Week 28 (March 16-20)

Good evening, families and friends!

It was so great catching up with everyone at conferences! Here is what we have been up to this week!

Dalmatians as firehouse mascots…

Since we are reading about the Chicago fire and talking about firefighters, we wondered why the Dalmatian became the mascot for firefighters… Dalmatians became closely associated with firefighters because of their unique abilities and historical role alongside early fire brigades—especially in the days of horse-drawn fire engines.

Here’s how that connection developed:

🐎 1. Natural partners for horses

Dalmatian dogs were known for their calm temperament around horses and even had a natural affinity for running alongside carriages. In the 18th and 19th centuries, fire engines were pulled by horses, and Dalmatians were used to:

Run ahead of the engines to help clear the الطريق
Guide and protect the horses during chaotic emergencies
Keep the horses calm amid loud noises and crowds

🔥 2. Firehouse guardians

Once at the firehouse, Dalmatians served as watchdogs. They protected valuable equipment and the horses themselves from theft or harm.

🚒 3. Symbol of tradition

Even after motorized fire trucks replaced horse-drawn engines, the image stuck. Fire departments—especially in the United States—kept Dalmatians as mascots to honor that history and tradition.

🧯 4. Cultural icon

Over time, Dalmatians became a recognizable symbol of firefighting, reinforced by media, parades, and even movies like 101 Dalmatians.

Centers/ Choice Time

Practicing reading our poetry for conferences…

Ms. Georgia’s Math Games

Playing “Heads Up, Seven Up”

Building Leprechaun Traps…

Art Class…

Multiplicity Lab… How Could You Organize the Dice?

Heggerty…

Reading “I Survived the Chicago Fire”

Recess…

Have a wonderful Spring break!

Love,

Ms. Melissa

Week 27 (March 9-13)

Good afternoon, friends and families of room 120!

We had another fabulous week together!

On Monday we journaled about the three places we’d like to visit.

We took a trip to the Des Plaines Library!

We continued reading our novel, “I Survived the Chicago Fire” and answered comprehension questions about the story…

Centers/Choice Time-

We read two poems by Shel Silverstein chorally in preparation for conferences. We plan to read them to you to showcase our fluent reading with expression in our voices!

Chess Class…

Story Writing…

This week we spent a few days practicing the writing process which included Prewriting (Planning), Drafting, Revising, Editing, and we will Publish (Share) our pieces at conferences! Our story prompt was… While I was sleeping, Marshmallow went on an adventure…

We also illustrated our Marshmallow stories. This student drew his portrait…

Math- Along with playing math games, we talked about fractions and and how the represent part of a whole. This activity allowed students to see that a fraction shows something that is divided into equal parts. Next week we will discuss more info about fractions like the numerator and the denominator. We will also go over other types of fractions such as proper, improper, and mixed number.

Our Greek Show…

Have a great weekend!!

Love,

Ms. Melissa

Week 26 (March 2-6)

Hello Room 120 Families and Friends!

This week we continued reading our “I Survived the Chicago Fire” novel and in honor of our gorgeous Chicago Skyline, we created our own cities and tied in multiplication while we were at it! We practiced making arrays, using them as windows for the buildings…

Math- This week we focused on Geometry. We worked on naming shapes by the number of sides and angles, identifying the triangle, quadrilateral, pentagon, and hexagon.

Centers/Choice Time

Math Games- Pig

“I Survived the Great Chicago Fire”

Art- In art class with Ms. Andrea, the students created pottery inspired by our Greek Mythology unit. They then wrote a myth about their creations. We are going to edit their writing and share it with you at conferences in a couple of weeks.