4th Grade Book Buddies

Students learn from their peers and other students.  Clays Mill is a wonderful learning community and we wanted to give our students the opportunity to do just that.  We have teamed up with Mrs. Harman's 4th grade class for book buddies.  On Friday afternoons, Mrs. Harman's 4th graders come to our classroom and spend time with our students.  Each 4th grader has been paired up with a Kindergarten or 1st grade student and reads AR books with them. 

Before long, the older students will help our K/1 students take AR tests to earn AR points.  When students earn points, they will be awarded "dog tags" to show progress in AR.  Kindergarten will receive a tag at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 points.  Kindergarteners will begin AR late fall.   First grade students will earn a tag at 10 points and then every 10 points after that.  There are other awards to be received throughout the year for points earned.  First graders may begin AR as soon as they are ready.  They have been given their AR usernames and passwords. This is just another way to help students stay excited about reading. 

This book buddy experience has been a positive experience for both classes.  Students enjoy spending time with their buddies and look forward to their visits each week.  Fourth graders are mentoring young students in a variety of ways.  They help them write their name, work with them on learning to tie their shoes, and talk with them about their day at school.  With our older students in "the village" outside, we really don't get to see them often.  This has really helped them connect with more students in our school community.  We are glad to have our book buddies from Mrs. Harman's class and look forward to spending more time with them this year.

 

Silly Sticker Sort

Kindergarten students are learning how to sort based on properties in Math.  We did a "Silly Sticker Sort" this week, where students sorted based on the properties of color, size or shape.  Each student got 4 types of stickers:  large smiley faces, small smiley faces, small handprints, and large handprints.  They decided how they would sort the stickers, then they put them into groups on the charts in their Math Journals, and explained to a friend how they sorted them on the page.  Students enjoyed working on this activity and showed how much they'd learned about properties by talking through the process with friends.  Each student was proud to share how they sorted their stickers and show them off to friends. 

 



Phonics Friday Fun!

 

Students in our K/1 class are learning phonics in a fun way.  Each week, we are working on a different letter for learning the letter sound, handwriting, phonics activities, and art projects.  So far, we have worked with the letters Cc, Oo, and Aa. 

We begin the week with an introduction of the letter and letter sound.  We talk about the part of the phonics chant with that letter and read a story focusing on that letter.  We list words that begin with that letter and children come up with as many as they can. 

After an introduction, children practice writing the letter using our special "house paper" where we really focus on forming our letters correctly.  Only brave letters go in the attic and the basement.  We always start our letters at the top.  We even have a song to help us remember that, just see if your child will sing it for you.  Later in the week, there is always a "Mystery Box" of fun items that start with that letter.  Children guess what might be in the mystery box and then as each item is revealed, we pass them around.  We have more handwriting practice on both the capital and lowercase letter and review the sound as we write.  

Each Friday we have a fun phonics art activity.  This Friday, we made "Artistic Aa's".  The art always starts with the letter we are working with for the week.  Check out some of our students' work.  They were very creative with their decorations.  The masterpieces were not totally dry by the end of the day, so they will be going home next week. 

Look for a fun art project to come home each week and be sure to ask your child about the letter we're working on.  This focus on one letter per week is to review and reinforce phonemic awareness skills as well as introduce letters and sounds to kindergarten students in a way they will retain the knowledge.  Our students are learning to be readers.  What an exciting adventure!

The Lexington Children's Theatre Comes to Clays Mill!

picture from Amazon.com

Our students enjoyed a special performance by the Lexington's Children's Theatre on Friday.  They came to Clays Mill to perform "Jake's Old Skirts", which is a play based on the book by  C. Anne Scott.  The children were laughing hysterically at the characters as they sang and acted out the very entertaining story.  The dog was one of their favorite characters.  In reading, we have been talking a lot about characters and setting.  Be sure to ask your child about some of the characters in the play and the setting of the story.  They would probably love to share their favorite part of the play. 

We are delighted that we were able to have the Lexington Children's Theatre come to Clays Mill and we're looking forward to them coming back later this year for another performance. 

Actors from the Lexington Children's Theatre acting out the story.

Audience members were delighted after the performance.

Our Video Conference Experience

Kindergarten and first graders having a scheduled video conference?  That's right!  Our class was fortunate to participate in a video conference with the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA this week. 

As you may have heard, our class raised butterflies this year during a study of life cycles.  We watched the caterpillars eat, form a cocoon, and hatch into adult butterflies.  Then, we released them into the world.  Our students enjoyed learning about the life cycles of butterflies so much, we wanted to extend their learning even further.  The video conference was the perfect opportunity to review what we learned this year about butterflies and integrate technology into the classroom in an interesting way. 

Students were interacting with Miss Eve on the screen in front of them.

Students as they worked on putting together their own butterfly puppets.

Students engaged in learning about butterflies around the world.

Movement activities involved students in pretending
to be a caterpillar changing into a butterfly.

The Center for Puppetry Arts provided instruction using photos, live videos, guided movement activities, and directing students in making butterfly marrionette puppets.  During the video conference, students were introduced to "symmetry", as the teacher discussed the designs on the Monarch butterfly's wings. She also went into detail about the parts of a butterfly's body.   Students viewed videos and photos of butterflies around the world.  The movement activities were very engaging for students as they acted like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly and a butterfly fluttering its wings.  This was an exciting and engaging experience for our students and we plan to do another video conference on a different topic next year. 

Summer Writing Activity #1: 
Write a thank you letter to Miss Eve.  Tell her how much you enjoyed the Butterflies program.  Tell her about your favorite part.  She did so many things with us.  You should tell her about something you learned about butterflies.  

Be sure to tell her you are from Clays Mill.  I'm sure she'll be happy to hear from our students.  Don't forget to draw a nice, colorful picture to decorate your letter!  Below is the address to mail Miss Eve's letter. 

Center for Puppetry Arts

Attn:  Miss Eve

1404 Spring Street, NW at 18th

Atlanta, GA 30309-2820

Summer Writing Activity #2: 
Write a thank you letter to Jamie Burch.  Tell her how much you enjoyed the Butterflies program.  Tell her about your favorite part of the program.  Be sure to tell her you are in Mrs. Sowers' class at Clays Mill.  Don't forget to draw a nice, colorful picture to decorate your letter!

Remember, Ms. Burch was the one that came to our classroom and helped us during the video conference.  She also contacted the Center for Puppetry Arts and set up the video conference for us.  Please be sure to thank her for helping us.  Below is the address to mail Ms. Burch's letter. 

IAKSS - Office of Instructional Technology

Attn:  Jamie Burch
701 E. Main Street
Lexington, KY 40502

Camp "Read A Lot"

Children enjoyed our Camp "Read A Lot" on Wednesday, June 1st.  They spent the morning sitting around in sleeping bags reading and sharing some of their favorite books from home.  We were fortunate to have many adults to share read alouds of some of their favorite books, too.  The children had a great day relaxing and reading together.  This was a nice end of the year activity for our class. 

students enjoying a read aloud with a guest reader during Camp Read A Lot

Field Day at CME

Clays Mill Field Day was Tuesday, May 31st.  Our class had a wonderful time participating in the games this year.  Thank you to all of the parent volunteers that came out to run the games and coordinate such a fantastic day!  We were excited to see so many of our own parents running games at field day.  You are the best!  



The kids loved the free play station with
hula hoops, jump ropes, and games.



The three-legged sack race was hysterical.

 

Tug-of-War was a hit and it even got the teachers involved.

After the activities, children enjoyed some time in the shade eating popsicles.  What a fun day!