We have had a busy week. We learned a lot about nutrition and the different food groups. The kids really know their food groups! They're probably driving you crazy right now with their knowledge. You can thank me later. :)

We did make bread on Friday. We put in the yeast, bread mix, and water. The kids would watch it all morning. When it was finally rising, I told the kids they had to be quieter than usual and not stomp around or it would fall. Apparently, we were not quiet enough, because the bread fell. But it smelled so good while it was baking, other teachers in the building had to come see what we were doing. And just because it fell, that didn't stop us from eating it. Everyone agreed it was very good.

We agreed that was a good ending to a Friday and to a unit. Maybe next week we'll cook a turkey..........

This week, we have been learning about the food groups. We have been cutting pictures out of magazines to put on our food pyramid. The kids are doing great with recognizing the different food groups. They are so smart!! They love to learn! By Thanksgiving, they will be able to tell you all the different food groups on the table.

On Friday, we will be baking bread to go along with the story of "The Little Red Hen." We read 3 different versions of the story and then re-wrote the story our own way. Baking the bread will help the kids have a physical tie-in to the stories. I hope we have fun!

For the next two weeks, the students will be learning about nutrition. We will discuss the food groups, make menus, and actually bake bread. Thanksgiving is a perfect time to learn about servings, different food groups, and eating healthy.

We are reading the "Little Red Hen." I have 3 different versions of the story and we will be comparing and contrasting the stories. After reading the stories, we will write a story based on "The Little Red Hen." Then, we will bake bread in my bread machine.

The next two weeks should be fun for all of us in the classroom. We'll also be very hungry, too.

We have had a wonderful week studying about pumpkins. Today, we did several math and science experiments using our pumpkins.

First, we graphed what kind of face we wanted our large pumpkin to have. The kids chose from cute, scary, happy, or mad. The "scary" face won by a landslide! So, I drew the scary face on the pumpkin. I didn't want to cut the pumpkin around the kids and risk injuries.

Next, we used a mixture of shaving cream, glue and orange paint to make "puffy" pumpkins. Our 4th grade buddies came to help us with this project. We made 5 pumpkins sitting on a fence to go with the poem we learned today.

After that project, we tried to figure out if pumpkins would float or sink. We didn't have anything big enough to try the large pumpkin, so we tried the small pumpkins. The kids were convinced the pumpkins would sink. Boy, were they surprised when they floated. The homework for the kids is to try to find out if a large pumpkin will sink or float.

After the sink/float experiment, we guestimated the circumference of our large pumpkin. The kids cut off a piece of yarn that they thought would wrap around the pumpkin. They learned that this is hard to do. 3 students got the string "just right", the rest was either "too long", or "too short." This helps to understand measuring.

We had a lot of fun with our pumpkins this week. Ask your child what they know about these big orange squash. They may surprise you!

Opportunities on the computer

For online learning games, you can find wonderful links on the Bitterroot Elementary webpage. To get there, go to www.billingsschools.org. Once there, go to schools, find Bitterroot on the list. Once you click on Bitterroot, you will go to the district page for the school. Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on school website. This will take you to the Bitterroot website. There you find lists of things to click on, plus a gorgeous picture of a Bobcat. Anyway, scroll down the left side of the screen and click on learning links. This will bring you to marvelous computer activities that you can do at home with your child. Enjoy!

New communications

Dear Parents,

Thanks to my wonderful teaching partners, I can now blog with you. I will post tid-bits about what we do during the day and you can read about our day. If you would like to post a comment or blog, feel free. You can even blog with other parents on this site. I encourage you to get to know other parents and to check in to see what we do. I will do my best to update the site each day, but if I forget, please remind me.

I can't wait to see what kind of fun we will have with the blog!

Mrs. McCrohan