Busy, Busy Week

What a busy week we've had. We've done research for our big animal project, and we've learned a new way to add two digit numbers. We use a Singapore Math strategy called branching, and it really helps the kids understand addition. I'm so impressed with the work the kids are doing!!!

Life Cycle of a Butterfly

Today we made a hands-on life cycle of a butterfly. This helped to reinforce that we know the four stages of its life cycle are egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysallis), and adult (butterfly). I'm so proud of how much the boys and girls are learning.

Our caterpillars are nearing the third stage in their lives. Each is preparing to form its chrysallis, and then we'll move them into a different container to emerge.

Be sure to have your kids sing the butterfly song they learned today.

Hope to see everyone at Parent Chat Night in about an hour!!!! : )

THE CATERPILLARS ARE HERE!

We've begun the study of the butterfly life cycle by being introduced to our new bouncing, baby caterpillars. (Hee! Hee!) We made them birth certificates, named them, and took pictures! The kids had a great time!!! I'm including a couple of pictures, but visit my website for all the children's pix!

Have a great Labor Day weekend! We're looking forward to seeing how much our caterpillars have grown in the few short days we're gone!

Not at School Today

I'm at a meeting at the board today. We're designing work for our school.

I set up the camera to run all day on uStream, but I checked it a moment ago and it's not working. I apologize. I did try! I'm disappointed because I was even going to check the stream today, too. It was going to be fun sitting on the other side of the computer and seeing what you guys see. Sorry!

Up and Running

I sent an email yesterday that uStream in now password-protected. If you need entry into the site and have lost that password, please email me. We're back up and running. We'll have live streaming most of the day.

This week has gone great. The kids are learning the parts of a plant and the function of each. We're also discussing why plants are important to us. Next week, we'll bring in pictures of plants we eat and categorize which part of the plant each is.

Math is going well, also. We'll re-take our "doubles/doubles + 1" timed test, as well as study for our "make 10" test. We're also learning some cool math games.

No UStream video today

Just wanted to let you know that I'm not streaming live today. I'll try to start back up late in the morning (10ish). Thanks!

A New School Year

I'm so excited about a new school year. This year, Mrs. Johnson and I will be team teaching. I can't wait to see how it goes. We're closing out our first week of swapping classes, and it's been a joy so far. I love teaching math, science,and social studies. She's an excellent language arts teacher, so I think this is going to be a great experience.

This week in math we've explored picture talks, reviewed number bonds, and learned a couple of addition strategies to help us answer math facts more efficiently. In science, we've investigated what makes something living or nonliving. We'll be turning our focus towards plants today.

I'll be posting to the blog every couple of days. When the students get comfortable with what's going on in class, they'll begin blogging, as well. Look for new pictures and updates soon!

I'm also very excited to announce that my lessons can be viewed via a live webcast daily at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jennifer-bruno. This will greatly benefit children who are absent. They can simply tune in and hear the exact same lesson they'd hear if they were at school. I'll also video archive some of the most important lessons so that parents can go back and see the lessons if there are questions at home. I really hope this helps children be less anxious upon returning to school. I'd love feedback throughout the year to assist me in making this more efficient and more user-friendly for parents. Thanks!