Nocturnal Animal Presentation

Today we learned that nocturnal animals use their five senses to move through the darkness of night.  We learned that they have very big eyes to help them see at night.

Here's a video of a game that we played to hep us understand the sense of hearing :

Vole game

We used our sense of touch.

We used our sense of hearing. We learned that nocturnal animals have ears in different locations. They can turn their ears to help them hear better.

We felt in the box - through our sense touch we discovered a feather, pine cone, piece of bark, shell and  a piece of fur.

We used our sense of smell to discover different scents.  We learned nocturnal animals have a wet nose that helps their sense of smell.

Stephanie brought a raccoon and an owl for us to see.
They were real but had lived a long time ago and were now for display.

Stephanie gave us a little fun homework.  Go outside in the dark (you can bring a  flashlight) and listen to see if you have can hear and feel  things better in the dark.  

Missing Birdfeeder

Today we noticed the Birdfeeder hanging outside our classroom is missing. We searched to no avail so we made signs to put up and see if someone has seen it.

How Big is an Eagle's Nest?

Today a number of children spotted nests in the trees around school.  They were wondering if they were eagle nests like the one that we saw from the eagle cam.  Raptor Resource Project Blog http://raptorresource.blogspot.com posted  measurement information about the nest.

North Nest

We surveyed a new nest last week. 'Decorah North' is a very large nest in a secluded valley north of Decorah. A few statistics from our trip:

• The nest is 56 feet off the ground 
• It is nine feet long at its longest point
• It is seven feet wide at its widest point
• It has a total area of 49 feet
• The eagles are in their second year of using it.

We used a yardstick to discover how long seven feet is in our classroom. 

The markers show 7 feet

Features of School and Home Neighborhoods

Parking lot, Cove Church, streets, vernal pond, the school, parks, houses,woods

Parks, restaurants, train station, gas station,houses, beach, recreation places, churches, ice cream stores.

The string shows features that are both in our school and home neighborhoods!

Winter Sing-a-Long

Winter Song

Sing-A-Long

December 22, 2015

1:00pm

Mrs. Roy’s Classroom

Families are invited to bring a special holiday treat to share with the class.  Please make sure to mark if it contains nuts.

Caring Day

Tomorrow will be Caring Day. The children gave earned a day to bring in something special - a toy or stuffed animal. The class earned it by demonstrating that they cared for each other, the classroom and our school.

What is It?

Today we started our day by sparking our curiosity!  This photograph was on the Smartboard.  When asked What is it? These are some of the responses:

1. tiles
2. famous painting
3. pools
4. cakes
5. stonewall
6. goo
7. paint 
8. water park

Amazing!  The children loved explaining their answers! We learned that it is Evaporation ponds in Utah at the Great Salt Lake.  Not only a great vocabulary and language activity but a learning about how someone could take this type of photograph ties into our learning about position words!
Thanks National Geographic Photo of the Day!

Patterns in Numbers

Today as we added our daily number to the growing number line - 44, a student shared an observation - "Hey, that's like 22 and 33 both numbers are the same!"

I wrote them on the board to help others see his thinking.  I posed the question if there was one number that we could think of that would come before this group?  Look how far they were able to take this idea!

Great strategies were used as we moved through this list for example one child recognized 1,2, 3 and counted to see what number would be next and then was able to correctly name 888!  Making math so much fun!!

How to Raise an Emotionally Resilient Child

How to Raise an Emotionally Resilient Child

Strengthening Executive Function Development for Students With ADD | Edutopia

Strengthening Executive Function Development for Students With ADD | Edutopia



Great article with ideas that I believe would help not only children with ADD!

Trip to North Carolina!

Today we went to North Carolina to visit an aquarium! Thanks to Skype Classroom! We met an educator from Fort Fisher Aquarium. He taught us about alligators and how reptiles are different from people and other species.
Here are some fun facts learned and to talk about with your child:

1. Alligators build nests that are 5 feet tall.
2. They lay 30 eggs!
3. Mother stays with eggs for 2 months until they hatch. 
4. Mother carries them to the water when she hears them chirping. The babies already know how to swim and feed themselves. 
5. Mother has them swim in her mouth and closes her throat so she doesn't swallow them when they need protection. 
6. Dig a hole for the winter. 

Visit from Beverly Public Library Children's Librarian

Today Mrs. Carpine read us two books.  She taught us about the library.  Here's what she taught us:

1. Beverly Bookmobile
2. About audio-books
3. To take care of the cd's that you borrow
4. To take care of the books that you borrow and do not get them wet.
5. You can borrow magazines and read newspapers at the library
6. If the library is not open, you can return a book to the drop off box.
7. That the library is a fun place to visit when it is open.
8. It is free!
9. You can look online for books that you want. Link to the library catalog

The End of Daylight Savings Lesson

These pictures helped the children understand the change in the day due to the change of the clock.  As we move towards the shortest day of the year, it is helpful for the children to see how their day changes now that it is getting darker earlier.  There is a local weather site :Cove Neighborhood weather  that has a wonderful chart to help the children see the changes in the length of the day.  It provides so much information to help me teach weather and makes it so exciting.

Have Fun Teaching Songs

alphabet song

what do the letters say

These great songs have helped us learn our letter names and sounds!  Thank you Have Fun Teaching Songs!

More leafsnap learning

Found on sidewalk coming into school

Dogwood tree

Also found on the sidewalk coming into to school - Red Oak tree leaf

Found at recess on playground - London Plane Tree

Great App

Check out Leafsnap an awesome app we tried today! Please have the kids bring in more leaves for us to snap!

Empathy in Action: How Teachers Prepare Future Citizens | Edutopia

Empathy in Action: How Teachers Prepare Future Citizens | Edutopia

Feelings Song

A new song we listened to today to help us learn that feelings change.

Firefighter Safety

Today, the Beverly Fire Department came and taught us about fire safety.

1. If your clothes catch on fire - STOP, DROP and ROLL
2. Cover your mouth so you do not breathe in smoke
3. No hiding when there is a fire, wave a cloth  to let the firefighter know you are there.
4. Check to see if the door is hot!
5. Go outside quickly without bringing stuff with you to a safe meeting place.
6. Do not go back inside to get your pets.
7. Always trust your plan and the firefighters and do not panic.

Rainy Day Recess

It is always fun to sit  and watch the choices made during rainy day recess! The learning goes on and on!

Lots of talking about our earth after learning about the lunar eclipse and the change of seasons. 

Playing one of our literacy games!

Coloring!

Creation Station

House Corner

Lego and Blocks!

The Eclipse

A rare phenomenon, there have only been five supermoon eclipses since 1900 (in 1910, 1928, 1946, 1964 and 1982). After Sunday, the next supermoon eclipse will occur in 2033. The children will be 23 years old!