During our morning independent work time, the students have been working on building challenges. The first challenge was the SHAPE Challenge. Students had to figure out how to make a square pyramid out of linking cubes. It took a few tries, but eventually they figured it out!
From there, they came up with all kinds of cool shapes. They blogged about their shapes HERE.
This week we are doing a VEHICLE Challenge. This challenge gives them the freedom to create any kind of vehicle using anything in the classroom. So far, they have used building materials such as Legos, K’Nex, and Tinker Toys, but perhaps one of them will get creative with some other classroom supplies (hint, hint 
.
Vehicle Challenge Rules:
1. Make a vehicle using anything in the classroom or something brought from home.
2. You may not take someone else’s vehicle apart
3. When your vehicle is complete, Mrs. Morgan will take a picture of it and put it on your blog.
4. You must write about your vehicle on your blog. How you made it, what you were thinking, any problems you may have encountered, and anything else you want to tell about it.
Definition:
ve·hi·cle
1. any means in or by which someone travels or something is carried or conveyed; a means of conveyance or transport: a motor vehicle; space vehicles.
2. a conveyance moving on wheels, runners, tracks, or the like, as a cart, sled, automobile, or tractor.
3. a means of transmission or passage: Air is the vehicle of sound.
4. a carrier, as of infection.
Here are some of the great ideas so far:
What is your passion?
On the first day of spring we kicked off the day by reading On the Same Day in March by Marilyn Singer, a book about weather around the world. We learned that the weather can be very different in different parts of the world on the same day.
Later, Mrs. Glass and Mrs. McDaniel visited our class and helped us make special flowers to celebrate the day.
The flowers were made with: coffee filters, washable markers, water (in a spray bottle), a blow dryer, and chenille wires.
First, we colored the coffee filter with washable markers.
Next, we sprayed it with the water and let it sit for a few minutes. It was fun watching the colors blend together.
Then, we dried the filters with a blow dryer.
Finally, we pinched the flower in the middle and tied a chenille wire “stem” to it.
On March 6, we celebrated World Read Aloud Day.
First we Skyped with The Phoenix School. The kids read their published stories to us. Their stories were awesome. We could tell that they worked very hard on them.
Next, we Skyped with author Erin Dealey. To prepare for our session, we read two of her books ahead of time and came up with questions to ask the author. During the session, Ms. Dealey told us how she comes up with her ideas and explained her writing process. We learned that it takes a very long time to write a book.
Little Bo Peep Can’t Get to Sleep and Goldie Locks Has Chicken Pox are her two books that we read. They are fun, rhyming books with nursery rhyme characters and good lessons.
Finally, we ended our day with read aloud by Mrs. Hill. She used to work in our library, but last year she retired. She read The Three Little Tamales. It is a funny, southwestern version of The Three Little Pigs!
What did you do on World Read Aloud Day?
Is it a repeating pattern or an additive pattern?
CLICK HERE to go to Study Jams and learn more about the Moon!
In honor of Black History Month, we spent some time painting portraits of Martin Luther King, Jr. The students don’t get to paint very much because we do not have art at the elementary level in our district, so this was a special treat. While they painted, we listened to songs and audio recordings:
The portraits will be hung in the hall where we have our Black History Month display.
Mrs. Glass came and helped us make really cute melting snowmen. This art project goes with our current #2ndchat read aloud: Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner
Mrs. Glass gave us step by step instructions on how to put our snowpeople together. Each student chose the color scarf and type of hat so that each snowperson looked different.
We also added this poem to our project:
I made a little snowman, as perfect as can be
I thought I’d keep him in my room and keep
him warm like me.
But, when I woke next morning my mind was in a muddle.
He’s run away, I don’t know why and left me with a puddle.
Adapted by Rita Wilson
copyrighted to Craftbits.com
After the project was complete, the students spent time brainstorming ideas for their own story. They are using their imaginations to create a story about snowmen playing in their rooms while they sleep . I cannot wait to see what the students come up with!
