Farewell, Addison!

My sweet Addison is moving and had her last day of school today. The class is really going to miss her. She needed to turn in her Library books and while she was gone I called the Library and asked them to keep her busy for 5-10 minutes...we had a surprise.

While she was gone, each student drew her a picture or wrote her a note. We compiled it into a book so she could remember us. We then got "back to normal" and pretended that nothing happened. When she came back to her desk, she saw the book and a few small trinkets that her classmates gave her. She was surprised! :)

We had a community circle where we shared all of the wonderful things about her. My class had sooooo many things to say. We will miss the kind, helpful, sweet, caring, smart, responsible, respectful, helpful friend!

1st Grade Buddies!!!

Mrs. McAfee's 1st grade class came upstairs to enjoy our Wild Thing descriptive writings. The 1st graders did a great job guessing which Wild Thing matched each description. 

A nice group photo...love all of the beautiful smiles.

And now, it's time to be a Wild Thing...

Social Studies: Economics--Budgeting

We have started an Economics unit for Social Studies. We have been going over the new vocabulary a lot in reading, writing, math, and social studies. Today we talked about budgets. Students were divided into groups and each group had a different budget sheet. They then had to add up their money to find out their total spending money. Groups found that they could not purchase certain items because they did not have enough money.

Some groups wanted to buy video games, but there was a separate price for the controllers. We had a discussion about this and they came to the realization that they would need to purchase both items in order for it to work.

Some students found that they could purchase a lot of smaller price items ($0.50 candy bars) and a few more expensive items ($19.00 jeans). It was great getting to hear their conversations as they chose which items they would buy and which ones they would pass on.

Math: Multiplication

The students are learning multiplication in math. We've discussed how they can solve multiplication problems (5x2) by using repeat addition (2+2+2+2+2) or using a number line to skip count (2,4,6,8,10). We now introduced how they can build arrays. They used rows and columns to find the answer 5 by 2 = 10.

I had students divide into groups and then gave them a number on an index card. That number represented the "product" and they had to find the factors that would make the product. They found that some products have multiple groups of factors (fact families).

For example, 18 can have the following factors:

1x18 and 18x1

2x9 and 9x2

3x6 and 6x3

Pink Out Day

Cute class pic on our Pink Out Day!

Book Fair

Our class had fun visiting the Book Fair to choose their "Wish List" items. Thanks to those who sent in money or visited during conferences to purchase books for your child.

Warrior Day

Today I had the opportunity to train with one of my students. We both belong to the same Martial Arts academy. Lots of fun to see each other out of the classroom!

Math: Comparing Fractions

Today students compared fractions using fraction tiles and fraction towers. 

Field Trip: Dallas Symphony Orchestra

The entire third grade had the opportunity to head downtown to was a performance by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. It was a very fun trip and the kids had a blast.

Excited to be leaving school for a fun trip!

 

We unloaded the bus and the kids were excited. We quickly lined up to head inside.

 We had some front row seats. When we entered, there was a woman playing the gigantic organ. She played The Adam's Family theme song and the kids LOVED it!

The performance was almost an hour long. Our school did an amazing job being polite and respectful. They clapped when appropriate and stayed quiet during musical performances.

Here is a class picture right before we got back onto the bus.

We drove to Finch Park for lunch. Everyone had a great time and the weather was perfect!

Another class picture on the playground before we headed back to school.

I would like to thank our awesome parent volunteers for helping out. You both did a fantastic job! THANK YOU!!!