Mrs. Buchanio's Classroom Blog!

 I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and enjoying this beautiful weather! I can't thank you enough for all of your help and support last week when we had to be remote. Unless you hear otherwise, Monday will be our last remote day and we will be back in person on Tuesday!

Important Dates:

May 31st:

Memorial Day

No School

Announcements:

ABC Countdown to Summer!

Last week we started our ABC Countdown to Summer! During our countdown we will participate in a fun activity each day which corresponds to each letter of the alphabet! Click here to view our calendar of activities. It is important to note that a small number of days will require your child to prepare/bring in something from home. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any assistance on these days. I will also be sending home a hard copy of the calendar on Tuesday!

Curriculum Update: *From the week of 5/10 

Last week's sight word: they

This week's sight word: so, go, no

Reader's Workshop

Last week in Reader's Workshop we continued to read and explore nonfiction texts! During our lessons we taught facts from our nonfiction books to our reading partners, and also shared information by pretending to be reporters! Be sure to check your child's Seesaw account to view a very special video of their news report!

Math

It was a marvelous time for math last week as the students participated in many hands on activities to deepen their understanding of 3D shapes! These lessons concluded our unit on geometry, and we are looking forward to learning about measurement in the week ahead!

The students above worked hard to create 3D shapes using pipe cleaners and playdoh! This proved be a challenging, yet fun activity!

A game of Headbands was a great way to review the attributes of 3D solid figures!

The students above use homemade ramps to explore how 3D shapes move! We learned that cylinders and cones are the only solid figures that slide, stack, and roll. Click here to listen to another catchy song that reinforces this concept!

Writer's Workshop

In Writer's Workshop we continued to work on writing our own nonfiction, or All About book as a class! The topic of our book is recess, and the class did a fantastic job writing about the different activities they participate in outside. This week the students will take on a bigger roll as they will each contribute to a chapter in a new nonfiction book about dogs! 

Science

Last week was a VERY exciting time for Science in Room 202 as our caterpillars (or butterfly larva) moved onto the next stage of their lifecycle and formed their chrysalises! While this transformation occurred overnight for the majority of our caterpillars, we were lucky enough to get a time lapse video of our last caterpillar friend change!

Update 5/16* As of this morning all five of our caterpillars have emerged as butterflies! I will try my best to keep them healthy (and alive!) until Tuesday when we can release together as a class!

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that is new in Room 202!

A Peek At Our Week!

 I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! It's hard to believe that May is here and we are entering our last full month of school together! I guess the saying is true, time flies when you're having fun!

Important Dates:

May 31st:

Memorial Day

No School

Curriculum Update:

Last week's sight word: you

This week's sight word: they

Reader's Workshop

Last week in Reader's Workshop we continued to explore nonfiction texts. During our lessons we discussed the importance of activating our prior knowledge, or thinking about what we already know about a given topic. We also brainstormed questions we had about our nonfiction book topics and discovered the nonfiction book readers ask questions as they read to learn more!

Writer's Workshop

While in Reader's Workshop we have been working hard to read nonfiction texts, in Writer's Workshop we began exploring ways to write nonfiction, or "All About" books. To kick off this new unit the students drew and labeled different topics that they are experts on. This organizer will come in handy as the class begins to write their own All About books!

The students above are working hard to brainstorm topics that they are experts on, or know a lot about!

Math

Last week in math we continued our unit on geometry and began to learn about three dimensional, or solid shapes! The class enjoyed many hands on activities including a 3D shape scavenger hunt and a picture sort. We even tried to make 3D solids using our playdough! Click here to listen to our favorite song about 3D shapes. Warning: it is VERY catchy!!

 

We discovered that a sphere was the easiest 3D shape to make with our playdoh!

Science

It was another spectacular week for science for Room 202 as we began our unit on butterfly life cycles! This highly anticipated unit began with a special delivery from Mrs. Damon on Thursday. The class had such a fun time trying to guess what was in the mystery box she delivered! Upon opening the box we discovered our temporary class pet, caterpillars! Over the next several weeks we will draw, write, and learn about the butterfly life cycle as we watch our caterpillar friends grow and change!

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that is new in Room 202!

A Peek At Our Week!

 Happy rainy Sunday! A friendly reminder that classes will resume tomorrow, Monday, April 26th. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone back together again in Room 202 and hearing about the wonderful spring breaks that were had!

Important Dates:

April 27th:

Picture Day

Curriculum:

Earth Day!

Our class had an awesome time learning about and celebrating Earth Day before vacation! We learned that recycling, conserving electricity and water, and donating our old clothes and toys are just a few ways that we can reduce waste and keep our earth healthy and clean!

The students above are taking a closer look at the aftermath of an experiment that showed the impact of pollution on our water.

The class did a fantastic job writing about the ways we can help protect our earth and make it a better place to live!

Math

In math we began a unit on Geometry and explored two dimensional shapes. During our lessons we learned and discussed the names and attributes of circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, and hexagons. This week we will begin to explore three dimensional, or solid shapes!

A shape hunt was the perfect way to kick off our unit on two dimensional figures. We noticed that circles, squares, rectangles, triangles, and hexagons were all around us in our classroom!

We ended our week by making shape pizza's! The class really enjoyed this fun (and yummy) activity!

Fundations

In Fundations we continued to learn and about and read words with digraphs! We reviewed that the letters sh, th, ch, wh, and ck are all digraphs because, when joined together, they make one new sound. One way we practiced our digraph sounds was by playing a fun game called Scoot! During the game the children rotated through cards and had to write down the digraph for each picture shown before I yelled "scoot!". This was a great way to get the class moving and learning at the same time!

 

Reader's Workshop

It was an exciting time in Reader's Workshop as the students continued to work with their partners and book clubs to explore nonfiction texts! Before vacation we continued to familiarize ourselves with various nonfiction books and even compared the similarities and differences between books on the same topic. On Friday, Mrs. Miles introduced us to a new genre of text, poetry! We had a great time reading many new poems and exploring their rhythm and rhyme!

Thanks so much for taking a peek at our week! Please check back soon to see all that is new in Room 202!