Five for Friday: October 17th

I made this activity sheet to guide our pumpkin experiment. We hit many common core goals with this lesson in science and math. Observations, estimations, and measurement helped us to compare three different pumpkin sizes. I also brought in the properties of fire by lighting a candle inside the pumpkin. We discussed the properties that contribute to a flame...oxygen and fuel (wax in candle). We then used water and closing the top of the pumpkin to cut the oxygen in extinguishing the flame. Lots of learning going on in our room today!

We learned quite a bit about bats this week and 'echolocation'. The kids made an interactive poetry journal and we summed up our lesson with our bats made of our hands. As a class, we listed all of our facts and then chose which ones to put on our bat.

I'm in love with interactive notebooks this year! I have one for poetry and then another for math. We do the poetry in the morning and then save the math for the afternoon which has worked out great for us. The kids are getting more refined in their details and writing equations which is the benefit of keeping them in a journal. You can really see the progression from month to month. It will be a great keepsake for the kiddos at the end of the year too.

I have tried to do different things with learning our high frequency words to keep the kids engaged. This seemed to be a fan favorite. I used pipe cleaners to help string letters in making our words. It took a lot of concentration and it was great for our fine motor skills!

We have been busy here between two boys in soccer and trying to build a house. It is finally up but now we have to decide on colors and layouts and I'm totally not a visual person. Eeek!

Have a great weekend!