Another Author Study

We enjoyed our Author Study on Eric Carle so much that we are going to spend the next three weeks doing another Author Study.  This time, we will focus on Tomie dePaola.  Mr. dePaola has written and/or illustrated over 200 books for children!

We will be reading his autobiographical books: The Art Lesson, The Baby Sister, Tom, Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs, and Stagestruck.  We will also read several books from the "Barker" series.  The "Barkers" are Morgan and Moffat - dogs who are named after pets that Tomie dePaola used to have.  We will conclude by reading several of the "Strega Nona" books.  Our students are already familiar with the original Strega Nona, which was one of our STAR books last Fall. 

Do you think Tomie dePaola looks a bit like Eric Carle?  They both have white hair and white beards now, and they both live in New England.

Check out Mr. dePaola's website at http://www.tomie.com/

Our Bean Plants

Our bean plants grew about ten inches tall in one week!  I guess it's the afternoon sun coming in the east window that did it.  The children were excited to come into the classroom on Monday and see them so big!

Almost every day, our students recorded the growth of their bean plants in their Science Journals.

Our young scientists took their bean plants home on Tuesday, April 24th, exactly one week after they planted them!

Pizza Faces

This month we are revisiting Functional Writing.  This type of writing is what we do in our homes frequently, such as recipes, directions for the babysitter, grocery lists, and so forth.  We read this new level "C" book, Pizza Faces, then tried our hand at creating our own pizza faces.  Some of the children have already brought this book home as a Homework Book.

 First, we put pizza sauce on an English Muffin.

Then, we put cheese on top of the sauce.

Then we used black olives, mushrooms, pieces of red bell pepper, and pepperoni to make the facial features.  Mrs. Doiron never makes students eat foods they don't like, so everyone used what they liked for the eyes, nose, and mouth.

This pepperoni pizza face was made by someone who didn't want to eat any vegetables!

Yummy, pizza faces are so good!

PLANTING BEAN SEEDS

On Tuesday, April 17, 2012, our students enjoyed Merrill Road Elementary School's outdoor learning area to plant bean seeds, which is a part of our Science unit on Living Things: Plants and Animals.  Then, as a part of our Writer's Workshop unit on Fuctional Writing, the children wrote the steps they took to plant the seeds.  We all enjoyed working outside on such a beautiful day.  We will definitly use this outdoor learning area, again!

Our bean plants will sit in the sun by the window for a few weeks.  Students will record how their plants are growing by drawing and writing in their Science Journals.  Later, the children will bring their bean plants home.

Pancakes, Pancakes

On Monday, April 16, 2012, FSCJ Intern, Ms. Thomas, read Pancakes, Pancakes by Eric Carle, as a part of our Eric Carle Author Study.  Then she made pancakes, according to the recipe at the end of the book.  After eating the pancakes, students practiced Functional Writing by writing the steps to make pancakes.  Writing sure is tasty!

How to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

During Writer's Workshop, we are revisiting Functional Writing, or "How to" writing.  Some of the Functional Writing we do in our daily lives are writing recipes and directions.  On Monday, April 9th, students in our class made their own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  After eating the sandwiches, students wrote directions on how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

If students didn't like peanut butter AND jelly together, they made peanut butter sandwiches OR jelly sandwiches.  We all have different tastes, you know.

First put peanut butter on the bread.  Next put jelly on the bread.

Last you eat.

If you want to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you need two pieces of bread.

Next you need peanut butter and jelly.  Then you smush it together.  Last you eat it.

EASTER EGG HUNT

On your mark, get set, go...

So often, children are in a race to see who can find the most eggs.  At our Easter Egg Hunt, students were only allowed to pick up the eggs with their own name.  They were encouraged to help their classmates find eggs.  In this manner, our students worked together to make certain that everyone found their eggs and everyone had a fun time.  Each student found about 25 eggs!

Thank you to Ms. Gonzales, Ms. Halliger, Ms. Jones, and Ms. King.  They volunteered at school putting candy in eggs, labeling the eggs, and hiding the eggs while the children were at lunch.  We are grateful to have such involved parents and volunteers at our school!

Painting like Eric Carle

Our students are trying their hands at painting like Eric Carle.  We followed the directions on a slide show which is on his website.

Our students painted a base coat on Monday, diagonal strokes on Tuesday, and dots on Wednesday.  Students learned that it is important to let one coat dry before painting the next layer.  Watch to see what we do with these next week...