Five for Friday!

Happy Friday! I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share with you five things that happened this week!

This week we started our three week unit, "All About Me". This first week we spent learning all about our five senses.  Here is our anchor chart that the kids have been labeling all week. The labels are in the library to be laminated (nothing like finding a fun idea on Pinterest last minute!!) so we have just been using sticky notes!

To introduce the Five Senses, I used a Common Core in the Classroom lesson from Discovery Education. My Five Senses: How They Help Me Learn About the World is an amazing three day lesson that really helped my students understand the importance of our senses. Using the wolf from the fairytale, Little Red Riding Hood , I introduced the five senses to my kiddos. They were HOOKED! We then watched different video clips, read books about each sense and did a lot of whole group and independent writing to explore how our senses help us learn about the world around us. I plan to do a more in-depth post about this over the weekend!

This week we also began our AMSTI Science Weather Kit. Before we became scientist though, we had to brainstorm exactly what a scientist does. Here is our super cute anchor chart that will hang on our science board all year!

Our first lesson on weather began with a book by one of my favorite author/illustrators, Jim Arnosky, Rabbits and Raindrops. I love his books and so do the kids!  In theory we would have contrasted our weather with the rabbits but since the weather was exactly the same, we had a great time comparing them. My kiddos fell in love with being a scientist and observing the weather. For the first time in three weeks, they were ALMOST quiet! :)

Later we discussed different types of weather that we have here on the Gulf Coast and graphed our favorite kind! As hot as it has been the past few weeks, I don't think I blame them for liking cold weather best!

  This week we have begun our Counting Jar morning work. Counting jar is part of AMSTI Math from the Terc Investigations math book. We have PE first thing so there is not a lot we can get done in the short amount of time so we do our counting jar. The kids come in and they have a counting basket on their table. In the basket there is a bowl of buttons, four empty containers, sticky notes and counting manipulatives. The students count the buttons, create a counting basket containing the same amount, and then write the numeral (if they can at this point) and draw a picture representation of the number. The students post their sticky notes on our class counting jar. After finishing my morning work, I walk around and check their baskets. This has worked out great! We are still working on working quietly and independently but it is going really well!

 We are also starting Daily Data. Right now it is more like weekly data but (fingers crossed) it will become daily soon. Each day there will be a question for students to answer in the form of a graph. Our first question is below. We had a great discussion about what all this chart could tell us. I love the last sentence. "If you put 9 boys and 9 girls together, that is like 9+9=18." WOO HOO!!!

What amazing and fabulous things have you done this week? Leave a comment and then check out all the other Five for Fridays from Doodle Bugs Teaching!