210 Happenings!

     We have had a busy couple of weeks in Room 210!  Currently in math we are working on Topic 2 which focuses on addition strategies.  The children have worked with basic addition, doubles facts, near doubles, turn around facts, and adding three numbers/addends.  They have also been practicing math fact fluency in school using Math Bingo and Reflex Math on their i-pads.  Please make sure your child is also practicing basic math facts to 20 at home.  This will help them to be better prepared for their daily math lessons. We will be finishing up Topic 2 this week and moving on to Topic 3 which focuses on subtraction strategies.
     The children have been tiering for reading these past few weeks.  They have been learning new routines and classroom expectations.  In my reading class we read  Julius: Baby of the World and worked on identifying various story elements (characters, setting, problem, solution, etc.).  We have also been introducing the ELA centers that children will work on after participating in reading groups.  Some of these centers include Sight Word Bingo, Roll a Sight Word, Roll a Trick Word, Raz Kids, Independent Reading, and i-Ready.  These centers support and reinforce what we are teaching during Fundations and Reading Groups.
     Our current Science topic is trees!  So far the children have learned about the two main types of trees which are coniferous (evergreen) and deciduous (broad leaf).  They have illustrated a tree book and will be learning about the insides of a tree tomorrow.  We will touch upon the various layers of a tree such as outer bark, inner bark, cambium, sapwood, and heartwood.  The children have a special leaf collecting project that is due on Tuesday, October 14th.  A notice went home yesterday on neon green paper with the details of the project.  If you did not see the notice you can also find it at the top of our blog on the Leaf Project tab.
     We had an exciting visit from Mr. Musselman on Friday.  He came to do a fire experiment with the children.  Mr. Musselman brought a pumpkin with him and had the children make some predictions.  First the children had to predict whether the pumpkin would sink or float.  Of course many students thought it would sink but to their surprise it floats because it is hollow and full of air.  Next Mr. Musselman had them make many different predictions based on whether a candle would stay lit inside of the pumpkin.  First he did not have any holes carved.  After that he carved one hole and asked for predictions and finally he carved multiple holes and asked for predictions.  The children were shocked to see that the candle went out every time except when there were two or more holes carved.  This is because fire needs fuel, heat and oxygen to stay lit.  We had the fuel and heat but when there were less than two holes carved there was no oxygen feeding our fire.  Mr. Musselman ended the experiment with amazing "pumpkin puke"!  Check out the pictures and videos below!