Learning to do the Daily 5!

No, it's not a new dance! The Daily 5 is just a different way to deliver the Language Arts curriculum! It builds on the students' ability to choose how they want to learn. We are learning to be "experts" in each of the 5 choices.

This week we practiced "Word Work" and "Read to Self". Students choose what activity they would like to do first, second and third and spend just four minutes working at each activity. Eventually (when they are experts!) more time will be spent working independently.

Some of the Word Work choices in action.

Kindergarten friends in their "special" reading spaces.

Ms. Warren was so pleased and proud of their hard work and she knows they will be at "expert" status in no time!

Enjoying the April sun!

Our kindergarten friends took advantage of the warm April weather this week and enjoyed a break from work to play outside.

We had sooo much fun ... don't you just wish every day could be this warm?

Signs of Spring!

 Today we brainstormed on the Smartboard "How can we tell if spring has arrived?" Then, with our list of possible things to look for, we did a walk around the school to see how many we could find.

We were surprised to see so many of the signs we thought of! We found leaf buds, flowers, bugs and (yes!) even the sun! Spring has definitely arrived at Macdonald Drive Elementary!

 

Alphabet Fun

Many of these songs have come home in our song folder, but thought I'd post the link to help with any tunes forgotten.  The actions for each letter are also shown. I hope you enjoy singing along with them at home!

Healthy Teeth :: Update

We were very excited to watch our eggs and see if what we predicted would happen really would. Here's what we found:

• The eggs did not break or crack but they certainly did change...at least two of them did. 
•  The egg in the water stayed white and did not change. 

•  The egg in the cola and the juice turned really brown. 

•  We thought the cola would have turned the darkest but it didn't. Both eggs were about the same color. 
•  The eggs turned brown by the end of day 1. 

 We are so glad that the eggs were not really our teeth!