Miss Todd's Terrific Team: February 2019

Friday, February 22, 2019

Music Around the World--Week 6--South America

What an exciting day we had at our Music Around the World Club today! We learned all about South America and one of their favorite instruments--the rainstick. After exploring some of the special places you can visit in Brazil, we were able to learn about a day in the life of a boy from Brazil. We also saw some of the different ways that you can make a rainstick. We enjoyed learning about the rainstick so much that we decided to make our very own rainstick. Then, we had the privilege of singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with our new instruments. We also reviewed two of our favorite songs, "La Raspa" and "You Are my Sunshine." We had such a fabulous day and can not wait to share our show with you all in May! Here are some pictures and a video from our exciting day! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

https://vimeo.com/319145718

Western Fun Day

Yee Haw! Our cowgirls and cowboys have been hard at work learning about our state symbols and regions. Throughout the week, we enhanced our lessons about Texas with other subjects such as art and language arts. We created cowboys and cowgirls during an engaging self portrait opportunity. Here are some pictures of our finished products.

As an exciting final event this week, we celebrated Western Fun Day where we learned a Texas dance, rode on a pony, and enjoyed some real Texas cornbread. We have included some pictures from our day. You can also watch our show below to join in the fun! Let us know what you think by leaving us a comment! Enjoy!

https://vimeo.com/319142730

Motion and Math

In science this week, we studied motion. We learned how motion is the way that objects can move. We begin this exciting study with an exploration of marbles where we learned that items can move in a straight line, back and forth, round and round, in a zigzag, and up and down. Then, we had an opportunity to explain these different motions by practicing these motions with streamers. Finally, we experimented with building our own paper airplanes and seeing how we could make them move. We also spent some time exploring ramps and how they can make an object move faster. Here is a video of our exciting explorations. We hope you enjoy the show! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

https://vimeo.com/319144136

In math, we have been working hard to solve addition problems, using model drawing. This is the math program that they use in Singapore. Research has shown it to be very effective. Model drawing is a way for children to not only solve a story problem but to be able to prove why the answer is true. In order for our students to have a solid foundation in number sense, we find the ability to fully explain your reasoning behind your answer to be a very important skill. Model drawing allows our students the opportunity to practice doing this. Below you can see how we were able to solve problems that we created on our own using the model drawing strategies.

Friday, February 15, 2019

Music Around the World--Week 5--America

Wow! What an exciting day we had today at our fifth afternoon of our Music Around the World Club! Today we learned about our country--America! We focused on how Texans like to put a country twist on American favorites. After reviewing "It's a Small World", "Kye Kye Kule", and "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, " we were treated to a special guest, Miss Todd's Dad, Mr. Todd. He played his guitar for us and sang, "Sneaky Snake", a song that he and Miss Todd sang together when she was our age. After enjoying Mr. Todd's presentation, we had the opportunity to create string things, harmonicas, and washboards. We used these instruments to accompany our song, "You Are my Sunshine!" You can listen to our rousing rendition in the show we made below. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think about our fun day!

Don't forget to join us on Thursday night, May 9th at 7:00 P.M. for our presentation of our Music Around the World Celebration Night! You are going to enjoy seeing all of the instruments that we have created and songs that we have learned on our musical journey around the world!

https://vimeo.com/317589997

Valentine's Day

This week we celebrated Valentine's Day! In honor of this holiday, we created the show below to express what love means to us. We hope that you enjoy it! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

We also created a show from our Valentine's party and have included some pictures that highlight some of the fun activities that we participated in this week. We hope you have a very Happy Valentine's Day!