2012, Here we come!

Welcome back! It sounds like all of the kids had a great break!

We kicked off the first day of the new semester with a in-class writing assignment titled, “My Awesome Christmas Break”. The sat and wrote about their holiday and we shared them with the class!

Spelling- We discussed the spelling of each word in list 17 today. Also, we worked on writing some of the harder words in cursive. We will be making corrections and going over our handwriting mistakes on Thursday.

Grammar- What a day! We weren't baby-stepped back into grammar today, we were dunked into some awesome new material! Before the break, we learned about simple subjects, complete subjects, and complete predicates. We also learned about direct objects in previous lessons. Today, we learned about linking verbs. The same verbs that make up our state-of-being-verb list also make up our list of linking verbs. These words act as linking verbs when they link the subject to a predicate nominative. For instance, “It was Karen.” In this sentence, “was” links the subject “it” to the noun “Karen”. Karen becomes a renaming word for the subject. A predicate nominative is a noun or pronoun in the complete predicate that renames the subject. The difference between direct objects and predicate nominatives is that direct objects follow action verbs (“She threw food.”), while predicate nominatives follow linking verbs (“Is is food.”).

Reading- We began our new book today, “The Earthshaking Earthquake Mystery”. This book will bridge our lessons in Earth science with our reading lessons. Today, we read the first two chapters out loud. Although there are some tough words, the kids are loving the story already!

Math- We worked on multiplication and division word problems today. The kids could draw pictures, bar representations, or number bonds to help them work their way through the problems. Afterward, we used Popsicle sticks and masking tape to create a multiplication helper!

Science- We learned more about the layers of the Earth and tectonic plates today. The kids worked in groups to come up with their own theories of how the Earth looked millions of years ago. They cut tectonic plates out of paper and used clues, such as commonly found fossils, minerals, and continent shapes in order to come up with their own version of the super-continent. Then, we compared their theories to a map of scientists' theory of Pangea.

Art- Today, the students worked on an overlapping abstract with oil pastels. Sometimes it is hard for them to accept creating something that isn't true to life. However, they are getting more and more trusting as they get more comfortable with their artistic sides!

Music- Today, Mrs. Beresford led the kids through a lesson on playing notes on the staff. The followed the notes on the screen... each student was a note as they popped up and shouted their note with the beat. They had a hard time remembering the location of the “D” on the staff. To help them remember that it is right below the staff, the class had to go under the table and get a good visual on being under the staff. Hopefully, that will help them remember! The kids worked on a new song, “In the Morning”, which Mrs. Beresford gave out today.