Students invited readers to visualize spring using six senses imagery (touch, taste, scent, sight, sound, and emotion)!

I encouraged most students to NOT use the sentence starters "I see...", "I touch...", "I taste...", etc., but instead, to think about how they can use nouns and verbs to create the image. For example, instead of writing, "I feel worms", they could write, "Slimy worms crawl on my hands." 

However, for a couple students who are beginner English Language Learners, and/or have adapted programs, I did have them use the sentence starters "I see..." etc. This made the activity more accessible for them.

We worked on this over three days. On the first day, we brainstormed; on the second day, students wrote their sentences in pencil on their flower templates and conferenced with me; and on the third day, students traced over their pencil sentences with fineliner, coloured their flowers with pencil crayon, and cut their flowers out.

This is one of my favourite projects! They turned out beautifully, and it's nice to take a break from writing in the notebooks; I've found that using the flower template is a good way to introduce some novelty which increases engagement. 

Inspired by Danielle Daniels' Sometimes I Feel Like series, we created our own "Sometimes I Feel Like" writing! This was a 4-day project:

Day 1: We watched this Jack Hartmann video about nouns. Then, we read Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox and Sometimes I Feel Like a River and identified the nouns in the books (bear, deer, forest, etc.). 

Students wrote in their notebooks "Sometimes I feel like (a noun of their choice - it has to be something found in nature)".

Then, we completed the "Common Nouns" and "Proper Nouns" worksheets from this printable workbook.  A couple students completed the person/place/thing cut and paste sort from this FREE resource instead as a more accessible activity.

Day 2: We watched this Jack Hartman video about adjectives. Then, we reread the Sometimes I Feel Like...books and identified the adjectives (e.g., intelligent, slow, strong).

In their notebooks, students added two adjectives to describe the noun they'd chosen the previous day.

Day 3: We watched this Jack Hartman video about verbs. Then, we read the books for the third time and identified the verbs (e.g., protect, howl, retreat). 

In their notebooks, students added a second sentence that includes two verbs. 

Day 4: Students copied their writing from their notebook onto good copy paper using fineliner and drew a picture to match.

This was a fun project that allowed us to learn about the basic parts of speech in a meaningful and engaging way! 

We have now wrapped up our study of chemical and physical changes to matter. The whole unit took 6 weeks in total. See below the lessons we did this month - all resources are from this Poet Prints Teaching unit. 

1. Students worked as a group to complete a cut and paste sort on chart paper that asked them to distinguish between examples of physical and chemical changes.

2. We burned a candle and observed the physical (e.g., wax melting) and chemical (e.g., production of smoke) changes that took place.

3. Students dissolved sugar cubes in water. This was a good opportunity to explore the distinction between melting and dissolution.

4. Students mixed baking soda, vinegar, and food colouring to produce a chemical reaction. 

5. Students folded paper cubes. We discussed that this is a physical change to matter - although the paper changes shape, it is still paper - no new substance has been created. 

6. We made nut-free trail mix! A fun and tasty physical change!

7. Students completed a summative assessment.

In mid-April, we will jump into our next science topic: biodiversity! Stay tuned! 

March's Show and Tell homework assignment was to come up with a "Guess My Rule" math question.

Example:

Numbers that follow my rule: 45, 54, 63, 36, 81

My rule: The digits of the number have to add up to 9!

This idea is from High-Yield Routines for Grades K-8. My students enjoyed this, and it was harder and harder for them to stump each other as the month progressed! 

We continued working on adding three-digit numbers within 1000, with a particular focus on using the standard algorithm. After engaging in a lot of rote practice, I'm happy to say that almost all students are now proficient at this skill. 

One resource I've been using for math recently is Math Salamanders. Lots of great free activities! This site is definitely worth exploring. 

We completed two more Safe Bodies, Strong Kids lessons this month:

1. "I Am a Body Scientist" - The students learned about private parts. This was the lesson I was a little nervous for, but luckily the students kept it together pretty well and did not get too silly!

2. "Say No, Get Away, Tell" - Students were taught what to do if they find themselves in a situation that feels unsafe. 

We read Little Red Riding Hood from Reading A-Z and identified cause and effect relationships in the story. Example: Cause: Red doesn't know that Wolf is a wicked creature. Effect: Red didn't know she should be afraid of Wolf.

Later the same week, we read The Girl and the Wolf by Katherena Vermette and used a Venn diagram to compare and contrast Vermette's version of the story with the European version. 

There are so many other versions of Little Red Riding Hood, too! It would be fun to do this as a more extended and in-depth unit - something I might consider for a future year! 

Based on assessment data (the assessment I used is from Reading A-Z), I've been pulling some students in a small group to work on nonsense word reading using this TPT resource. Reading nonsense words helps us grow our reading brains! Check out this Learning at the Primary Pond blog post to learn more!