Ms. Baker began teaching the science unit on mixtures/interactions with water. First she performed experiments with the children mixing a variety of items with water. The children observed what dissolved through their science goggles! :) The children performed a Kagan activity and a picture sort to review what they learned during the experiments. One day this week the children reviewed adding doubles with a partner in a review game. We ended our unit on time with a review game. The children sat on the perimeter of the carpet and we played a card game called "I have, who has". On the cards, the children had a digital and analog clock. The "I have" was the digital and the "who has" was the analog time. The children did a wonderful job presenting their book writing process at Crestfest! Here are the rest of the Crestfest pictures. Congratulations to our Crestfest Winners! This coat has not been claimed. If this coat belongs to your child please let me know and I will send it home.
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This week Ms. Baker began teaching shared reading and writing. Since Spring started on Monday, the texts for the next couple weeks will be fiction and nonfiction stories about Spring. The children enjoyed writing about their opinions of insects. The children had so much fun on the field trip to the children's museum! One student even asked if we could go back the next day. :) Thank you to our field trip chaperones. We will be going on one more field trip in May to Lewis Ginter. We went back to the greenhouse this week so the children could observe the milkweed plants. They were amazed how many have grown! Then the children drew pictures of their observations in their science journals. Congratulations to our Student of the Year!
The children really enjoyed watching the third grade play! The children did a great job and our class liked hearing about some of the famous Americans they learned about. We had a surprise ending with Mrs. Porzio being "pied" by the top "million minutes" readers from each grade level. The school has reached 500.000 minutes! We ended our unit on motion this week with a STEM lesson. The children practiced using force pushing and pulling a stone using a variety of "tools". The APEX run was a lot of fun! I had a hard time taking pictures because they were running so fast. :) Thank you for your support with this fundraiser. All of the children in the school will enjoy the new library books! This week we focused on a variety of St. Patrick's Day related texts. The children learned about St. Patrick, Ireland, St. Patrick's Day festivities, and listened to fiction leprechaun stories. One day the children wrote about what is worth more to them than gold. On St. Patrick's day they got a surprise from the leprechaun they "kindness bombed"! During math the children reviewed graphing using Lucky Charms cereal. It was a yummy math day! Ms. Baker began teaching our science unit on sound. The children have really enjoyed her engaging lessons! During this lesson, the children learned about what makes sound and the definitions of vibration and pitch. This lesson focused on pitch. The children even played straw kazoos! A special thank you to our second March Mystery Reader!
Our school is participating in a fundraiser called the APEX Fun Run. The children have been so motivated to earn money for the school library! This was the Pep Rally we had prior to the fundraiser starting. We ended our unit on Famous Americans with this fun Jeopardy style review game. In math this week we continued our work with money and reviewed subtraction. We watched a Brainpop Jr. video for counting money, and practiced whole group as well as independently. Next week we will be counting all three coins together (penny, nickel, dime). We reviewed subtraction using this domino activity. We started our PBL project on plants this week by planting milkweed seeds to grow in our school greenhouse! The milkweed will be sold at Nature Fair as a fundraiser for the PTA and to help the Monarch butterflies. This week we focused on fairy tale stories because they are easier to retell. The students worked on written retellings using beginning, middle, end, as well as, "first, then, next, and last". The class book arrived this week! The children were so incredibly proud. On Friday, the children presented a copy of their book to the library. Soon the book will be available for all Crestwood children to check out! :) I want to introduce you to our student teacher, Ms. Baker. She has been such a wonderful addition to the class! Not only is she a natural teacher, but also a talented musician. The children really enjoyed a rainy day recess concert listening to her play the ukulele! A special thank you to our first March Mystery Reader! The children really enjoyed the story.
This week the children had a visit from a Chesterfield County firefighter. He talked with the children about smoke detectors, making a family escape plan, and what to do if there is a fire in the house. He also put on the gear so the children could see what he would look like if he arrived to help during a fire. This week was all about Dr. Seuss in honor of Read Across America. We read a different Dr. Seuss book each day and did a variety of writing activities. On Friday, we read There's a Wocket in my Pocket and the children created something to go in their "pocket" and then wrote about it. We had a few twins on one of the dress days! In math this week we started our unit on money. During the week we focused on each coin, discussing how to recognize them, their worth, and how to count a group of the same coins. In this activity, the children practiced exchanging coins in a "race to 20 cents" game. I have exciting news! Our books have shipped!!! They should be here some time next week. The children are so excited to see the final product. :)
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Mrs. StearnsWelcome! This is my fourth year at Crestwood and my 15th year of teaching. I love the families at Crestwood! I received my undergraduate degree from Longwood University and later received my Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in ESL. I am married and have a five-year-old daughter. I also have two dogs and one cat. When I am not teaching you will find me camping, reading, or going fun places with the family. Archives
June 2017
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