We had our LEADS Literacy Fun Fest today. All LEADS students and teachers come in dressed as their favorite book character.
I dressed up as Miss Viola Swamp, the meanest substitute, from the book Miss Nelson Is Missing. Room 408 loves that series of books!
But, now...Miss Henning is Missing...
We bring our books and meet up with LEADS buddies to share our books and costumes with each other.
Today we met in the Community Room and got to see Mrs. Heins' Kindergarteners put on a play. After the play we remembered to get a whole group picture!
After the play, we met up with our 4K LEADS buddies to share our costumes and books.
After our LEADS book buddies, we had fun in our spooky stations. First we set goals of how many stations we thought we could complete. Halfway through stations we revisited our goals and revised them, if necessary. Watch the video below to see our fun in our spooky stations and our great costumes!
We started the day by making predictions on the Morning Message out what this object was:
After making lots of predictions and inferences about the photograph, we discussed different sources where we could research for more information. Room 408 came up with videos, books, PebbleGo, and photographs. We talked about how to record important information on post-it notes. Then we went off to figure out why Jacques Cousteau was so famous!
Some started by investigating photos.
Mason and Lincoln matched up a ship and a map of a ship.
Kenley, Peyton, and Brixon found an inventor's diagram and a photo that matched the same shape as the photo from the morning message that got us wondering.
They shared their learning with Mason.
Others got right into the videos and PebbleGo.
Regardless of what sources they were using, Room 408 was busy recording their new learning about Jacques Cousteau.
We got together after our research time for sharing our discoveries.
We were amazed at how much learning we did!
We read two books about his life.
We learned that he had a hope and dream to be able to breathe underwater and to discover more about the undersea world that he loved so much. This dream sounded impossible, but he eventually invented the Aqualung!
He also bought an old war boat and turned it into an exploring ship.
He went on to invent other wonderful ways to explore under the sea.
Even though his dreams seemed impossible, he didn't give up until each one became a reality.
Later he realized that people were harming the ocean with garbage and chemicals. Jacques Cousteau decided to educate the world so everyone could help to preserve the waters in our world.
Here are some videos, if you'd like to learn more about Jacques Cousteau.
Essentially we discovered why Jacques Cousteau was famous...
We have been doing a lot of work this year learning about skills we need to collaborate.
We have read lots of books like Swimmy about working together.
Recently, we read a great book:
It even had a part about what we just learned about--compromise!
We watched the following videos that show how ants even collaborate:
We have been noticing how we collaborate every day.
(At the beginning of the video they say, "This is what collaboration can do!"
We introduced a new tool to help us work through our problems. It's called our Time Machine, and it's a way to rewind time and solve our problems in a more productive way.
When someone has a problem, we make sure we are willing to work on the problem. If we're willing we stand at the ends of the mat. Danica and Aloura offered to demonstrate:
Next, we step onto the mat and take a STAR breath (Stop, Take a breath, And Relax).
After that we wish each other well.
Next, we say, "1-2-3, Let's do it!"
One person tells the other person what s/he did that s/he didn't like, and asks them to stop. The other person does their best to understand the problem and help by saying, "Okay, I can do that."
Finally, we seal the deal with a high five, a handshake, or a hug.
If needed, the two switch places and do it again.
Using the time machine really diffuses our problems and makes it easier to work them out!
