A to Zirilli: Cold Days, Warm Hearts

The days have been brutally cold but we have some wonderful students who keep us on our toes and warm our hearts. The kindness I see really makes my heart happy. The children help one another and include them. No one feels left out or alone. This group of students really makes me love my job and what I do.

Monday:

We began our new unit in Wonders- Unit 4 Week 1 all about the government. The children read A World Without Rules and worked on new vocabulary words. We heard some great discussions about why we need laws and rules or it would be a world of chaos.

In Math we are continuing with fractions. The children are working together to figure out math problems and how to show their work. We love to have students come up and show what they know.

We began the unit by reviewing what a fraction is and equivalent fractions. The children worked together on dividing the strip into fourths then eighths.

Tuesday:

More Wonders work-vocabulary words and read See How They Run- the children had a lot to say about having a world without following any rules.

We also continued working on Bolivia for International Night. It is great to see the children all working together and collaborating.

Wednesday:

The month of February is dedicated to black history month and we are researching African American Icons. The children started this on Wednesday. Each day for the month of February I will dedicate it to an influential African American who has done something positive in the world.

In Science the children are learning more about Vision and Light and the tokay gecko.

Equivalent fractions was our topic today in Math as the children worked with manipulatives to see how they were equal.

Thursday:

We continued the work on researching an influential African American. Our display is coming along nicely. We also have many books available to read.

In Science the children continue to learn about the survival needs of animals in the rain forest. They work together to figure out answers to the questions in their investigation notebooks. We are learning about the senses they use to survive in their environment.

Friday:

Friday arrived and we were ready for the weekend, but we still had a lot to do. The children took their spelling test, we went over Wonders with summarizing the story we read throughout the week and our student of the week was announced.

In Math on Fridays we will now be revisiting a topic we have already gone over in preparation for our RICAS testing. I set up various stations involving place value and the children did various activities. It seemed to have gone well and we will do this on Fridays. Each Friday will focus on a different topic.