Contraction Surgery

 

Our reading group performed contraction surgery today!

We had to take two words, cut them apart, and put them back together with a band-aid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Sum" Halloween Fun

Yesterday we played a Halloween Addition game.  We had to roll a dice.  Move that number of spaces, in any direction, on the game board. 

 

 

 

 

Then, we had to solve the addition equation that was in the square we landed on.  Lastly, we had to color in corresponding square on the our hundreds chart. (Our goal was to fill all squares 1-14 on our hundreds chart first.)

 

For example: If the equation was 4+5, then we would color in the number 9 square on our hundreds chart.

 



 

After we played the game, Mrs. Wanke had us write the answers to each equation on the game board.  Then, we graphed how many times we got a particular answer or sum. 

 

For example, we had only 1 square that had an equation with the answer or sum 1.  So on our graph we put one X.  (See the picture of our graph below.)

 

 

 

 

After looking at the information on the graph we discussed how this information could change the way we played the game.  Our goal was to fill in all the squares 1-14 on our hundreds chart.  If we had a choice to go left and land on a square that would have the answer of 1 or go right and land on a square that would have the answer 9, we would choose to go left and land on the square that would allow us to fill in the 1 square.  Since there are more squares that have the answer of 9 it would be more strategic for us to go to the square with the answer of 1 .  The odds of us getting a square with the answer of 9 is greater than our chances of getting a square with the answer of 1.

 

 

Today, we played the same game again, but with a twist and a change!  The twist was, we could use the graph we created yesterday to help guide our decisions and help us think more strategically.  The change was, instead of filling in the number 3 square if we landed on a square with the answer of 3, we had to fill in three squares on the board.

 

 

 

The goal today was to fill in all the square on our hundreds chart.  However, when we got to the end we had to be careful!  If we had only 4 more squares left to color in and rolled a 5, we could not color in the squares.  We had to get the exact amount! Is Mrs. Wanke crazy or what?  This is where strategy and the graph really helped us.  If we had the choice to go left and land on a square that would give us the answer of 3 or go right and land on a square that would give us the answer of 2, it would be more strategic to go right and land on the square that would give us a 2.  If we went and landed on the square with a 3, in order for us to win the game we would have to wait and land on that one square to give us the answer of 1. (We know better than that now!)

 

We also discussed that the strategy in the beginning of today's game was to go in the direction on the game board that would give us the greatest sum so that we could fill up our 100's board more quickly. Then, our strategy changed at the end of the game when we had to plot out how we would get the exact amount of squares colored in.

 



 

 

Working hard to fill up that hundreds board.

 

Thinking hard about which way to go! 

We LOVE pizza!



After reading the book The Runaway Pizza and working very hard on asking questions before, during, and after reading we decided to celebrate by making our very own pizza. Of course our pizza's didn't run away and we were able to gobble them up!

Check out our slideshow of pictures.  You can tell we LOVE our pizza.

SMACK a bug!

We had fun today practicing Fundations. We each took turns hitting a bug on the Smart board with a fly swatter. After the bug was hit all that was left was a smashed bug and either the words "old word," "new word," or "trick word." We had to write one of the words Mrs. Wanke gave us on our whiteboards.  Smacking bugs and spelling has never been more fun!

Calling all Jack-O-Lanterns

As a fun and educational follow-up to our Pumpkin Day we will be doing the Disappearing Jack experiment!

What is the Disappearing Jack experiment ? 

 

 After Halloween we will be placing a Jack-O-lantern into a sealed container full of dirt. We will watch it for the rest of the year decompose.   We will be reading a great book to go along with it call, Pumpkin Jack. This is a story about a boy named Tim who placed his Jack-O-lantern out in his garden after Halloween and watched it change.  We will be like the character Tim and watch the Jack-O-lantern change.  We will record our observations and make predictions.

 

 

 

How can you help?

 

I am looking for one person to donate a their Jack-O-lantern to our classroom after he has done his job on Halloween. (Please email Mrs. Wanke if you are interested in donating your Jack-O-lantern.)  Before we start this experiment, I will send a note home explaining how you can try this experiment out at home in your own yard if you would like.  

We are famous!

What an exciting day in our classroom...we are famous!

You can see us on 13 news WREX tonight.  We wore our silly hats, listened to a story from Mrs. Wanke, and we even did our whale cheer.  We were all very surprised by the visit!

Pecatonica teacher, students have a whale-of-a-time in first gra - WREX.com – Rockford’s News Leader

The Candy Corn Bandit!

 

 

 

 

The Candy Corn Bandit stole Mrs. Wanke's candy!  Mrs. Wanke was very excited to share her jar of Candy Corns with us.  However, when we came back from lunch it was gone!  It it's places...

 

 

  was a letter on our SMART board from the Candy Corn Bandit...

 

 

a Candy Corn Bandit booklets for each of us, a prediction poster, and a clue!

 

 

Before we read the clue, we read the Prediction poster.  We learned that a prediction is a guess you make about the way something might be in the future.

 

Then, we looked at the Candy Corn booklets. On the inside we had to draw what we predicted the Candy Corn Bandit to look like. 

Then, we had to predict three places we thought the candy corns might be.

 

 

Finally it was time to read the first clue!

 

 

 

We made a prediction based upon what we read in clue one.  we predicted the candy would be in the lunch room!

 

When we got to the lunch room...all we found was another clue.  After reading that clue, we predicted that we would find the candy in the gym.

 

When we got to the gym, all we found was another clue.  After reading that clue, we predicted we would find the candy on the play ground.

 

When we got outside, all we found was ANOTHER clue!  After reading that clue, we predicted we would find the candy in the library.

    

 

But, when we got the the library, all we found was ANOTHER clue! Boy oh boy this Candy Corn bandit was causing some trouble!

 

After reading the clue, we predicted we would find the candy in the classroom.

 

When we got to the classroom...what do YOU predict we found?

 

You got it...the CANDY and another clue!

 

 

 

This activity was great for making predictions.  Not only did we predict where the candy would be, we also made predictions about how the bandit was able to pull off this crime, did the bandit have an accomplice, how big was the bandit, and what was the bandits motive. 

 

When we got back to the class, Mrs. Wanke had a light bulb moment.  She said that we could use predictions when we read!  WOW...she is right.  Tomorrow, Mrs. Wanke is going to show us how we can make predictions when we read and how this will help us comprehend what we are reading!

 

Pumpkin Day

Pumpkin Day was a day filled with learning, exploration, application of knowledge, and of course FUN!

 

We started off the day by rotating through four different centers. 

 

 

Pumpkin Dissection and Diagramming

 

 

 

We looked at a cross section of a pumpkin with Mrs. Wanke. She showed us the different parts of the pumpkin. Mrs. Wanke even had us try a pumpkin seed.

 

 

 We used our knowledge of the pumpkin parts to create and label a diagram of a pumpkin.  Look at how hard she is working to complete her pumpkin diagram.

 

 

Pumpkin Pancakes and Recipe Comprehension 

  

Mrs. Buss read us the recipe.  We had to answer questions about the recipe.  Mrs. Buss mixed the batter and cooked us the best tasting pumpkin pancakes!

 

 

 

Here we are hard at work answering questions about the recipe and eagerly anticipating the first delicious bite of pumpkin pancakes!

 

 

 

Pumpkin Craft 

 

 

We used a paper plate and our hands to make a cute pumpkin craft.

 

 

Mrs. Bardell did a great job explaining how to make our pumpkin craft!

 

 

Pumpkin Investigations 

 

We used lots of tools to measure and weigh our pumpkins. We made lots of predictions.  We also tasted Pumpkin Spice M&M's.

 

 

Pumpkin Graphing

 

After we were done rotating through our stations Miss Reed and Mrs. Wanke asked us to make some predictions and graph our responses. 

 

We had to predict...

1. Would a pumpkin sink or float?

Yes a pumpkin will float.  We tested a 5 pound pumpkin, 10 pound pumpkin, and a 25 pound pumpkin!  They ALL float!

2. What would happen to the water level when different sized pumpkins were placed inside the water bucket?

The water level goes up when you put an object into the water. The heavier the object, the higher the water rises.

3. Are the seeds in a white pumpkin orange?

A white pumpkin has white seeds just like an orange pumpkin!

4.  What will happen if we put dirt inside a pumpkin? 

 This one we have to wait a few weeks to see if our predictions are correct.

  

  

The Writing Fairy

We have been working very hard on putting spaces between our words and sentences when we write.  Today, while we were at gym the Writing Fairy came and put Skittles where ever we put a space between a word or a sentence.

Run Whales, Run!

On your mark, get set, JOG!

We have some future marathon runners running in the jog-a-thon!  What a fun and healthy way to help raise money for our school.

Please make sure that all jog-a-thon donations are in by Friday! (10-18-13)

A Visit from Pec Fire Department

Thank you Pecatonica Fire Department!  We LOVED learning about fire safety from you and shooting the water hose!

M&M graphing

We had so much fun graphing these delicious candies! 

Each of us got our own package of M&M's. We had to first place them on the graph. Then, we removed the candies a colored it in. Last, came the hardest part...we ate the candies. 

We ended our math class with a "Round Table" discussion...well, we actually just sat in a circle on the carpet. We went around the circle and each of us had to make different statements about the data in our graphs.  We had to make statements like...

1) I had the most _______.

2) I had the least _______.

3) I had more ______ than ______.

4) I had fewer ______ than ______.

5) I had ___ more _____ than _____.

6) I had ___ fewer _____ than _____.