Valentine's Day is tomorrow!

The past few days we have been working on beautiful art pieces using paint and pastels. We learned that the national bird of India is the peacock so we have created our own using warm and cool colors. On Friday, we worked through 3 stations. The first was to use cool colors (purple, blue and green) and paint a sheet of paper however we wanted. At the next station we used warm colors (red, yellow and orange) and painted a sheet of paper. The next station (the most fun of all) we painted our hands and made handprints to create a peacock head and neck. Then using pastels, we created large eyes. Once our paint was dry, we cut out feathers from the cool colors and circular details from the warm colors. Then we glued them around the peacock head. We added detail to the face and neck by using small brush strokes and white paint. The last step was to add a burst of color by smudging a border using cool color pastels. Here are some of the finished products....

We continued to practice our basic multiplication facts for facts up to 5 x 12. Today we did a timed practice for 5 minutes and 8 minutes. On Wednesday we will be shortening those times even more. Our first timed practice was sent home today. It would be a great idea to practice these facts to be ready for the faster time on Wednesday. We also started learning about multiplying by 7s by filling in a skip counting chart.

This afternoon we were given the challenge of building a mailbox for Valentine's Day using only one sheet of red paper, scissors and tape. We had to construct our mailbox so it had a place to fit cards and stand up off of our desks. We were able to brainstorm with someone else in the class, create a blueprint and then build. Some of us discovered how challenging working with paper can be, so we did not finish our mailboxes. Ms. Binks will give those students more time tomorrow.

We will be exchanging Valentine's Day cards in our class, however it is expected that if you are bringing cards you bring enough for every single person in the classroom. We have 22 students in the class. We ask that all candy, cupcakes, gum etc stays at home. Pencils, erasers or tattoos are ok to bring if they came with the cards. We will be doing Valentine's Day activities in the class tomorrow that involve reading, writing and math. Students were able to take home paper on Friday to create cards. We are unable to give out the names of the students in the class, so if you can't remember someone's name you can always write "to my friend"

Reminders:
- Book orders are due tomorrow
- Valentine's Day is tomorrow
- Spelling test on Wednesday
- Library tomorrow
- No school Thursday, Friday and Monday