Jump Rope For Heart!

Science Lab Fun

This is from a science lab we had a few weeks back where learned about both the respiratory system and the excretory system. Check out the video...it's SO cool!


Mrs. McKenzie is blowing into REAL pig's lungs!

Slightly Overdue...

Well, it's been way too long, but I finally have a chance to update the blog. I'll start by posting pictures of some of our bigger events over the last couple of months. Up first...Peebles Farm! Enjoy!

A Round of Applause...

Today I read Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco to the class. I was modeling for them how to make text-self connections. I told them how I related to the part where she was treated poorly by other kids at school and how the tears burned in her eyes. I referred to a time when I was in 6th grade and was taking a note from my teacher to a 7th grade teacher. As soon as I opened her door, a boy in her class, referring to me, goes, "UGH!" That one utterance from some boy I don't even know hurt my feelings so badly that day- I felt so low- ugly, dumb, etc. (By the way, if your child tells you that I teared up during this part, I'm neither denying nor confirming this ;) We had a little "teachable moment" about how I care so much about this class and how it hurts me so badly to hear them say ugly things to each other.

THEN, as I finished reading the book and closed the back cover, the sweetest thing happened...the whole class spontaneously broke out in applause! It truly is a touching book, and it was so heart-warming to see how it impacted this class. One student even exclaimed, "that was SUCH a GOOD book!" They didn't even notice that we were 5 minutes late to recess because we all were caught up in the story (usually I have 3 or 4 reminders that recess starts in a few minutes ;)

I am so proud of this wonderful class. Getting lost in a good story is what reading is about. As readers, when we develop a connection with the characters and with the story, it becomes not just pages with words, but a wonderful journey we can all go on together. Thank you for taking me on that journey today!

"Honey is sweet, and so is knowledge, but knowledge is like the bee that made that sweet honey, you have to chase it through the pages of a book!”

-Thank You, Mr. Falker
by Patricia Polacco

One more week down...

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I haven't posted in a while, but now that the progress report situation is FINALLY taken care of, I'll have more time on my hands to update! :)

Here are a few pictures I hadn't posted yet. Enjoy these, and look for another update soon!







The bat we saw on the way to morning recess!

What We're Up To...

Here's a look at what we're up to in reading...

We made a "reading salad" during today's read aloud. Just like a tossed salad could be a mixture of lettuce and tomatoes, our reading salad was a combination of text and thinking to represent that REAL reading means you are metacognitive: thinking about our thinking! Without the thinking, we can't comprehend the text!




Here are some pictures of a new strategy we're trying. We use 3-tone paint samples to track our understanding of the text we're reading. We place our finger on the white square if our understanding is clear, the middle darker square if we think we understand but need to read on some more to make sure what we're thinking is correct, or the darkest square if we are confused and need to go back and use some fix-up strategies to help our comprehension. It has been a great visual aid to help us monitor our metacognition!








Here are some more pictures of us hard at work! We had a wonderful day today!






...And it's only Tuesday! Here's to a great rest of our week!

Backwards Bob Rap

This is a video of us doing one of our favorite poems from our word studies!