Ms. Adrienne and the coyotes
The Hip Hop Performance last Saturday was fantastic! Congratulations to Emery, Lillyana, Alexia and Valerie on a wonderful show! It was also very special how you inspired a Dance-Off on the playground on the last day of school. You guys are leaders!
Thank you Mr. Mitchell and the 7th/8th Grade Orchestra for a fantastic performance! Our students loved learning about the different string instruments and opportunities available to them when they reach Middle School. You guys set a wonderful example for our Coyotes!
The year isn't over and neither is our learning. Check out these videos of the Coyotes staying strong until the end!
To replace typical end of the year awards, the Coyotes thought it would be more "fair" and "fun" to vote on what jobs our friends may have in the future when they are all grown up. The Coyotes created the awards themselves, voted, and participated in our own class awards ceremony this morning. Coyotes, you will all do great things. I believe in you and the other Coyotes believe in you too.
At Flag this morning, student leaders were recognized by their Specialty Teachers for a job well done all year long. Congratulations to Lilly, Kellen, Emily Jo and Lillyana!
How will the Coyotes show what they know about each of the famous people they researched for Listening Groups? Amelia Earhart Group is making a poster and a play! One of their characters is her airplane!John F Kennedy Group created a song to perform!Pablo Picasso Group will do a reenactment of his painting process!Steve Jobs Group created props for their presentation!Frank Lloyd Wright Group made a poster and brought in supplies to build a farm like architects themselves!Charles Darwin Group is making a play about Darwin setting sail on the Beagle and meeting a bug (Aemon)!Can't wait to find out what products our other groups will select to present when they are finished reading their books. Keep up the good work Coyotes.Stella Davis, one of our very own Coyotes, took pictures on the playground at Lunch Recess and Afternoon Recess yesterday to include in our end of the year yearbook. It is so fascinating to see how one Coyote sees the rest. Beautiful pictures, Stella! You really captured the personalities of your friends.
As a class, we created an In-Class Reading WIG at the beginning of February. The goal was for at least ONE student to move up three reading levels by the end of the year. That way, the students were very supportive of one another as they moved up their levels and encouraging of each other when they were feeling challenged. Yesterday, Landon Casey reached our goal! He is the first, but likely not to be the only, Coyote to move up three levels since we started our WIG. As exciting as this was, the students didn't want their WIG to be over! Therefore, the students revised their WIG this morning. We have decided to keep it up so we can continue to track our progress. A debate over how many students should reach 3 levels, etc, occurred. Finally, we decided, we didn't need a specific number. Instead, it will stay there so that we can continue to encourage each other AND to remind us of the progress we have already made. Excellent idea, Coyotes.
The Elephants have been building mazes in their classroom, using cardboard boxes and straws. The object of the maze is for a marble to travel from "start" to "finish". Along the way, the marble might meet "obstacles", "dead ends", "traps", "bridges", "slides" and more. The Elephants showed us a large maze they built as a class yesterday. Today, we were tasked to build our own mazes in teams of 2 or 3. We brainstormed, created and executed our plans. Then, we tested our mazes to see if they worked! What do we need to fix? Is there a way we could make it harder? Thank you Ms. Amber, Mr. Jordan, the Elephants, and their volunteers for supplying us with materials for these projects!
This week, the Coyotes have been learning about 3D shapes. To introduce the Coyotes to new vocabulary- like "edges", "corners", "faces"- we built our very own cubes, pyramids and prisms. The Coyotes really enjoyed this work and will not soon forget what these words mean!
How can using what we already know about the States of Matter help us understand how solids, liquids and gases move and interact? Today, the Coyotes created hypotheses, making educated guesses about how raisins would behave in club soda. After deciding as a group that club soda is a liquid, the students began to discuss what we knew about density. The raisins, they concluded, must float or sink! Students wrote down their hypotheses and drew pictures of what they thought the raisins would do. One by one, they added their raisins to the club soda. WOW! Why did the raisins sink, then float, then sink again? Some even danced! Why? What was making them behave in this way? After further inspection, we discovered that it was the bubbles carrying the raisins around! We decided our hypotheses must be incorrect. Club soda wasn't just a liquid, since it had bubbles. Club soda is both a liquid AND a gas! This project was fun from beginning until end.
In response to our presentation at Flag two weeks ago about our Class Mission Statement, Mrs. Culbertson and the Manatees arranged to learn more about our Mission Statement this morning and asked the Coyotes to help them create their own. It was a really positive experience for all. The Coyotes were proud to show the Manatees what they had accomplished and really enjoyed setting a good example for the young Kindergartners.
Last Friday, we all took turns acting like a Greeter Leader. The role of Greeter Leader means showing visitors what we are learning and making the visitor feel welcome in our classroom. When Joshua (my husband) came by to join us for Friday's Afternoon Recess and Listening Groups, the Coyotes each had a chance to practice being the Greeter Leader. Joshua was impressed by how confidently and enthusiastically the Coyotes spoke about their learning. This is a skill that will help our students be successful for the rest of their lives. Josh rewarded us with a gift for our classroom- a stuffed animal named Coyote the Dog. So much fun! We love having visitors!
A Greeter Leader... 1) Spots the visitor and approaches them so that class is not disrupted by the visit 2) Introduces themselves and shakes the visitor's hand 3) Asks for the purpose of the visit "How can we help you?" 4) Directs the visitor to a quiet spot for observation, the area of the classroom in question and assists the visitor with task, or reports the visitor's message to the teacher at a time when and in a way where it is not disruptive Congratulations Kellen and Dominic, who have earned 4th Quarter Matter of Pride shirts! These students demonstrated many qualities of being a leader this quarter, such as being proactive and treating others with respect. In order to receive their shirts, I asked them to write down their own reasons why they deserve MOP recognition. I believe it is important that the students begin to recognize these qualities in themselves and feel confident expressing their worth. Wear your t-shirts loud and proud boys, you deserve them! All of the Coyotes support you!!
Peers are unconsciously influenced by one another when in the same environment and/or working in a group. For this project, I paired the Coyotes and asked them to draw one another's portraits using lots of detail- lips, ears, dimples, laugh lines, cheeks, eyelashes, etc. In Afternoon Meeting, the students were excited to see what each student had created. We noticed something very interesting! Partners who worked with one another created portraits that had similar features, similar use of space, and similar styles. The students agreed... "Our pictures would look different if we had different partners!" As teachers and families, it is our responsibility to keep this in mind. On other assessments it can be much harder to see. We must be intentional in our groupings. What magic is being lost? What magic can be found?
As we complete our unit on the states of matter, students were introduced to another measurement of matter that is not volume or weight. This measurement is called density. Students read and watched information describing density and how it applies to solids and liquids. Why do we float on water, while a paperclip sinks? How come liquids separate as layers when added to a jar, rather than mix together? To get hands on with these concepts, the Coyotes created Density Jars. Each group was given 4 liquids to test. Which will sink? Which will float? Which will sit on top of another? Why? Students were asked to make hypotheses first, experiment, and then describe their results. Since we have been practicing the Scientific Method all year, moving through these steps was natural for these second graders. Below are images of the Superheroes carrying out the same experiment with me on Friday.
The Coyotes were proud to share their Mission Statement at Flag this morning and be commended for their dedication to the 7 Habits. As promised, we had our very own Dress Down Day today. Below are some of our friends who chose to wear their 7 Habits spirit!
I can't wait to see what the Coyotes will produce! We have selected our topics for Listening/Research Groups. Once again, students will read a book from the "Who was...?" Series and present on their topic to the class. What makes this round of research more challenging than last time? The Coyotes have been asked to write a complete (8 sentence- opening, 3 facts, 3 supporting details, closing) paragraph about each chapter as they journey through their books. They will, then, use these paragraphs to help them present their ideas. As we grow, the expectations grow with us. There is so much we can do! With assignments like these, soon, we will be ready for 3rd Grade. :)
Sally Ride/astronaut- Emery, Austin Pablo Picasso/artist- Scotlynn John F Kennedy/President- Landon, Josselyn Charles Darwin/scientist- Stella, Aemon Roald Dahl/author- Andrew, Valerie Amelia Earhart/pilot- Zoe, Lilly, Kellen, Alexia Steve Jobs/inventor/designer- Dominic, Isaiah Mother Teresa/missionary- Lillyana, Emily Jo Frank Lloyd Wright/architect- Isabella, Landen Mark Twain/author- Jalen |
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May 2017
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