Tadpole Telegram
Most adult butterflies are diurnal (active during the day) and brightly colored. Their bodies are generally slender and not especially pubescent (hairy). In contrast, adult moths are generally nocturnal (active at night) or crepuscular (active at dawn or dusk). Most moths are drab, with cryptic wing patterns. Bodies tend to be bulky and are often quite pubescent. The shape of the antennae is the best way to distinguish butterflies from moths. Most butterflies have simple antennae that end in a swelling or “club”. Moth antennae range from simple to feather-like, but all of them lack the clubbed tip.
Monday –Students worked on understanding the letter sound connection for the letter Bb and studied avian characteristics by adding all the characteristics of a bird into an empty pan saying the magic word Aves (Latin for bird). After getting some magical assistance from each child, we created our own Blue Jay. Everyone did a great job making his or her own three-dimensional Blue Jay to hang in our room. The class had fun brainstorming different things that start with the letter Bb. I introduced three new words this week for the word wall. Our new high-frequency words are, she, with and me. Everyone practiced writing his or her first and last name using upper and lowercase letters on their own mini wipe boards. Students practiced using tape measures and rulers as standardized tools. I demonstrated how to line up the beginning, or zero end of the scale with the item being measured and how to use the inch marks. I finished administering all of the benchmark assessments for the end of unit two.
Tuesday - Students worked on connecting the letter /Nn/to the sound it makes at the beginning of words. The class explored the lifecycle of a panda. Everyone really enjoyed the actual photographs from the San Diego Zoo, depicting the growth and development of a baby panda in our new Reading Street big book. Students were amazed to discover that baby pandas are born tiny, pink and blind. At birth, a baby panda is more than 800 times smaller than her mother! Panda cubs are born smaller and more vulnerable than brown or polar bear cubs. Reading groups were pleased to discover that our books this week were about pandas. We created a pet bar graph. I modeled how to draw and label the sides of the graph. Students worked together to make and interpret the graph about the different types of pets at home. It was determined that our class had more fish at home than any other pet.
Wednesday –The class was very excited to see that our Scholastic book orders had arrived! Lucas was chosen as Artist of the Week for his attention to detail while completing a picture by using a color code. Students practiced reading and writing our high-frequency words from our word wall. We compared the words he, she and me and discussed the appropriate use of these words in a sentence. The class worked on isolating the initial /Nn/ and /Bb/ sounds in words. Everyone was very proud of themselves when they were able to read our decodable reader Nat! without any help. Students worked on a new book for Book Buddies that utilized all three of our new high-frequency words, me, with and she. Our completed writing journals from unit two were sent home today.
Thursday – After a two hour delay, the surprise box showed us the magic of metamorphosis as we watched an egg change to a caterpillar, then to a chrysalis and finally to a butterfly. The surprise box also contained a nut counting song, complete with a toy squirrel. The song helped reinforce subtraction and counting down from five to zero. I put a copy of the song on the back. I was impressed with the students’ ability to work with four different attributes of the blocks as we played the Attribute Spinner Game. The class examined nickels up close with the use of magnifying glasses. The class worked on creating rubbings of both the head and tail side of nickels on an upper case N. We practiced counting nickels by one's and then by five’s to determine their total value.
Friday – Students created a moving picture where the challenge was to match up a picture of something that starts with Nn and its name on the other side. At home, turn the wheel and challenge them to find the correct word. Using beans we reinforced the shape of the upper and lower case Bb. Students worked on adding details to his or her picture of a school bus. Our Number Bingo game reinforced numbers one through 20 and was a lot of fun! Who doesn't love to shout “Bingo”? Students were introduced to a number grid. We searched for patterns on the grid and shared our observations. Homework for the weekend is to read their books and play their phonics game with at least two people.