Week 12 Spelling Words (Nov. 2-6)

1.  does

2.  into

3.  job

4.  log

5.  jog

6.  dog

7.  water

8.  he

9.  stop

10. lock

Simon Says, "Run around the room and scream really loud!"

Of course Mrs. Dantin would never allow us to do that!  This week, we have been working on antonyms, or opposites.  We have done plenty of fun activities to help us practice identifying, naming, and matching antonym pairs. 

We started out with a backwards game of 'Simon Says.'  Mrs. Dantin wanted us to listen closely to what 'Simon' said so we could do the opposite!  First, he said to sit on the floor, so we all stood up.  Then, he wanted us to cry, so we started laughing!  It was so much fun, but really tricky!

Next, Mrs. Dantin showed us a story that had different colored words.  She explained that all of the words in blue needed to be changed.  We had to think of antonyms for the blue words then post the antonym on top of the original word.

Avery reaching to post an antonym over an original word.

Our finished product!

Another fun activity we did this week was antonym match-up.  Mrs. Dantin gave each of us a word card.  After everyone had a card, we all worked to find our antonym match.

Meagan and T'Marcio were an antonym pair: strong and weak.

D'Aviance and Dynasty were an antonym pair: high and low.

Marquavius and Mrs. Dantin were an antonym pair: short and tall.

We were also able to work with antonym pairs during our independent exploration centers.  To complete the first center, we had to match antonym puzzle pieces then record the pairs on our paper.  At the other center, we had to name pictures then cut and paste a word that completed the antonym pair.

Avery and Areesia piecing together antonym puzzle pairs.

T'Marcio gluing a word to complete an antonym pair.

We have worked hard to learn antonyms this week and Mrs. Dantin is proud of all our work.  Next week, we will work on synonyms!

Red Ribbon Week

All week long we are celebrating being drug-free and achieving our goals!  Today we wore red ribbons and signed our names on a drug-free banner.

Destiny and Kadarius proudly wear their red ribbons.

We also brainstormed what we would like to be whenever we grow up.  We talked with Mrs. Dantin about how to achieve these goals.  We all agreed that the best way for us to reach our goals is to stay in school.  Since we have been focusing on addition in math, we created addition sentences to show:

Me + School = My Dreams

  

Meagan would like to be a movie star.

       Marquavius would like to be a solider.

Once we finished our addition problems, Mrs. Dantin displayed them on our door decorations for 'Red Ribbon Week'.  Not all of our addition problems could fit so Mrs. Dantin had to hang some inside our room.

Drugs Don't Add Up!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Reading Fair

Van Winkle hosted a Reading Fair today! Students in second through fifth grade are required to read a fiction book and complete a display board that shows different elements of the book. Students in kindergarten and first grade have the option to do the project. Three students from our class entered book displays that they created on their own:

MacKenzie read Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse for her Reading Fair project.

Avery read Kitten's First Full Moon for his Reading Fair project.

Micheal read Ghost School for his Reading Fair project.

We all read the story The Carrot Seed and worked together to complete a display board for the Reading Fair. We read the story with Mrs. Dantin in our small groups and discussed different elements of the book.

Keshawn and Micheal reading The Carrot Seed to help create our class project.

We entered our book display and won second place!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Week 11 Spelling Words (Oct. 26-30)

1. fix

2. how

3. many

4. they

5. box

6. six

7. mix

8. in

9. on

10. fish

Friday, October 23, 2009

Fall Into Learning

Welcome to our class blog! Information about schoolwork, homework, and upcoming events will be posted for your reference. Mrs. Dantin encourages us to stay focused by snapping pictures of us as we work quietly. We all want our pictures posted on our class blog! As we work throughout the day, Mrs. Dantin gives us several opportunities to take part in activities as a whole class and within a small group. We also work with buddies and independently to complete many assignments. Look how hard we've been working:

We write in our journal each morning. This gives Mrs. Dantin a chance to conference with us about our writing progess every day!

Meagan's thoughtful journal entry about her favorite color.

After journals, we gather on the carpet to learn and practice reading skills. We work on blending and segmenting words to help us 'sound out' words we don't know. Mrs. Dantin also teaches us reading strategies to help us understand stories as we read. We end carpet time by reviewing our spelling words.

Now, it's time for literacy stations! We have 5 stations in our room: Mrs. Dantin's reading station, Ms. Allen's phonics station, a listening station, an independent reading station, and an independent exploration station. We rotate to each station Monday through Thursday for 20 minutes at a time:

Avery listening to a story on tape then completing a follow-up comprehension activity.

T'Marcio matching naming and action parts to create sentences at an independent exploration station.


Yolanda brainstorming for a spooky Halloween story with Mrs. Dantin.

Areesia identifying cause and effect relationships within a story with Mrs. Dantin.

Keshawn and Shemar identifying short vowel sounds at an independent exploration station.

Christian changing the beginning sounds of words to create rhyming lists at an independent exploration station.

MacKenzie creating rhyming word lists with Ms. Allen.

Now it's time for lunch and recess on the playground! We play as hard as we work!!

Fred racing down the slide.

When we return to our classroom, we work on our language arts, or english skills. We work hard to identify nouns and verbs, as well as, writing complete sentences. Right now we are working on the writing process (brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) and using adjectives to describe nouns!

At the end of our day, we switch gears to focus on math! Mrs. Dantin always draws pictures, reads stories, and gives us different objects to use to help us understand math. Right now we are working on adding and subtracting numbers.

Micheal illustrating an addition problem.



Check back soon for next week's spelling words, the reading fair, Friday's PTA meeting, our week with adjectives, and Fall Festival!