Applesauce and Literacy Stations!

This week we concluded our Apple unit by making homemade applesauce.  Thank you to everyone who sent in items for this project!  We greatly appreciate it!  

First, we had to peel and slice all the apples.  We used this awesome three in one peeler from pampered chef.  It peeled, sliced, and cored the apples.  

We put the apples in the crockpot and added cinnamon, sugar, and lemon juice.  

We cooked our apples on high all day. Our classroom smelled so good!  

By 1:00, our applesauce was ready for a taste test!  It was a big hit!  There wasn't a drop left! Most everyone had seconds and some even asked for "one hundredths"!  Ha! 

This week we also finished exploring our different literacy stations.  We did two rotations on Wednesday and Thursday.  I base my literacy stations off of Debbie Dillers book "Literacy Work Stations".  In our class, we have seven different stations around our room.  In each station, the kids have a "job".  Once they are done with their job they have an "I can" list of activities they can choose from.  We generated these lists together as a class.  They did a great job of staying on task our first day of stations!  When we come back from break, I will begin pulling guided reading groups while the kids are in their stations.  Here are some pictures from stations this week.  

As you all know, we filled up our warm fuzzy compliment jar!  They kids chose a pajama day as their reward.  I also brought in some popcorn and Avery L.'s mom brought in some juice and rice krispies.  We watched the magic school bus as we snacked.  Is was the perfect end to our first nine weeks!  I can't believe we are a quarter of the way through the school year already!  It has been a wonderful nine weeks and I look forward to the next!  I hope you all have a safe and fun fall break.  See you in three weeks!  :)  

All About Apples!

This week our learning was focused around apples.  During shared reading we read a book called "The Biggest Apple Ever".  It is about a school of mice who have a contest to see who can find the biggest apple.  The two main characters in the story were Clayton and Desmond.  We compared and contrasted them using a venn diagram.  

We took a look at the inside and outside of an apple and labeled its different parts together.   

Then everyone made their own apple diagram.  Don't you just love their precious "ear spelling"?! We have been working on writing down the sounds we hear in words.  

We also sliced an apple through the middle and took a look at the star!  

Everyone brought in apples and we did a taste test.  We tried red, green, and yellow apples. 

Everyone chose their favorite kind of apple and we made an "Apple Pie" graph!  We thought this was pretty funny!  :)  

Then we analyzed our data and found out that green apples were the most liked.  

This week in our Reader's Workshop, we learned about the expectations for Read to Self during our Daily Five time.  Our goal was to read quietly from our book boxes for 3 minutes.  We did it!  I was so proud!  

We also began learning about our Literacy Work Stations.  These will take place in the morning during our literacy block.  This a time for the kids to practice various literacy skills (phonemic awareness, phonics, writing, etc.) while I pull guided reading groups.  We learned about the Computer station, ABC/Word Work station, and the Pocket Chart station.  After visiting and exploring the stations, we generated "I can" lists for each one.  These are things that they can do once they finish their "job".  Next week we will learn about the rest of our literacy stations and will begin visiting them in small groups.  I can't wait!  

We also finished up the alphabet and reading wall!  Woohoo!  

Next week, we will continue learning about apples and Johnny Appleseed.  I can't believe we are just  three and a half days away from fall break!  

Rockin' with Pete the Cat!

We had so much fun with Pete the Cat this week!  We have been singing his songs all week! Check out this live retelling by the author Eric Litwin.  

After reading and singing along with Pete, we made our own Pete books for our book boxes.  

We learned about bubble maps and how we use them to describe.  We made a class bubble map about Pete.  

Then we went to our seats and filled out our own.  These came from Deanna Jump's Pete the Cat pack.  

On Friday, we ended our Pete the Cat fun with this fun craft.  They turned out great!  They all look so different! I love it! I can't wait to hang them outside with our Pete the Cat sentences! 

We also learned about the letters Uu, Vv, Ww, and Xx this week.  On Monday we learned about the letter Uu and read a book about dinosaurs wearing silly underpants. Then we drew ourselves wearing silly underpants.  You wouldn't believe the giggles! 

On Tuesday, we learned about the letter Vv.  We read a the book, "Grandpa's Garden.  It was about a boy and his grandpa growing a vegetable garden.  Then we made vegetable visors!

On Wednesday, we learned about the letter Ww and read one of my very favorite children's books, "Where the Wild Things Are".  Then we made our very own wild things. 

On Thursday, we had a lot of fun with the letter Xx.  We read a book about X-rays and did the bone dance.  

On Friday, we had the pleasure of having Mr. Atterbury's 5th grade class come read to us.  It was so much fun seeing "big kids" reading!  :)  

Next week we will be finishing up the alphabet with the letters Yy and Zz.  We will also begin working with numbers 0-5 (reading, writing, representing) and we will begin our Apple unit.  :)