We continued our exploration of plants this week. We started the week by exploring the different parts of a plant from the roots all the way to the flower. We found out that each part has an important job. (The roots hold the plant in the ground and then take in the water from the soil. The stem holds the plant upright and carries the food. The leaves make food for the entire plant. The flowers produce fruit and seeds. And the seeds make a new plant.) We also found out that when we eat fruits and vegetables, we are eating many different parts of the plant. One day for a snack we ate an entire plant. (carrot roots, celery stem, spinach leaves, cauliflower flowers, and sunflower seeds.) Finally, we explored the different ways seeds move from place to place.
Monday:
In reading, we were introduced to our two new sight words, so & them. Then we reviewed all of our sight words. Next, we read through our new emergent reader, Parts of a Plant. This was a nonfiction book that provided information about the different parts of a plant and its job. Next we compared it to the story Parts of a Plant by Wiley Blevins. We found that both books provided the some of the same information. We found out that the roots hold the plants in place and suck up the water. The stem holds the plant in place and carries the water. The leaves make the food with sunlight. The flower makes fruit and seeds. And the seeds make plants. As we talked about the different parts of the plant, we also talked about the life cycle of a plant. A plant goes from a seed to a sprout to a seedling to a plant. Plus how flowering plants grow buds and then flowers. Finally, we acted out the different parts of the plant and its life cycle. Then we completed a worksheet completing a plant life cycle and labeling the different parts. We also reviewed our sight words and completed our sight word worksheets for them & so.
In religion, we discuss what it means to be a friend. On the first side of our worksheet, we tried to locate all of the children in the picture being a good friend. Then Ms. Torborg told us a story about a time when Jesus asked some people to be his friend and follow him. On the back of the worksheet were the picture to the story. We heard about how Jesus asked his friends to be fishers of men.
In math, we played a new game, Car Race. It was a cooperative game. We had to work as a team to get all of the pieces to the end of all of the tracks. Our game board had 4 different tracks on it. On our turn, we rolled the dice. Then we had to move the pieces that many squares. We could choose to move just one piece or we could break it up and move two pieces. After we played several games, we completed a math number bond worksheet.
Tuesday:
We started reading by reviewing what we know about plants. Then we worked on gathering more information about plants from books. Ms. Torborg had several different books about plant parts. As we read each of the books, we tried to figure out the job of that plant part. We found out that the roots hold the plants in place and suck up the water. The stem holds the plant in place and carries the water. The leaves make the food with sunlight. The flower makes fruit and seeds. And the seeds make plants. We also tried to figure out food that we eat for each of the different parts of a plant. Then we turned our bodies into plant identifying each of the parts and their jobs. Next, we watched a short video about plants, their parts and the foods we eat. Finally, we completed a worksheet labeling the different parts of a flower. We ended our reading time by with a th digraph worksheet.
In religion, we talked about the importance of saying Thank You when someone does something kind or helps you. Then we listened to several different story of times when Jesus healed the sick including the story of the blind beggar. After Jesus healed him, he thanked a praised God because he knew that God was the one who really helped him. We talked about the importance of thanking God for all of our blessings.
We ended the day working with the Beebots. Today we were introduced to a new mat. This mat didn’t have a starting square. Instead the starting spot changed with each of our programs.
Wednesday:
In reading, we were introduced to a new kind of word, compound words. A compound word is formed when two words are put together to form a new word. We watch a short video that taught us how to build compound words with a few actions. After singing our song a couple times, we put our skills to the test. Ms. Torborg gave us each a word card and then set the rest of the word cards around the room. We had to read our word and then find the word that when matched with our word would make a compound word. If we got it right, the picture in the middle would be complete. After a couple of rounds, we moved on to another activity. We had to try to find the match to our word card that would make a compound word. We ended with a another short video. During the video clip, we were given two picture clues. We had to put them together to figure out the compound word.
We also to some time to look at our glove gardens. Many of our seeds are starting to grow roots. Some of the are even growing stems. Next we reviewed the different parts of a plant. We acted out the different stages of a growing plant, identifying the parts of the plant and their job as we went. We also reviewed the things a plant needs to grow. Then we completed a sorting worksheet. We had to sort the words out into two different categories before we glued them down.
In religion, we discussed different ways we can show love. One the front of our paper, we talked bout different ways Jesus showed love. Retell the story from yesterday about the paralyzed man who Jesus healed and the story of the blind beggar. Today we heard the story of Jesus feed 5000 people with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. We found out that Jesus said when you help someone in need you are helping him.
In math, we worked with nonconsecutive numbers. After talking about the order of numbers and how to figure out which number is higher or lower, we played a number game on the iPads.
We ended our day again with the Beebots. Today we had to program the Beetbot to complete a given set of commands. The trick was we used the numbers mats again and they don’t have starting spots. We had to make sure that we picked a starting spot where our Beebot didn’t go off the mat.
Thursday:
In reading, we reviewed compound words. Then we completed a worksheet combining words to create compound words. We also listened to the story, Tops and Bottoms. As we listened to the story, we defined some of the “big” words we heard, identified the main characters and setting, and made predictions about what might happen next. Then we reviewed the 5 different plant parts - roots, leaves, stem, flower, seeds, and their jobs. After discussion the job of each section, we created a list of things that we could eat. Part of our theme was also our snack today. We ate a plant- an entire plant. Well almost. Ms. Torborg gave us one of the vegetables from the list. For roots we ate carrots. Leaves were spinach. The stem was celery. The flower was cauliflower. And the seeds were sunflower seeds. After we finished our snack or at least tried it, we could have second. We had to ask for the part of the plant we wanted to eat.
In math, we were introduced to a function machine. A function machine changes a number. We put a number in, something happens to it (the Rule), and it spit a new number out. The first machine we worked on we knew determined the number that went into the machine and the machine showed us “what happened” to the number. We tried to figure out the number that would come out of the machine. For example, we put 3 into the machine. It added 2 to the number. We determined that the number 5 would come out. After practicing several rounds, we completed a function worksheet.
In religion, we learned a little bit about Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene was with Jesus when her performed miracles and preached to the crowds. She was with Jesus when he died on the cross. Mary Magdalene also one of the people to discover the empty tomb early Easter morning. She is the patron saint of women and her special feast day is July 22nd. We watched a short video and colored her picture in our saint book.
This week we used the number mats. After dividing into groups, we were given a starting card and an ending card. First, we had to solve the problem to figure out our starting and ending number. Then we had to write the code. Finally, we could try it out by entering the code in the Bee. Once we were successful, Ms. Torborg started adding road block to our mat. There were certain spots that were blocked, so we had to find a new route.
Friday:
We continued our exploration of flowers today. First, we reviewed the different parts of a plant and their job. Then we talked about the different stages a plant goes through in its life cycle. Next we took a closer look at our glove gardens. Some of our seeds are sprouting. They have roots and stems. A few of them even have leaves. Next we read the book, Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move. We explored how seeds move. We found out that there are three main ways seeds can move by animals or people, through the air, or in the water. Then we watched Magic School Bus: Goes to Seed. It explained the different ways seeds move from place to place.