Busy Spring Days!

I have been having so much fun with our students over the last couple weeks. Here's what we've been up to since coming back from Spring Break:

*Kindergartners read the Armadillo story Goldie Takes a Stand and drew pictures of themselves doing something nice for someone else, just like Goldie did in the story. They also practiced their rhyming skills after reading another Armadillo nominee, A Poem in Your Pocket.

* Second grade is beginning to do research projects in class. They came to the library to learn about reliable resources, including books and online databases like Kids Info Bits and World Book Web. They'll be coming back soon to learn about taking notes!

* The third graders and I had great discussions about characters and what motivates changes within them. We talked about dynamic movie characters like Gru and Belle, then read the book Enemy Pie and evaluated the cause for change within the main character!

* Fourth grade time traveled through Texas with an urbanization lesson. Teams worked together to build a map of a rural Texas town that eventually became urban, thanks to economic growth. The kids learned about the impact of different 20th century industry booms, including the railroad, oil, transportation, and technology. It was really neat to see how the students worked together and to see how they rationalized where they placed their different structures.