How do polar bears adapt to cold water?

We went to the Wonder Room today to find out the answer to the question, "How do polar bears adapt to cold water?".

First, we watched a video of a polar bear swimming in freezing cold water. 

Click on the link:

http://www.arkive.org/polar-bear/ursus-maritimus/video-00.html#video-06f.html

Next, the students experienced what it would feel like If they swam in cold water and how the polar bear would feel.
 

Blubber Experiment

2 buckets of ice water

1 insulated bag 1of shortening

The students placed one bare hand in a bucket of ice water and one hand with the 'blubber bags'. 

Mrs. Skinner even joined in on the fun! 

After the experiment we discussed what we learned from our time in the Wonder Room.

Feed the Birds!

We all enjoy watching birds fly and hearing them sing soft tunes in the early morning. During our research on migration, we learned that not all birds fly south for the winter. If birds can find food here, they will stay. Today we made bird food to help the birds stay "home" for the winter.

I encourage you to help your child find a special place for their bird food, visible from your window. If you see a bird eating the food, please take a picture and email it to me. I will post the pictures on our blog. 

Week 20 Lesson Plans

Sight Words:
they, said, want

Reading:
Main topic and supporting details
Chunky Monkey Reading Strategy

Writing:
Sequencing a narrative story from beginning to end.

Math:
We are working on the Unit 2 Assessment, focusing on counting and writing numerals to 20, identifying quantities with tens frames, and comparing sets.

Science:
How do animals survive in winter? Week 2 PBL

Wonder of the Week:
Why is sand/salt put on roads when it snows?
I encourage you to research this question at home. Your child can share their findings during our morning meeting.

Daily 5!

Here's an update on how our Daily 5 workstations are going!

The students are enjoying working on leveled iPad apps, Compass Odyssey assignments on the computers, building sight words on the activboard and using letter tiles, writing narrative stories, and of course applying our reading strategies in guided reading. 

This week we are focusing on "chunky monkey". We are looking for words we know within words of using letter chunks to help us read unknown words. Please work on this strategy at home. 

Great Job!

Great reading, Colten (400 steps) and Payton (300 steps). 

Narrative Writing

We are focusing on narrative writing for the next few weeks. Our Room 202 authors are excited to share their personal experiences through book making.

I introduced narrative writing with an anchor chart and the saying "narrative writing tells a story about a time in our lives." 

We read our mentor text, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, about a young child's experiences in the snow. 

We went back to our chart to write what we noticed about narrative texts. We had great responses. 

The students were excited to begin their books. 

First, they told a friend a story, orally. "If you can say it, you can write it!" 

Next, we started our book making process. 

We revisited parts of the text that helped us making our stories stronger. 

This is the introduction page. 

This is Lily's introduction page. 

After a week of intense writer's workshop, our books are complete and displayed for all to see! 

I am so proud of their hard work, great writing skills, and creativity! 

Congratulations to Our All*Star Readers!