Mrs. Thomas' Blog

Growing plants is really fun! This has changed our experience with plants. We're measuring their height and it is fun and scientific. Even though the plants started out as a little seed, they grew very fast. It was fun working with seeds, when they started opening. It was great observing the plants when they were young. It was awesome when we started growing our plants in the hydroponic system. If you grow plants hydroponically, it is faster. The plants grew leaves quickly.

We are learning skeleton arrays. They are helping us learn our multiplication math facts. We never knew that we could do double digit multiplication problems so easily. We can picture the skeleton arrays in our mind. We're also learning to do "quick sketches."

Also, we have been working really hard to keep our hands clean. This week we went to the computer lab twice and used the hand sanitizer before using the computers. So that we could keep the computers clean inside as well, Mrs. Flynn sent this link http://www.raincitystory.com/flash/screenclean.swf.Check it out.

We got out the microscopes for the first time today. It was fun!

It was awesome that we got to read with our First Grade Buddies.

We recommend you read, Gregor, the Overlander. It is a great book!

All students wrote an Evocative Narrative in which a character had a problem.  The character tries at least 3 ways to solve their problem.  Autumn was our Executive Producer for this project and we could not have done it without her.  

Click on the play button below the student's name to hear them read their original picture book.

Vianca's Picture Book

Click on the play button below the student's name to hear them read their original picture book.

Paulina's Picture Book

Spencer's Picture Book

Sophia's Picture Book

Sabrina's Picture Book

Taylor's Picture Book

Click on the play button below the student's name to hear them read their original picture book.

Kolby's Picture Book

Kyle's Picture Book

Lanae's Picture Book

Martin's Picture Book

Mackenzie's Picture Book

Click on the play button below the student's name to hear them read their original picture book.

Brandon's Picture Book

Dylan's Picture Book

Justine's Picture Book

Kenny's Picture Book

Kurtis' Picture Book

          

Alex's Picture Book

Alysha' Picture Book

Ben's Picture Book

Benito's Picture Book

Read carefully and click on the correct session that you are attending.

Click below to get a blank template for our picture books.  Be sure to save a copy to your account.  (You'll be using the copy you save.)  When you want to move down the document, use the arrow key and not the return.  You'll need to decide if you want your illustrations to be above or below your text.  Ask questions if you need help.  Good luck and have fun!

Click on the button below to discover what we're working on in writing.

Sabrina took her bean from the mini-sprouter.  The plant had a bean pod now.  (Sabrina)

Spencer got to eat a bean from his plant.  He ate it raw, not so tasty.  (Spencer)

In writing, we have been working on evocative narratives.  We're writing about animals that have problems and solve them.  (Paulina)

This week Mackenzie's puppies came to visit.  (Justine)

Brent Nixon was here for the week telling us about different endangered animals of Washington State and about volcanoes of the Cascades.  (Benjamin)

MK 6 is a sea lion that guards our ships and shoreline for the Navy.  He keeps us safe.  (Benito)

MK 5-3 is also a sea lion.  He also keeps our waters, divers, and boats safe.  (Lanae)

Sea lions have sharp teeth.  (Sophia)

Did you know that American bears have Mickey Mouse ears?  (Mrs. Thomas)

Brent Nixon told us that when you look into a bear's eyes, he thinks you want to fight with him.  Hold your jacket high above your head, so you look bigger.  Then the bear will move away.  (Vianca)

There are many different kinds of lava flows, for instance one that sounds like a glass plate breaking on the ground.  (Dylan)

Bears don't hibernate; they wake up to get food.  (Kyle)

There are different kinds of eagles.  The bald eagle isn't bald, but his feet are.  (Alex)

After sea lions have a baby, there are often feathers on the ice.  Birds have eaten the placenta or afterbirth.  (Brandon)

Mt. St. Helens was 11,000 feet tall before she erupted.  She is now 8,000 feet tall.  (Mackenzie)

An bald eagle named Buddy grew up following some kids to school and back home every day.  (Alysha)

Bald Eagles can fly up to 60 miles per hour.  They slow down to 6 or 7 miles an hour when catching fish.  (Kurtis)

We've been practicing for our spelling bee long and hard this week.  (Sabrina)

Today we used our geoboards to build reflections for geometry.  (Kolby)

Mrs. Reasor helped us with writing by showing us good leads.  She helped us put emotions into our writing.  (Taylor)

We've been working on drawing tiles from a bag.  We've recording our "draws" on a chart.  We're trying to see if we can figure out how many blue and red tiles are in the bag.  (Mackenzie)

In math this week, we circled types of angles that don't belong in the group of angles.  (Autumn)

We took our computation test.  It was hard for most of us.  (Justine)

To help us with our multiplication facts, we are taking Quick Facts tests.  They are fun!  (Alex)

Alex told us that his sister wants us to say the 'T' in her name.  (Alex) 

We started keyboarding this week.  FUN!  (Benito)

We got to listen to some good piano and fiddle music last Friday.  (Kenny)

A 5 year old played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on her violin.  She was amazing.  (Martin)

Kyle answered 3 questions (about songs he heard "inside" one of their songs) and won a DVD the group had recorded.  (Kyle)

Alex's dad sang part of a song and the band improvised.  (Ben)

During their "tuning" they really played a weird song.  This was a lot of fun and included a lot of improvising.  (Spencer, Paulina)

They made us "figure out" a lot of things like the melody.  We had to decide what the song was.  (Taylor)

The concert was a lot of fun!

During our Kids' Care Retreat, we learned how to be kind to each other.  We learned ways to calm down, and get along with each other.

We built tall, marshmallow towers, and played a hula hoop game to practice working together.  (Kurtis, Sabrina)

The juggling game required that we work together, share ideas, and have fun while many distractions were going on!  (Brandon)

Mr. Higgins read a story about "Right" and "Left" that made us pay close attention while still having fun.  (Autumn)

During Friendship Bingo, we were giving each other compliments.  (Dylan)

Two groups came up with different ideas for everyone to touch the ball in order.  (Vianca)

Our high school helpers were fun, and they helped us cooperate with each other.  They also helped with the materials for our activities.  (Spencer)

We learned that our bodies have defenses (Hee, Hee!).  by Sophie

Our Artist in Residence came today.  We had fun and most of us finished our paintings.  by Vianca

Crayfish and Hermit Crabs are similar and different also.  We were digging deep in our thinking while reading.  by Brandon

Our iTime was fun while we were learning about different kinds of math.  by Paulina

During Library time we went on a hunt for books that had a food name in the title.  by Lanae

Our class has been measuring our plants in the hydroponics.  We're recording the current height as compared to the original height.  We're also noticing the number of leaves and are watching for other parts of the plant to develop.

 

We've also watched a great plant video while taking notes.  We were able to synthesize our thinking in order to arrive at an agreed upon summary of the video.

Our class is beginning to practice for our music program coming up November 10 at 1:15 and 7:00.

Today, we measured the height of our hydroponic plants for the first time since they were first put into the water.

We have all of our data entered into our data charts.