Young children are inherent measurers and this is reflected strongly in everyday language when they compare, order and match – I can swim right across the pool now; it’s too big for me to lift; it won’t fit in the box; my hand is bigger than your hand. Personal experiences, such as playing with toys, interactions with other children and conversations with parents all reinforce children’s early development of the concept of attributes that can be measured. Students need experiences that lead to an understanding of why measurement is necessary and helpful. They need to work with non-standard units and to create their own measuring instruments, and to discover for themselves the necessity of having standard units and the efficiency of having measuring instruments to count the units. Team Awesome is exploring length, weight, area and capacity through hands-on activities with these objectives in mind.
#1 rule in our classroom. Because that's all you can do, really.
 When I looked for a picture of the Valentine cards I remember giving when I was in elementary school I had to use the search term "vintage". Boy am I dating myself! Every card was printed on sturdy thin cardboard and no two were the same. They all had to be cut out by hand and one had to be very selective who received which card lest the message conveyed something unintentional. I remember spending hours cutting, choosing the perfect beneficiary, and laboriously printing names the night before Valentine's Day. No fancy stickers, toys, lollipops or candies involved, just homemade chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles to share with the class.
For most of Team Awesome this will be their first experience with Valentine's Day and cards and the children will have a vague idea what its all about. We will be doing some activities like crafts with hearts throughout the week but of course will go all-out on Tuesday. Goodies to share with the class are most welcome and fruits and veggies always go over well with the children. Please make sure the 'From' part on Valentine cards are filled in before coming to class as we will not have time on Tuesday to do that. Please leave off the 'To' as it makes the cards easier to hand out. Have your child bring them in a bag and then put the whole bag in the Home Box or on my desk so they don't get lost/ crunched- we will hand them out after lunch. I will try (for purely selfish reasons) to dissuade the children from eating the candies that are attached to many cards and encourage them to eat them at home. Happy Valentine's Day! Right now it looks like Fresh Air Friday for this week is a go (but with this crazy weather that could still change by Friday). And there is still snow!! So we can go sledding! Wahoo!
We are able to borrow a few sleds and share them between ourselves and Mrs. Farber's class but If your child has a tobaggan that they are able to carry themselves they are welcome to bring it. Please be aware that they will have to be willing to share it and there is always the possibility of damage. Please put your child's name on the sled and then store it in our classroom until we leave after lunch. If the snow has melted or it is too icy we will forego the sledding and just go down to the river to do some winter exploring. Please dress your child for an afternoon spent outside in the weather- extra mittens might be a good idea as they are often soggy after lunchtime play.  Am I the only one that finds Groundhog Day bizarre? According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early; if it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks. Really?! Not only that but a Canadian study for 13 cities in the past 30 to 40 years found that the weather patterns predicted on Groundhog Day were only 37% accurate over that time period—a value not significant compared to the 33% that could occur by chance. When I asked Team Awesome if a groundhog could really predict the coming (or not) of spring they all agreed that it could not- spring would come when it was ready. But it was fun learning about groundhogs and their 5 minutes in the spotlight every year on February 2.
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