What We Have Been Up To

Aloha friends!!  I have been meaning to write this post for a few weeks, but going back to school has kept me incredibly busy!!

I don't have a major classroom reveal, it's pretty much the same as last year.
(see last year's post here)

I have added a math focus board this year.

(Excuse the mess!)

We started off our first week with practicing our routines and getting used to being back in school.

We did a fun science experiment to get my kiddos predicting and observing.

We drew a dot on a piece of paper towel with a black Crayola marker.  I told them we were going to dip it into some water and they had to predict what would happen.

They had fun seeing the black dot move up the paper and discovered that black ink is made up of different colors!

We also had our first cooking project.

I always start the year with our fruit salad recipe.  But this year it was cancelled our first week due to hurricane Iselle.  I rescheduled for the following week and most kids forgot to bring a fruit, since the first week I had sent home a note, and the following week I didn't.  We still had some kids bring in fruit, so they prepared what we had and we all shared.

They started their new cookbooks too.

I take  about 10 pieces of 9x12 construction paper and bind it together.  We glued on a cover and then they add their recipes inside.

While a few students at a time are cutting up the fruit and preparing, students at their seats worked on their cookbooks and then did a fruit word search.  

The cover and recipe are a freebie in Google Docs. You can click on the pictures to download them.  The word search is from my Hawaii pack.

The second week we started our Morning work which includes doing a word problem each morning.

I created this template on my math focus board out of washi tape, to match what was on their papers.

I walked them through each part step by step for the whole week.  We filled in our chart on the board and then they did it on their own papers.

I really stressed that their explanation should tell how they knew what to do and to tell the answer.  I have a handful of students that already have it down!! I am really happy with their progress.

This last week we started math rotations.  It is similar to last years rotations, but slightly different.  I will share out next week. 

I hope your back to school has gone smoothly and your class is shaping up for a great year!!  I am loving the mix of sweet kiddos this year!!