Mad About Money!

   We recently started our unit on economics and while our teaching objectives focus on wants and needs and understanding how money is used today the kids seem to be taking a more sincere interest in the history of money! They have totally mastered how to write a basic budget (chores and minor purchases), the numerical value of money, the difference between a want and a need, and even further they now realize that there are many types of money all over the world that have different values and a direct value relationship to our U.S. dollar.
    We did a whole class activity for which the stage was set in a time years ago, even before actual money existed, and each child was given a good and asked to come to the realization on their own that people would have to trade one thing to obtain another. To do this I simply gave them play things like dice (cheese), crayons (soap), play food, keys (metal for tools) and asked them how they would get soap and food for their family when all they had was metal or buttons. They then came to the realization that they would have to trade one good for another. The kids navigated their way through understanding "bartering" and came to the realization that sometimes they couldn't get a fair deal if someone was being a stickler with negotiation! Some of the little ones even discovered how to undercut  challenge their competition for better trades! haha! The kids were engaged in the process and were able to sort through the concept of bartering and understand that a standard value currency was necessary for people to participate in a successful economic community. This is just another fine example of why kids amaze me every day; they were able to sort through years worth of complex problems in a thirty minute lesson (kidding!). I wonder what the children long ago thought about the development of money?
    Parallel to the aforementioned, the kids are interested in why we use the money we do today instead of the gold and silver types of years ago. Someone suggested it became to expensive to produce the coins of gold and silver. This will be the next step in our investigation...

It Is Nearly Certain We Will LOVE Probability

Today we started our unit on probability and the kids were slow to warm with the topic, but as soon as they saw a few examples of how probability works (some even for the first time) they were fully engaged and dare I say, even excited!
Here are a few snapshots of us exploring the uncertain world of probability. Yes, that was a joke. No, you don't have to laugh. ;)

Earth Day Celebrations and The Lorax

We are spending the week celebrating Earth Day by way of multiple disciplines in our classroom. We enjoyed a little bit of Starfall's "Every Day is Earth Day" during our computer center.

Our class also read a book as one whole reading group for the first time this year! It was a lot of fun. We then colored the pictures for a nice treat and a brain-break (coloring is a big treat in our room).  

This morning we read Dr. Seuss' The Lorax and had fun signaling the page turn with chimes; this helped us to focus because the book is actually quite lengthy!

Next, we wrote "If I were the Lorax, this is how I would help our Earth" and made Lorax mustaches courtesy of the Earth Day Lorax Craftivity by Mel D. at Seusstastic.blogspot.com and Rachel Friedrich at Sub Hub! We toted our mustaches all the way out to the recycling bin at our school to recycle our scraps (and other trash treasures)!

We even noticed the neat shadows of our mustaches as we dumped the recycling bin. :)

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better. 

It's not."

-Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

Welcome Back and Making Inferences

    Welcome back- I hope everyone had a great break and were able to spend time with their loved ones! I would like to take a moment to brag about share with you what the kiddos did today. J I thought it would be a slow morning seeing as it was our first day back but boy was I wrong! The kids welcomed the morning routine with open arms and even surprised me by taking lesson ideas one step further; they are so awesome. While engaging in our “Zap” game of HFW’s two of the little ones decided to add another level of challenge and require that you not only read the word on the popsicle stick correctly but also use it accurately in a sentence... they then took out their individualized spelling cards and spelling folders to crosscheck the words, just in case they should already know how to read the word. Are you kidding me?!? It was one of those moments when you feel great because you know that they not only can do the task at hand but also understand how to reference related materials, make important connections, ask the right questions, and are intrinsically motivated to challenge themselves and others.

  While on the topic of motivation I was looking through some super teacher blogs over break and came across a lesson on making inferences on a blog called The Inspired Apple; it parallels a concept introduced in the book Comprehension Connections- Bridges to Strategic Reading by Tanny McGregor and decided to try it today with the kiddos. It went so great I wanted to share some photos from it!

First, we dumped out my trashcan and examined the items...

 We listed each item and made an inference based on the item. 

Here is our completed chart.

Some of the responses read:

Item: To-Do List   "I infer that she has stuff to do every day."

Item: Breakfast Bar Wrapper "I infer that Mrs. Wilson likes fast breakfasts!" (this is more of a necessity than a like, but great inference! haha)

Item: A Tag From a New Puppet  "In infer that she bought us a new puppet."

Item: Little Broken Pencil  "I infer that she doesn't want us to hurt ourselves."

What a great job at an otherwise complicated concept. Happy Monday!

Explorations of Our Place in Space

Here are a few snapshots from our exploration of our place in space!

Here we are observing the earth orbiting around the sun! 

Constellation projections! 

Happy Spring Break to all and safe travels!

Mrs. Wilson

Vacations and Staycations

  Even though we are in the middle of our geometry unit it is important to weave in prior mathematics topics just to keep everything fresh in their little noggins; so, we completed a graph to show how far we are traveling over spring break! Some of us are traveling over 300 miles and some of us are planning “staycations” for a little rest and relaxation. Either way, I am sure we will be refreshed and ready to work hard for the remainder of the school year once we return! 

Sundial Time!!!

   While researching how the earth revolves around the sun and how the sun "rises" in the east and "sets" in the west we came across a picture of a sundial. We knew we just had to make our own! We learned about the different parts of the sundial and found things in our room that were similar. We used a piece of paper as the face and a pointer as the gnomon. We then made a mark around the time we placed it outside (based on a sundial face diagram we found on NASA's websited) and came back an hour later only to find that it really had moved to keep time! The kids were fascinated! =)

 Here is the sundial; the two little marks are the frame for where the gnomon case it's shadow at the beginning of the exploration and you can see where the shadow was an hour later!!!