Thanksgiving Feast

It was time to meet together just like the Pilgrims and the Native Americans did to show thanks for all that we have. The day started with a math lesson involving measuring as we measured out our ingredients. After mixing everything together we poured our muffin batter into the muffin tins. It was exciting to be able to eat them and our fresh popped popcorn (from an airpopper) with the rest of the first grade. Before we ate we shared all of things that make us thankful. Below are some pictures.

Halloween Fun

Where do I begin?
Well we started with a first-rate laser light show sponsored by the PTA on Friday. Even though Halloween day was cancelled at school we still carried on a few days later. Better late then never. Our spooky houses were on display for the kindergarten and 2nd grade to view on Thursday and later in the day we had our annual Halloween parade.

Character Ed Awards

Throughout the year Cherry Lane gives out awards for students that show they show TRRFCC qualities (trustworthy, respectful, responsibilty, fairness, citizenship, caring). Wednesday, October 19 we honored three of our class' students for the caring and citizenship they have shown in the classroom.

Congratulations!

Mark Kistler Came to School

3D Artist, Mark Kistler came to Cherry Lane today to teach our school how to draw. It was a great assembly sponsored by the PTA. The kids brought clipboards and pencils and were drawing alongside this professional artist. I even tried using one of my drawing apps on my iPad (see below).

Here are some of the pieces created at the assembly.

Check out more on Mark Kistler's website.

We are Authors

The class has written several booklets of writing since the beginning of school. Today marked the first author celebration where their published books are now bound in a book and illustrated. All of the children now have a book in our classroom library for all to read and enjoy!

Hip Pickle Assembly

Today we participated in an assembly presented by the PTA. The Hip Pickles started our school year on the right beat. We learned about sharing and respect, along with an anti-bullying message. Some of the class got to come and perform with rhythm instruments or dancing. Check out our talents.

The Beginning of a New School Year is Here!

The first days of school have been very busy. There is so much to do and learn! The sun finally showed up today and allowed for the first outdoor recess. Here are some pictures of what we have been up to so far this year.

We observed the math manipulatives

We wrote stories from our imagination.

And we even have visited the computer lab already.

Skyping with Montebello

We had an exciting day today. We finished our packages in time to talk with the first graders at Montebello via Skype. We showed our packages that would safely hold a plant and talked about what materials we used. Then we told what functions of a package it had. Last, we explained how our package was designed to meet the needs of plants.

Olympic Day 2011

It was a beautiful, sunny (not to mention, hot) day at Cherry Lane for our Olympic Day. Check out all of our athletic prowess in these highlights.

Channel 1-S Tiger News Episode 2

Our reporters worked hard in the field to bring coverage of the woodland animals on Bear Mountain Zoo.

Episode of Channel 1-S Tiger News

Our team of "growing" reporters and botanists are firmly "rooted" in the research process. [insert your groan here].

The class was divided into research teams to find out information on roots, leaves, flowers, and seeds. After reading books and taking notes, each group created a script and props for a newscast. And thus, Channel 1-S Tiger News took seed. Now we present the World Premier of our newscast about the parts of plants.

We are Learning About Engineers

We are learning how to be package engineers with a program developed by the Museum of Science. Our learning begins with the story of Fadil and Bashira who live in Jordan. Their older sister is getting married and is moving to a far away city. They want her to remember them so they decide to give her an Amaryllis from their garden. Fadil and Bashira learn that one cannot simply put a plant in a box and hope it will survive.

Our class will be asked to design a package so that we may send a plant to Montebello school, while keeping in mind the needs of a plant.

We read Pierre the Penguin and made connections to the engineering process. Then we watched the Live Web Cam. You can watch Pierre and his friends now too.

Fun With Poetry

We are currently reading and writing poetry. The new ideas presented in poetry have been very exciting. We noticed that poetry has rhythm. The class was inspired to turn Myra Cohn Livingston's poem Street Song into an actual song with a tune they came up with themselves. Below is a video of our song.

Making Inferences About Animal Teeth

When we were studying dental health, we started learning interesting facts about animal teeth by looking up information in books and on the Internet. I printed some pictures of various animals and asked the class to observe and sort the teeth. After we developed categories, I asked the class to think about why these animals have similar or different teeth. They inferred that carnivores had sharp teeth and herbivores had flat teeth.
I videotaped what happened.

We are Researchers!

Our nonfiction unit is in full-swing and we are learning how to answer our "I wonder" questions by looking up the answers in books and on the computer. We started by learning about dental health and then an "I wonder" question prompted us to look at animal teeth. We read books and sorted pictures of animal teeth. The class noticed that the type of teeth animals have is related to what they eat. Carnvivores have sharp teeth, herbivores have flat teeth, and omnivores have both. We made a tree map to show our findings.

We looked up information about animal diets using World Book Kids and organized it in a chart.

Meanwhile, other students chose topics they were interested in and were writing down what they learned and what they wonder.

Rockland Read-In

On Friday we not only celebrated our work writing and reading Mo Willems' books, but we also had Rockland Read-In. First we read Elephant & Piggie books to Mrs. Chertok's class. We worked hard to read with expression. Mrs. Chertok's class then read picture books to us.

Next, Mrs. Rubin-Richards read her favorite book, Bread and Jam for Frances.

Then, Mrs. Hoberman came to read Miss Nelson is Missing.

We also had chances to relax and read on our own some great books from home and from the classroom.

Pigeon! Pigeon! Pigeon!

Well it was that time of the year again! The annual Pigeon Party to celebrate the end of our Mo Willems Author Study unit in reading and writing was a rousing success. We got to read our innovations of Pigeon and Elephant & Piggie books and play games like Pin the Eyeball on Pigeon.

Just in case you did not get to hear some of our original works...Here are two for you to listen to that the original authors read.

We love Elephant and Piggie Books!

There is no denying that we LOVE Mo Willem's books. We have been practicing reading with expression the Elephant and Piggie series. On Rockland Read-In Day (Friday), we will be reading and putting on mini puppet shows for Mrs. Chertok's class. Later in the day we will be having the annual Pigeon Party. We performed one of the books a little early.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is a day to let others know you care. Mrs. Greenhut and Mrs. Fahmi came Friday to provide a Valentine breakfast. The children had strawberries, bagels with pink cream cheese, and pink lemonade. Thank you so much for the excellent breakfast.
Today we exchanged Valentine cards and made more Valentine's Day cards.

Budding Scientists

Our current science unit explores the characteristics of solids and liquids. We are learning from hands-on experience the different properties of these states of matter. The movie in this posting was our first experience with some solids. Later on, we separated cornmeal, rice, mung beans, pinto beans, and kidney beans with different sized screens.

Last week (before all of the snow days) we mixed water with other liquids like corn syrup, hand soap, oil, and clothing detergent. We saw how oil and water separate into layers but other liquids did not. We cannot separate liquids from other liquids when they are mixed like we can with solids.

A Visit with Some Writing Friends from 4-Chertok

Fourth graders finished a unit on writing folktales and First graders in my class finished writing fairy tales. So, we decided to get the two classes together to share our stories today. My kids learned what a moral was and I think the fourth graders were entertained by our stories of magic and royalty set "Once Upon a Time" or "Long, long ago..."