Character Quilt

After reading The Josephina Quilt Story the children created character quilt blocks using 1 inch pieces of construction paper. The small squares had to be cut in halves and quarters and then either flipped or rotated to complete each quilt block. Not an easy task as we soon found out! After that they had to figure out which array best suited the number of completed quilt blocks. Finally, following the tradition of each corner using the same quilt block they had to find a way to put all the blocks together in a pattern that was pleasing to the eye. Every completed quilt was different which then necessitated a democratic vote, with eyes closed of course. Here are the final 5 with demo quilts. Can you pick the winner?

What are we thankful for?

The children created lists of things that they were thankful for in Wordle and made colorful word clouds. These word clouds were then placed on mats that were woven out of construction paper. The technology involved in the project was a snap. The most difficult task was cutting the strips of paper to weave! The children read lots of Thanksgiving poems together, some with real voice and tone . . . an impromptu poetry jam. Everyone pitched in to rearrange the tables so that we could all sit together at one giant table for our Thanksgiving Feast. After every ingredient was mixed in the largest pot we could find Mrs. Barfield carved our pineapple turkey. We all enjoyed a bountiful bowl of gorp snack mix and fresh pineapple. We certainly do have a lot to be thankful for!

Fall Images

We all had a wonderful time at the Harvest Party, both school wide and in the classroom. I've never seen children gobble up bowls full of vegetables like they did the day we dined on Stone Soup. Many of them went back for seconds and savored every drop! Many thanks to our gardener, Andrew, for coordinating that effort.
Our most recent 4 Winds workshop was all about beavers. The children loved pretending to be beavers eating their way around a tree (carrot in our case) to see which direction it would fall. This task was much tougher than one would think given that most of the children are sporting a toothless grin these days. They all have a new appreciation for how much work goes into creating beaver dams and lodges.

Author's Celebration

We had a wonderful celebration this morning with Mrs. Eaton's 1st graders that included special cookies and amazing stories written and illustrated by the 2nd graders! Colby, Jessie, and Hailey did a great job welcoming our guests and filling them in on the importance of a strong beginning, middle, and end within a story. They also informed them that a good author will include a setting and characters in the beginning and the most important part of a story can usually be heard in the middle and that is also where you can link the title of the story. Everyone broke up into small mixed groups to listen to and comment on the stories as each author read his/hers aloud. They were all so proud of their work. I'm quite sure the 1st graders will be pumping up their stories now! October will bring about "small moments" stories so start celebrating the little things that happen in our day . . . the way a dogs tail wags when it's happy and then knocks over the vase of flowers sending it across the room in a shower of green speckled water!

Readers & Writers Workshops

Routines are quickly becoming established for both Readers and Writers Workshops. Each class begins with a mini lesson providing the children with a springboard upon which they are able to launch new skills and strategies. Each mini lesson builds upon the previous mini lesson allowing the children enough time to experiment and fully understand big ideas that we take for granted. For example; ways to choose a just right book, where is a good place to read, how to keep track of ones reading, rereading for importance, beginning / middle / end of a story, what content should go within each section, how to choose a title for a story, how do you listen to yourself read for revisions, and so many more.
We also spend time discussing what it looks and sounds like in the classroom during these classes. The children like to pretend that visitors from Planet Xargle are going to stop by any minute and they don't want them to get the wrong idea. Read Earthlets: As Explained by Professor Xargle by Jeanne Willis to find out the whole story!

Off and Running

The first 6 weeks of school are always devoted to setting up routines that will carry us through the year. The 2nd year of looping is a breath of fresh air as everyone knows the routines and only need a bit of regrouping to be back in the saddle again. We've been hard at work learning school rules (be safe, be kind, and be responsible) as well as working on ways to incorporate CARES into our everyday lives. CARES is an acronym for cooperate, assert, responsible, empathy, and self-control. Along with all of this we have learned the 5 words that make up the mandarin character for the verb "to listen". Check your child's blue home folder tomorrow (and every Friday throughout the school year) for a copy of this character and ask your child which part they find the most difficult and which parts they do automatically.
Everyone is enjoying sorting, classifying, and creating patterns in math. Our number corner routine is well underway and encourages the children to think in different ways. The monthly patterns represent growing patterns this year as opposed to repeating patterns. A new challenge for everyone!

Where did August go?

I can hardly believe that school will begin next week! All the Synergy teachers have been in school the entire month of August unpacking boxes and finding places for everything. We have been having so much fun that the month has just flown by. I'm so excited to see everyone again and get back together. Here's another clue to some of the technology we'll be working on this year. Do you remember the name of this program?

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