Everybuggy Blogs!

What are three things you like to do on snow days?

Three things I like to do on snow days is sledding building snowmen and making snow angles. Abby

I like to do on snow days is to play in the snow and go sledding and drink hot chocolate that is what I like to do on snow days. By Sophia

What I like to do on a snow day is go to my grandparents house and dig in one of their snow piles and make a mini igloo  and take a little nap in the mini igloo.  Then I build a snowman and then I go inside and drink hot cocoa. By Jude

My three things I like to do on a snow day is build a fort and make igloos and make snow balls. By Andrew

Three things that I like is to build a snowman and make an igloo also have a snowball fight with my brother.By Benny

My  favorite things to do on a snow days is to go snowboarding and drink cocoa  and have snow bol fights.by Bradley  

I like to have friends over and play the  in snow. My sekt thing  to  dwek hot coce. My third thing to do es to be wuf my family. by Logan

My favorite thing to do over a snow day is read, watch a movie, and play in my toy room.

By Natalie

On snow days I play my xbox360 and bary stuff and play football.They are fun. ByJackson

I like building a snowman because my mom helps me and she gets the nose the hat and buttons. Another thing I do is make a forest of snow and me and Lilly be in it to play .The last thing that I do is I put Christmas presents by my grandma's tree. By Alex

One of my favorite things to do on a snow day is make snow angels in the snow. Another one of my favorite things to do on a snow day is make snowballs to throw because it is fun to throw them. Another one of my favorite things to do on a snow day is to jump on my trampoline and make the snow fall off. by Christian

The three things that I do on snow days is making a snowman and sledding down a hill and making snow angels.By Karleigh

What I do when it is a snow  day I play in the snow.Then I play legos with my brother. My third  thing is to drink hot coco. by Ezekiel

Things I like to do on a snow day is watch TV and cuddle and play in the snow. By Kami

The three things I like to do on snow days are making snow forts.  Watching tv and playing on my fone.by Evan

My favorite thing to do on a snow day is play in snow and drink hot coco and go to grama’s house. By Karsyn

My favorite thing is to run in the snow and eat the snow and jump in the snow. By Precious

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Andrew is a SMARTY!!!

Andrew completed his entire Smarty card!

He can do all his addition math facts through the 20's!!

Way to go, Andrew! 

(Now I owe him lunch!)

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Charlotte's Web

We finished reading Charlotte's Web this week, so we were treated to a movie this afternoon!  E.B. White is an amazing author!
We will never forget the opening line of the book...
"Papa? Where are you going with that axe?"

(The movie was awesome, too!)

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A Story by Jackson

Once upon a time in a land not so very far away lived a young, handsome boy named Jackson. Jackson lived with his beautiful mother, Heather, and his wicked sister, Taylor. Jackson’s dad was a wonderful man, his name was Aaron  but was absent a lot of the time for he was campaigning to be king of the countryside. If he was elected  king, he would be one very happy man.  He loved his family very much. He is running for king VS Mike Potatoes. Mike  is good and has 100 voters. Mike Potatoes voters Aaron  has 999 Mike had 1 second left! It was BAD. Aaron’s dog zeke was the guard for Aaron King if he win king. He got 1 more voter it was Aidn he was my friend.So my Dad had 1’000 voters for many months and finally it was time to see if my Dad would see if he win he did win. I was happy mom and my sister and Aidn. by Jackson (with a little help from his mom!)

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Building Reading Fluency and Expression

One of the ways we build our reading fluency and reading expression is by choral reading.  Our whole class choral reads the same story 2-3 times a week.  This repeated reading helps build reading fluency (speed and accuracy), sight word recognition, vocabulary familiarity and expressive skills!  Whew!  And we thought we were just having fun!  Here's a peek at what it sounds like!

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100% on Math Facts!

Congratulations to Christian and Benny!  They both got 100% on their addition facts today!!

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Everybuggy Blogs!!

If you were Charlotte, trying to save Wilbur's life, what word would you write in your web?

Lorn because wulbert cus he es luneng a lot. By Logan  

What I would put in the web to save whilbers life is cute. By Karleigh

I would write wonderful because Wieber is nice and friendly. By Jude

I will put good pig to save Wilburs life. By Kami

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Halloween Parade and Party

We had a great time on Halloween!  We loved the parade and the party!  We are very thankful that Mother Nature cooperated with our plans and gave us such gorgeous weather!

We played Halloween BINGO!

We loved laughing and having fun with all our friends!

We also had some amazing snacks!

Thanks to all the generous parents who supplied us with great food and wonderful help during the parade and party!  We couldn't do it without you!

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Extra Recess!

We did it again!
We earned another 25 compliments!
Mrs. Koehn took us outside for an extra recess to celebrate!!
(The next time we earn 25 compliments, Mrs. Koehn promised to bake us her world famous cookies!!)

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Fire Safety

Today, the Paw Paw Fire Department volunteer firemen came to the Early Elementary to talk with us about fire safety.  We know that if there is a fire, we need to GET OUT and STAY OUT!    We talked about making a plan with our families for practicing fire safety and for selecting a "safe spot" to meet in case of a fire at our home. 

We also got to see (and hear!) what a fireman would look and sound like if they came to rescue us.  Even though he sounds like Darth Vadar, we know he is a good guy and he is here to help us!

We learned that it's even okay to shout at him or to throw something at him so he can find us faster!

The firemen shared with us a very cool new tool!  They have a cool thermal machine that can tell where people are by measuring body heat!  This can help firemen find people even faster in case of a fire! 

We thought the images looked like ghosts!!

Thanks so much to all of the Paw Paw volunteer firemen and women!
We learned so much from you and we are so glad to have you in our community keeping us safe!

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Everybuggy Blogs!!

What makes the leaves turn such beautiful colors each fall?

I think the leaves change colors because in the summertime it's warm and in the fall it's cold so the leaves change colors. By Jude

I think why the leaves change because the tree bark gets bad and it makes the leaves change color. By Sophia

Leaves change color in fall because it is getting cold. By Abby

Leaves turn colors because when it is fall they are dropping it is coming to winter.The bark is dead. By Andrew

A tree turns coler’s because they do not get enough food and water.  By Natalie

They change because they fall to the ground. By Blayne

I think the leafs turn another color so we can see them turn cool colors . by Kami

I think that it’s because of the sun. by  Ezekiel

Liv Fs change color because the year es chigeeng. by Logan

I think the change color leaves because it is cold in the winter.  By  Bradley

The time of year they chag  green yellow red. By Karsyn

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Everybuggy Blogs!

What kind of book do you like more, fantasy or realistic fiction?  Why?

My favorite book is fantasy because a guy named Captain Underpants could fly a toilet could talk a baby could sae the world. By Jude

I love realistic fiction because it can teach you real and troy stuff that is why I love it. By Sophia

I like books that are not real thay are very silly.  By Kami

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The Importance of Bundling

Today we were tricked into learning!!  Mrs. Koehn said she needed to know if she had 1000 straws for a project.  She asked how we thought we could most efficiently count them.  It was suggested we bundle the straws by fives, and then it was suggested we bundle by tens.  We all agreed that bundling by tens would be faster to count than fives.

When we got all the straws bundled into groups of tens, we started to count them, but Mrs. Koehn kept losing her place and there were so many bundles...so we decided to bundle them again - this time into bundles of one hundred!

We used our habit of the week - SYNERGIZING - to work together and create our bundles.  When we finally had bundles of 100, we counted them again.  It went super fast!  We quickly found that we had more than 1000, (we actually had 1006!).  Mrs. Koehn was delighted.  Then she told us she had just tricked us into doing math without knowing we were doing math.  Sneaky teacher!

We thought about our bundling experience while we worked on math.  We were able to draw bundles of hundred, tens or single ones in order to solve math problems.  This made doing math so fast (and correct!)  We loved this strategy!

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Quick and Easy Activities for Home

Every now and then I like to share some fun activities you can do at home with your student to support the academic and social skills we are working on at school.  Here are just a couple ideas for your Monday morning:

Reading: Make reading visible in your home.  Point out all the different times you have to read in your everyday life.  Do you read the weather forecast?  A recipe for dinner?  The note that comes home from school?  Let your child see how important reading is!  Take it one step further and have your child help with YOUR reading.  Can your child read part of the forecast?  How about the recipe?  Practice reading in every context you can - it helps build fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and background knowledge!

Math: Do math problems in the car.  Pick any number from 1-1000 and ask your child to name 10 more than that number, 10 less; 100 more, 100 less, etc.  Make your child think backwards from that number and create a math sentence that would have your number as the sum or difference.  For example, if you give the number 32, ask, "What two numbers could you add together to get 32?"  or "What numbers could you subtract to get a difference of 32?"  For one entire car ride, play with the same number and see how many different activities you can come up with for that same number.  

Writing: We are constantly telling students how important writing is to every career in life, and yet, do they see what you write?  Just like reading, make writing visible in your home.  Have your child add items to the grocery list.  Have your child write a note saying they will be picked up today by Aunt Marie (you just sign it).  Could your child write your address on the insurance form while you wait for your prescription?  Any chance you get, ask your child to help with writing.  It gives application, as well as practice and it allows you opportunities to nudge and adjust any writing errors.

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Good Citizens

What a great day for a field trip!

We started at the County Court House.

We sat out on the historic steps and learned that this building was the second court house built in Paw Paw.  This one was built in 1901!!

We were very impressed by its age!

We went inside...

 ...to the historic courtroom.  Judge Dufon was presiding in court today.  

He explained the roles of citizens in a democracy, including the importance of voting and serving on a jury.  He also talked with us about laws and the role of government in creating and enforcing laws. 

We set up a council of townspeople to decide about creating a law that would not allow animals on school grounds.

Mrs. Koehn got arrested for bringing a seeing-eye dog to school.

Officer Holden was the one who arrested Mrs. Koehn.  He was a witness at the trial.

After hearing the evidence, the jury found Mrs. Koehn guilty of violating the law of Teddy Town.

Judge Dufon presided over the case to make sure it was conducted fairly - with justice for all!

After the trial, the town council met again to talk about the law and to make revisions to it.  They decided that a better law would be to only permit service animals on school grounds in Teddy Town.

The students learned so much about the legal process and the tough decisions lawmakers have to make!  We also saw first hand how difficult it can be to enforce laws when there can be circumstances when it might be permissible. 

What a wonderful day in court today!  

Thank you to Mr. Hardester and Judge Dufon for all your time and energy in helping our students learn about the Constitution and its applications!

 After the court house, we headed to the Paw Paw Police Station.  We had a tour of the building, including learning about all the things police officers carry with them.  

We saw what police officers have in their vehicles to help in emergencies.  

We squeezed into the interview room...

...and we saw the locker room where the officers keep their uniforms.

We even had time to see the fire trucks!!

Thank you to the entire Paw Paw Police Department for making our day so special!
We learned so much from all of you!

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Cooperative Learning

Today we worked on two-step word problems in math.

We needed some extra practice so Mrs. Koehn made up some problems for us to work on.

We did a bunch together as a class, then we did a few on our own.

We got together with a partner to compare our answers and to talk about our thinking.

Sometimes we found that we had made a mistake and we learned a lot from each other!

Learning together is so much fun!

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Kalamazoo Symphony Quintet

Today we were treated to a quintet from the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. 

We learned about the oboe (which Mrs. Koehn played in high school)...

...and the bassoon, which was a very unique instrument!

We also learned about the French horn, clarinet and the flute
(which Mrs. Koehn played from fifth grade through high school!) 

We heard some classical tunes, some rag time music, a polka and more! 

Thank you to Ms. Miller for arranging for this wonderful experience!

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