We started unit 7 in math this week which deals mainly with Geometry concepts. 
Our learning target today were:
1) I will identify 2 dimensional shapes
2) I will describe characteristics of 2D shapes


We discussed the following shapes: squares, triangles, hexagons, skinny and fat rhombuses, trapezoids, circles, and rectangles. We even talked a little bit about parallelograms.
After our discussion we read 2 books by Lois Ehlert, Color Zoo and Color Farm where we observed how shapes can be used to make lots of different animals. 
Next, we each made a shape critter using the shapes that we had discussed. 

Below are all of our creations. Ask your child to identify some of the shapes used in their and their classmates creations. Enjoy!

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We will be using our shape critter projects in writer's workshop this week to learn how to write How-to paragraphs. We will be going through the writing process (brainstorming, rough draft, edit, revise, and publish) to put our paragraphs together. Be on the lookout for the final projects to be on the blog sometime next week.


A big thank you to Mr. Sufka for coming in and sharing a Robert Munsch story with the class this morning as well. We had a lot of laughs and some good discussion about the topic of bullying. Ask your child about the story, Stephanie's Ponytail by Robert Munsch.

Putt Putt Night Course Makers

Below is a quick slide show that I put together for Putt Putt night of all the kiddos that helped to create our room!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Please remember that this next week is just a 2 day week! Also, just wanted to let you know that I emailed each of you your child's Voki creation from the lab last week. If you do not receive it, please let me know and I will resend it.

This week we read the story, Turkey Trouble to go along with our family turkey project. The story is about a turkey who does not want to get eaten for Thanksgiving and so decides to disguise himself like the various animals on the farm. We had a lot of laughs as we read this one as the author and illustrator were quite clever with their ideas. That being said, I think we should email them a few of our clever creations.

Thank you for helping your child to complete this family project!! We enjoyed each and every one of them. In all the years that I have done this project, I continue to be amazed by the cleverness that comes out of this project and that each and every year, there are turkeys that I've never seen.

I hope that you enjoy seeing all of our turkeys as well. Leave us a comment and let us know which turkeys were your favorites.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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End of the Year Memories

Hard to believe our year has come to an end. It has been a year of many changes, both socially, academically, and even in height! I have sooooo enjoyed working with each of your children and marveled at the gains they have each made which have brought them to this day.

Thank you for stopping by our blog this year to see what we've been up to. I hope that you have found it useful as well as enjoyable.

I hope you enjoy the slide show below which highlights just a few of things we have done this year. I do have a few pics from our research project and from our picnic that I will post over the weekend so please stop back soon to see those as well.
Have a wonderful summer!
Mrs. Malchow

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G and H days

It's gum day today! Wait til you see what we're up to today.

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Also, don't forget that our trip to Barkhausen is tomorrow (Wednesday) Please be sure to send a lunch and drink for your child unless you already signed up for the lunch program to provide one for your child. Also, with all of the rain, I'm sure things will be muddy, please be sure to wear old shoes and pants. You may want to put some bug spray and/or sunscreen on your child as well before they leave home.
If you signed up to chaperone, letters are coming home today with your child. Please plan to be at school by 8:15 and be sure to stop and check in with the office first.
Thanks!

Bubbles and Technology

Today was an exciting day as we got to use the netbooks (mini computers) today to publish our bubble poems. We started by each getting a netbook and learning how to log on. We then learned how to use Google to search for a website. We searched for ABCya's Word Clouds . We then typed our bubble poems from yesterday into this site which gave our poems a whole new look and feel. Kiddos got to choose their own font, color scheme and layout for their poem. They all turned out absolutely wonderful and each and every one has its own unique look and feel.

I was extremely impressed with how well everyone did today with the netbooks. We didn't even use computer mice today, but rather used the mouse touch pad. I was amazed at how quickly the kiddos made the transition to just using their fingers as their mouse.

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Here are our original bubble poems from yesterday. We discussed/reveiewed describing words, action words, and similes to complete the format for our poems. The similes  on the fourth line are very clever and creative. I hope you enjoy reading our originals as well as our "Wordled" version.

Bubble Poems

If you get the chance, I encourage you to have your child show you the ABCya word cloud site and how it works. Have your child type two or three sentences about their weekend and then "wordle it" to see how it looks.
Enjoy!

Hip, Hip, Hooray! It's the 100th day!!

WoW! What an exciting day of fun and learning! We celebrated our 100th day of school today!!! We started our day by writing about what we would do if I gave them each a crisp, new $100 bill? We had lots of creative ideas but the intersting thing was that almost everyone said that they would save their money in order to do something bigger and better. After they wrote their ideas, they each got a $100 bill... see the pics for their great work!

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Next we talked about what we might look like in 100 years and did a project to show ourselves. These turned out absolutely precious and will be up for you to enjoy at conference time.

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In the afternoon we had a 100th day scavenger hunt. I hid 100 Hershey kisses around the room and as the kiddos found them they needed to find the number on the bottom of their kiss and flip the corresponding number on the smartboard 100 grid. We had lots of fun with this one and I learned that I need to find better hiding spots next year!

Last, we ate our 100th day snack, and played a game called race to $100 in which the kids practiced their money identification and nickel exchanges.

Have you seen Tom Turkey?

WoW! What a fantastic and creatively designed flock of turkeys! I hope that you enjoyed working on this project with your child as much as they enjoyed sharing their creations when they brought them to school. Please enjoy seeing all of our clever disguises below!
Mrs. Malchow

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PTO Cream-a-teacher event

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Delzer's Field Trip

We had a great time on our field trip! Here are some of the pics to prove it. Enjoy!

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