Monday, Feb. 7

Kaylee said today was a great day. She liked being able to find the new math games we learned about. Evan wasn't excited about the outcome of the Super Bowl. He's a Steelers fan!!!! Robert liked it, though. He says, "Go Packers." Allie liked last week's Super Bowl of Math. She loved the games. Jonathan liked it, too, because some of our families got to experience the games with us. Emily's favorite thing was earning all of the money that her class earned today. (It was Mrs. Bruno's favorite, too, because the more money . . . the better the class behaved!!!!) :)

Super Bowl of Math

What an exciting time we had at the Super Bowl of Math! Based on the graph that both classes made, our classes believe that the Steelers will win the Super Bowl. Can't wait to see the outcome of the game!

We rotated through centers in both rooms. In Mrs. Bruno's room, we worked on money, place value, visual representation, and corresponding values . . . all with football themes. At the end of the day, we got to eat tailgating snacks. We had a great time!!!

WHIRLWIND!!!!

Wow, have things been crazy in the last six weeks! As usual, things were a little hairy the two weeks before Christmas, but you expect that! I did not expect things to be so crazy when we came back. We were back at school for two days, then out for snow for three days, back for two days, and out for MLK yesterday. We're having a hard time finding a rhythm. I'm hoping we can get back in the swing of things this week! We need a defined schedule!!!

Our class is big on using Ustream to inform our parents and absent students what we're doing in the classroom. What you may not know is how much we actually watch Ustream, as well. We view an eagle's nest, several owls' nests, a hawk's nest, a hummingbird's nest, and many others on a regular basis.

The hummingbird's nest that we view has a female, Phoebe, and her two eggs. Today was supposed to be hatching day, and we were so excited. Because the nest is in California, they are two hours behind us. We watched as soon as we got to school, but nothing had happened. We chatted with some very knowledgable folks who wanted us to ask questions. Samantha asked how hummingbirds were different from other birds. We learned that hummingbirds cannot walk at all, they must fly. They also don't move their wings up and down, but in a figure 8 motion. They can fly forwards, backwards, up and down, etc. Crystal asked how much Phoebe weighed. She weighs about 2.5 grams . . . that's like holding two paper clips in your hand. WOW!!! Ellen asked how big Phoebe is, and we were told she is barely 3 inches long! J'Doir asked if the babies would be able to see when they hatched, and we were surprised to see that the answer was NO!!!! Their eyeballs are the size they will be when they are adults, but their skull grows around them!!!

Colonial Day

What fun we had at Colonial Day!!! We made butter, wrote with quill pens, learned Colonial dances, dipped candles, made cornhusk dolls, played Colonial games, and learned Colonial sayings!!! Whew!!! We were exhausted by the end of the day!!!!

Thanksgiving Pictures

Instead of a play about the Pilgrims and Indians, we made our Thanksgiving play into a play about the time period in which the Pilgrims would have landed in the New World . . . the Colonial Period. It fits in with our curriculum better, and we get to learn all about how life was lived in these days. Here are some pictures of our Colonial Play.

Long time, no post!

We've been so busy that I've failed to post anything for a long time!

Today, we introduced subtraction of double-digit numbers with regrouping. The kids seemed to catch on quickly. We'll do lots more practicing this week, then have a big unit test next week.

We also finished our organisms unit last week and have begun to study Colonial America. You can check out our cool "prezi" at prezi.com. Search for Colonial America by Jennifer Bruno. We learned lots and got to see cool pictures of what life back then looked like.

We've had some great parents working for two days straight on our Colonial Journals. We can't wait to see them and use them. THANKS MOMS!!!!!!!

Organisms Module

Our organisms arrived today! We have millipedes and pill bugs, better known as roly-polys. We looked at them with hand lenses, after building their woodland ecosystem. Tomorrow, we hope to build an aquatic ecosystem. When we were building the terrariums, we used rocks, soil, a woodland plant, and moss.

Thanks to Raya's mom for sending us home with Halloween goody bags!!!!