Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Measurment, Maps and Globes!!
We've had the best couple of weeks with Miss Nelms at the helm!! It's been two great weeks of measurement, mapping, and reading group celebrations!! Let's take a look!
Miss Nelms started her 2 week master teaching with units on measurement and geography! Yard sticks and maps and globes never looked so good!!
Miss Nelms also filled our mornings of literacy with work board jobs that celebrated both spring, and maps and globes!
Buddy reading measurement books helped introduce these new units to students! After reading with our buddies, we talked about what we already "know" and what we "want to know"!
Highlighting important vocabulary help us learn all the terms we'd need to know when writing about what we measure. We also learned the difference between measuring "big" things... with yard sticks and meter sticks... and measuring "small" things using rulers and centimeters!
Learning about measurement was an important opportunity to talk about and practice being "precise" and careful when using tools (rulers) to see how long, wide, tall, or short things are!
After practicing with rulers, it was on to bigger and better tasks... so, off the the cafeteria with yardsticks and meter sticks!
Using teamwork, students worked together to measure distance in a large space using our yardsticks and meter sticks! Team work is important when precision is important! And.... Work together we did! Rather well!
Our dear friend, BG has also returned to his home in South Korea just prior to April vacation, and we wish him well! We will miss his enthusiastic laugh, his sweet smile, and his friendly demeanor in 2W!
Along with measurement, Miss Nelms has taught 2W all about maps and globes. Using globes we located all 7 continents, all 5 oceans, and noticed important features of both maps and globes!
Here David shows us how important a compass rose is when learning about cardinal directions on a map! We not only learned about directionality, but found some artistic flair when making our own compass roses! When remembering direction.... Never.... Eat.... Soggy... Waffles! Our way of remembering cardinal directions!
Students also learned about estimating and making "smart guesses" when thinking about measurement and distance!
Comparing maps and globes helped provide a deep understanding of both tools, and how they compare. So... cue venn diagram... compare we did! Using maps and globes we noticed how to best use each, comparing how they are alike, and how they differ!
Amidst all the mapping and measuring, we also celebrated some important learning in our reading groups! After reading about spiders, Niko, Aine, and Trey shared their learning using maps... How appropriate! Each student completed a map of the United States, and created a map key for spiders and where they live in the United States! Every friend shared their maps, and talked about their learning, while also sharing where specific types of spiders live within the United States! Well done friends! What a wonderful couple of weeks it's been! While Miss Nelms has completed her work in 2W, we will remember her fondly and wonder what lucky schoolroom gets to share a classroom with her when she becomes a teacher!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment