For the past couple of weeks during writing we have been working on opinions.  While everyone seems to have strong opinions about a given topic, we have been working on supporting our opinions with evidence.  We have spent lots of time practicing this orally, often by telling wether or not we like a book that was just read, and using evidence from the story to support our thoughts.  Children also really enjoy convincing me that they should earn class tallies for a given portion of the day, which is dependent on solid evidence.  They have become very creative in their reasoning!
We have practiced writing several opinions as well, including "Which do you like better, recess or choice time?" and "Would you rather have hot lunch or cold lunch?"  As part of this we have worked on wrapping up our writing with a concluding statement.

Angie Barger was with us again on Wednesday morning for some more tracking fun, using plaster tracks to make stories in sand.  This week we have also been sharing each child's shadow puppet show, which tells the story of tracks in the snow.

Some highlights from our week:

Creating models of three dimensional solids with play dough and straws.

Making tracking stories as backdrops for shadow puppet shows.

Decorating bags to hold all of our valentines.

Nature name portraits created in art class, now hanging outside our classroom.

This week we celebrated our 100th day of school.   While Thursday was our official 100th day, with the snow day and early release day our celebration was spread throughout the week.  Our math stations on Tuesday and Wednesday included counting and building with 100 geo-blocks, playing a game to 100, and completing a numbers to 100 scavenger hunt in the classroom.  Children particularly loved the scavenger hunt, which involved wandering the room with a clipboard- ask your child to explain what they were looking for.  During choice time many children chose to count collections of 100 things, using the strategy of ten groups of ten.  We ended our celebration by making 100's crowns and having  a special 100's snack.

While Valentine's Day falls on a Saturday this year, children are welcome to make cards for their classmates to share on the 13th.  I have sent home a list of all of the children in our class- if your child chooses to bring valentines, please make sure there is one for everyone in the class.  We will have a small celebration while we look over our valentines.