Teddy Bear Sleepover

   We ended our Bear Unit with The Great Teddy Bear Sleepover.  Students brought their teddy bears in on Thursday.  That day we wrote clues using great adjectives to describe what our bear looked like.  Then we took turns reading our clues and guessing which bear belonged to whom.  We could tell the great descriptive adjectives used when we could easily guess the bear correctly with our four clues or even less!

   We also told our teddy bears all about our school rules...and of course, the made sure they knew the rules for their sleepover.  Then we read them a goodnight story, tucked them in, and went on our merry way home. 

   Well, that very next morning, you wouldn't believe what we found our bears up to!  They had definitely been up to some mischief! I made a video of the pictures. If you can't view YouTube, I've also included some of my favorite pictures below. 
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   We instantly took notes about what we saw.  Then, we sat our bears aside to give them some time to think about their choices while we vigorously wrote about what we had encountered.  This led to some great descriptive writing!

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This teddy was holding the Dry Erase marker...we caught it red-pawed!
   We made sure to use wonderful adjectives and lots of description so that our reader could picture in their mind exactly what we had seen, and also, so they could tell which teddy had done what.

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Note the black teddy bear hanging down from the projector!
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We were puzzled when we saw what these two had been up to!
   So many students were shocked that their teddy bears had not listened to them after we told them the rules.   You could read some of the concern for their teddy bear's decision making in their writing...so adorable!

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Can you believe these teddy bears were playing our math game for the week?
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Thought they would just hang out!
   We ended the day with all of us sharing our very descriptive first-hand accounts in the Author's Chair while we worked on reading with expression.  They were some amazing and descriptive stories! 
   Grizzly, Black, Alaskan Brown, Polar, and then Teddy Bears...Oh My!

Credit to Jessica Ashby for the Bear Sleepover idea!

 

Contraction Surgeons at Work!

    We went all went into surgery today...Contraction Surgery!  Oh, no...Surgery!  Oh, yes...but we were the surgeons.  
    We had all of the "surgical equipment" needed to perform surgery just like real surgeons: scalpels (scissors), stitches (glue), and even surgical masks (why not?). 
    We talked about how we sometimes say or write words so quickly that we actually combine them, but also that we end up leaving out parts of them because of how we say it.  We also talked about how when we leave those letters behind, they can't just disappear.  
    This then led into a great conversation about how sometimes we, as people, need things fixed or even taken out of us.  When a surgeon goes in and makes a cut, then fixes us or takes out the things not needed in us, they stitch us back up, but there is still something left behind...a mark or "a scar".  We discussed how words are just like that; we can't just take letters out, they also have to get a mark.  We learned that the mark is called an apostrophe.  
    Then we went to work delicately using our scalpels to take out letters and spaces to combine and fix the word, making sure to leave that special mark. 
   Check out the pictures below!
 

Hip, Hip Hooray...It's  the 100th Day!

On Monday, it was the 100th day of school! Along with some other activities, students wrote on what they think they will be like when they are 100 and then they also made a future self-portrait using paper, fabric, cotton balls, buttons, and other fun materials. Both their writing and their self-portraits were adorable and hilarious! Definitely one of the cutest things! Check out some of the pictures below.
 

Aarrg!

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This week we are learning the "ar" sound. What better of a way to learn the "ar" sound other than from being a pirate?  We started out on Tuesday with a book about Pirate Mark and then we later found a letter from him.   Would you believe he asked US for help to find his treasure?  We followed the treasure map, which led us to a bunch of "ar" words!

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We also made our very own pirates with ar words...because we must be pirates after all of that treasure hunting! Click on the photo to enlarge it. Credit to blogger Deanna Jump for many of these ideas. 

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We ended the day with reading How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long and David Shannon. A great story about a boy that gets to be a pirate for a day...just like us!