questions similar to what they might see on the end of year assessment to make sure they understood the material.
Then we walked through our 3 big concepts we learned throughout the year. We focused on making sure that we can explain with our words each concept. They did a good job remembering the big ideas. I stressed to this group to check their work – especially with measurements! I told them to measure each twice to make sure they get the same number - if not to measure again. This will help to eliminate the error of rushing through their assessment. They all chose to utilize our last 5 minutes to begin the assessment. They will finish this packet on Wednesday, so we can compare it to the beginning of the year preview packet. I am sure we will see big gains with this group!
3rd GRADE: REVIEW: We wrapped up our capacity unit this week. On Wednesday, we took our conversions one step further, by looking at some of them and seeing the cost of the product. We were trying to find the best combination to make our lemonade in the cheapest way. 
On Thursday, we walked through the chapter 3 check-up together. As a class, we reviewed our answers. We used the remainder of class to prepare for our end of the year assessment. We discussed briefly our 3 big concepts – making sure they can explain how to work through each concept. Next week they will take our end of the year assessment to compare with the preview packet they took in the beginning of the year. I am looking forward to seeing the growth with this group – they have worked very hard all year! 4TH GRADE: Due to many 4th grade activities going on around the school, we did not meet this week. Next Wednesday, this group will take their end of year assessment – followed by a fun day on Thursday.
A Few Days Early, but wanted to wish all our Mothers A Happy Mother's Day. Enjoy your Weekend - Looks Like we will have Great Weather to Enjoy!
Ms. Losinski
