We began our week by introducing Simple Machines. The children did various activities today that provided a good foundation for work that they will complete in the computer lab on Wednesday and Thursday. We read about Simple Machines in our science book and used a guideline to look for specific information. Learning how to locate information within a text is very important. Then we watched a wonderful Brainpop, and interactive video, on simple machines and then completed a web using a website provided by Mrs. Baralt. The children are allowed to go to this website at home and show you what they have learned. I have also showed them another website that they are allowed to go to and explore the various simple machines that one can find in and around the house. The websites are as follows:
www.ittybittyurl.com/13x and http://www.edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/
Our spelling words this week demonstrate the use of consonant blends. I would like the children to complete one Spelling City activity this week using these words.
The children are coming home with a reading comprehension activity that is due on Friday entitled The Golden Touch. This week they are working on vocabulary that they may not recognize. They are write their own definition depending on how the word is used in the passage, giving them practice with using context clues to help with understanding. They are not to look up these words in a dictionary. Please make sure they read this passage aloud to you and then read again independently. Make sure you sign the paper when they are finished. Thank you!
The children will also come home with their paper envelope tomorrow. If your child has not turned theirs in, please make sure they return it to school tomorrow. Also, they are to turn in the Responsible Use Policy Form signed by both you and your child.
In Math, we are working on word problems and learn three styles of strategies that help the children organize the information to help solve the word problems successfully. We will also
practice organizing information on a chart according to high and low temperature. You will want to be on the lookout for this chart coming home soon.
In reading, we are beginning a new unit on Ancestors. I asked the children to go home tonight and see if they had a picture of an ancestor that they were allowed to bring to school. The older the picture the better. Later on this week, after reading a couple of stories, the children will come home with a family tree to complete. This is always a fun learning experience and a way for the children to get to know more about their relatives. We will also begin our new class novel, 7*9= Trouble about a character that is apprehensive and has some difficulty with learning his multiplication tables. We have completed Muggie Maggie in class and are now working in groups to outline the major events in each chapter to present to the class. Our objective this week is to continue with main idea and supporting details.
Our Wordly Wise words for the new lesson are as follows: ambition, auction, coast, current, frail, intelligent, novel, resident, starve, volunteer
We are completing our study of Florida and will begin our study of the Native American groups indigenous to Florida. The children completed a great web in compute lab last week expressed certain facts that they had learned along with graphics. You will see these in the hallway when you come for our parent conference on October 6.
So that we have a focus for Parent Conference Day, I will be addressing your child's strengths and areas of weakness in work habits in regard to working independently and certain skills that need to be reviewed more diligently at home. If you have any questions or concerns, please jot them down prior to your visit. It never fails, but our time will go by very quickly and I want to make sure that we utilize every second.
Homework tonight is as follows:
Science... complete the simple machines crossword puzzle
Math...Home Link 2.3 and2.5
Reading Comprehension Activity... due Friday
Study spelling words and complete a Spelling City activity by Friday
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Miracle Monday!
We did it! Everything I planned to happen today got completed including initial sharing of the Geography projects. YEA!
The projects were fantastic! We had our class museum today where we all got to stroll around the room and see everyone's hard work. Tomorrow, each child will share their project to the class. I will ask the children to consider these things while sharing:
1) How they decided the land form terms to use.
2) What they learned from completing this project.
3) How this project can help them with other learning and real life.
We have begun our new unit in math. The skills that we will focus on are fact families, fact extensions, completing "What's My Rule" tables, number sense, number stories, and partial sums algorithm. You will find in your child's homework folder a Do-Anytime Activities letter. These are some ideas of how to extend the skills at home in a real world setting. It's important for the children to see that what they are learning is applicable to their every day life. You will notice that the activity sheet goes all the way to unit 5. Don't worry if your child doesn't understand some of it yet. Just wait till we are actually in that unit. Tonight they have page 31 in their workbook. We began our work on fact families today. If you take a look at page 30, you will see that they are learning how to format these fact families and how the number sentences can be written differently.
Please continue your work at home with Dance Mat. I would really like the children to work to stage 9 or 10 by the end of this week. I did notice last week that many children were able to find the letters with more ease as a result of this practice. As soon as they complete the chart, please sign it and have them bring it back to me as well as any printed certificates.
This week in Science, we will continue our study of the scientific process by completing a new experiment. This experiment, using bouncing balls, will introduce the idea of a variable in an experiment. I have also sent home an experiment project that is due on Friday. We reviewed this in class this morning. As the letter indicates, they are to complete two of their choice. However, if they want to do more than 2 for extra credit, I applaud their efforts. If you have any questions about the format, please don't hesitate to let me know. In our discussion, I did encourage the children to think of another way to approach the experiment using their knowledge of an hypothesis and now a variable.
Please don't forget to turn in the Book Logs from home. Once your child turns in the book log, I will give them another one to bring home. The children are also keeping one at school. They get credit for all the reading that they do whether in a structured lesson or independently. We are still working on how to choose a "just right" book.
We will complete our Wordly Wise Lesson 2 work this week. There will be a quiz on Friday. I will have the children complete the comprehension questions and then bring home their flash cards to use when reviewing.
We are working this week on finding interesting facts about Florida. Our computer time this week will be spent categorizing these facts(people, tourism, economy, etc) and preparing a mind map using the program, Inspiration to share what we have learned.
If your child did not return their signed paper envelope, please do so tomorrow. There will be more papers that need to come home on Friday. Also, please remember to sign the reading comprehension activities that come home . I will be sending another one home tomorrow and that one is due on Friday as well. Thank you very much!
Check the spelling list on the blog. Our words this week are R-Combination Syllables. Tonight the children are to put the words in abc order. You will see that the words have an r sound but spelled either with er, ar, ur, ir, er, or.
Wednesday is International Peace Day. The children have written lovely Peace poems complete with illustrations. These will be on display on Wednesday. The children are allowed to wear a shirt that either has the word peace on it or display a peace sign. However, the "bottom half" needs to follow uniform guidelines.
The projects were fantastic! We had our class museum today where we all got to stroll around the room and see everyone's hard work. Tomorrow, each child will share their project to the class. I will ask the children to consider these things while sharing:
1) How they decided the land form terms to use.
2) What they learned from completing this project.
3) How this project can help them with other learning and real life.
We have begun our new unit in math. The skills that we will focus on are fact families, fact extensions, completing "What's My Rule" tables, number sense, number stories, and partial sums algorithm. You will find in your child's homework folder a Do-Anytime Activities letter. These are some ideas of how to extend the skills at home in a real world setting. It's important for the children to see that what they are learning is applicable to their every day life. You will notice that the activity sheet goes all the way to unit 5. Don't worry if your child doesn't understand some of it yet. Just wait till we are actually in that unit. Tonight they have page 31 in their workbook. We began our work on fact families today. If you take a look at page 30, you will see that they are learning how to format these fact families and how the number sentences can be written differently.
Please continue your work at home with Dance Mat. I would really like the children to work to stage 9 or 10 by the end of this week. I did notice last week that many children were able to find the letters with more ease as a result of this practice. As soon as they complete the chart, please sign it and have them bring it back to me as well as any printed certificates.
This week in Science, we will continue our study of the scientific process by completing a new experiment. This experiment, using bouncing balls, will introduce the idea of a variable in an experiment. I have also sent home an experiment project that is due on Friday. We reviewed this in class this morning. As the letter indicates, they are to complete two of their choice. However, if they want to do more than 2 for extra credit, I applaud their efforts. If you have any questions about the format, please don't hesitate to let me know. In our discussion, I did encourage the children to think of another way to approach the experiment using their knowledge of an hypothesis and now a variable.
Please don't forget to turn in the Book Logs from home. Once your child turns in the book log, I will give them another one to bring home. The children are also keeping one at school. They get credit for all the reading that they do whether in a structured lesson or independently. We are still working on how to choose a "just right" book.
We will complete our Wordly Wise Lesson 2 work this week. There will be a quiz on Friday. I will have the children complete the comprehension questions and then bring home their flash cards to use when reviewing.
We are working this week on finding interesting facts about Florida. Our computer time this week will be spent categorizing these facts(people, tourism, economy, etc) and preparing a mind map using the program, Inspiration to share what we have learned.
If your child did not return their signed paper envelope, please do so tomorrow. There will be more papers that need to come home on Friday. Also, please remember to sign the reading comprehension activities that come home . I will be sending another one home tomorrow and that one is due on Friday as well. Thank you very much!
Check the spelling list on the blog. Our words this week are R-Combination Syllables. Tonight the children are to put the words in abc order. You will see that the words have an r sound but spelled either with er, ar, ur, ir, er, or.
Wednesday is International Peace Day. The children have written lovely Peace poems complete with illustrations. These will be on display on Wednesday. The children are allowed to wear a shirt that either has the word peace on it or display a peace sign. However, the "bottom half" needs to follow uniform guidelines.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Terrific Tuesday!
We are off to a great start this week. We are finishing up our Friendship essays and have begun our Personal Narrative study. As I may have stated before, my goal is to have the children publish at least two Personal Narratives before we conclude this unit of study over the next month or so. We will be writing Senses Poems this week as well.
We began Lesson 2 of Wordly Wise. Our words include: attract, attractive, attraction, crew, dangle, drift, event, launch, opposite, reverse, signal, steer. We are currently working on the comprehension questions that relate to the story about the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. Please make sure when they have homework related to the questions, that they are taking the facts from the story and just not making assumptions as to what the answer might be. Some of the questions do require responses that are geared towards asking opinions. But for the most part, the questions are asked so that the reader has to remember specific facts from the story.
This week in Spelling, we have a list of words that follow the Diphthong Syllable Rule. This rule states: 1) a diphthong syllable usually has two vowels together that have one sound and 2) the diphthong syllable has a special sound. It will be expected that the children include these rules with the dictation on the spelling test on Friday. Last night the children were to put the words in alphabetical order and tonight I am going to ask them to go to Spelling City to complete and try to print out one activity of their choice.
In Science, we are continuing our study of Scientific Method. One goal this week is for each child to complete a flow chart using Inspiration outlining the 5 steps of the Scientific Process. I exposed the children to a more indepth outline using 9 steps. But for the activity, they will choose the 5 steps that all scientists use to complete an experiment. We discovered today that there is an average of 7 seeds in a Washington Red Apple. We are now trying to see if we can get our seeds to sprout creating another avenue to write an hypothesis. Tomorrow, we will complete an experiment with salt and baking soda.
This week our purpose in reading is to identify main characters and assign character traits based on the actions in a story. We began today by using the story Dandelions by Eve Bunting. My goal is also to complete the class novel, Muggie Maggie and respond in our journal by Friday. Also, a new activity came home this week that is due on Friday. From time to time, I will send home a reading comprehension activity for the children to complete within the week. The objective is for them to read the passage orally to you once and then to read it to themselves once. The questions or activities vary. This week they have to compare and contrast how their lives are the same and yet different from that of a pioneer boy or girl. Please make sure that you sign the reading sheet before it is returned to class on Friday. That is my way of knowing that you have not only seen the work, but that you have listened to your child read aloud.
We are working our way through the Florida Book. Today, we will be reading about the history of Florida. We discussed yesterday about the role of trains and how important they were to the economy and population of Florida. Today, we will read about the environment and how important it is to preserve our coral reefs. Once we have familiarized ourselves with our book, the children will go on one last scavenger hunt to answer such questions as:
1)What is Florida's oldest city?
2) How large are the Florida Everglades?
3) List five animals in the Florida Everglades that are endangered.
4) What are the five countries that have owned Florida?
5) List Florida's 5 main crops.
If you are having trouble with the answers yourself, you may want to ask your child by Friday what they discovered.
The children should be working on their Geography project as well. I have shared with the children that as long as they follow the core directions and guidelines, they can add additional information and ideas of their own. We have discussed in class how that works and even generated some ideas. However, I am leaving that motivation to the children and letting them decide for themselves.
Also, I just wanted you to know that I do write the assignments down on my own agenda to show the children every day. At the end of the day, they are responsible for getting all of their belongings together to go home. However, I do go over the homework one more time before they leave the room to pack their book bags. For some, it is a time to socialize which makes if more difficult to focus on what they are doing. I am all for having fun and chatting with friends, but please help me to emphasize that one can socialize after the book bag is packed. Thanks for your help! This can and does eliminate disappointment and frustration the next day when one doesn't have an assignment completed.
We began Lesson 2 of Wordly Wise. Our words include: attract, attractive, attraction, crew, dangle, drift, event, launch, opposite, reverse, signal, steer. We are currently working on the comprehension questions that relate to the story about the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. Please make sure when they have homework related to the questions, that they are taking the facts from the story and just not making assumptions as to what the answer might be. Some of the questions do require responses that are geared towards asking opinions. But for the most part, the questions are asked so that the reader has to remember specific facts from the story.
This week in Spelling, we have a list of words that follow the Diphthong Syllable Rule. This rule states: 1) a diphthong syllable usually has two vowels together that have one sound and 2) the diphthong syllable has a special sound. It will be expected that the children include these rules with the dictation on the spelling test on Friday. Last night the children were to put the words in alphabetical order and tonight I am going to ask them to go to Spelling City to complete and try to print out one activity of their choice.
In Science, we are continuing our study of Scientific Method. One goal this week is for each child to complete a flow chart using Inspiration outlining the 5 steps of the Scientific Process. I exposed the children to a more indepth outline using 9 steps. But for the activity, they will choose the 5 steps that all scientists use to complete an experiment. We discovered today that there is an average of 7 seeds in a Washington Red Apple. We are now trying to see if we can get our seeds to sprout creating another avenue to write an hypothesis. Tomorrow, we will complete an experiment with salt and baking soda.
This week our purpose in reading is to identify main characters and assign character traits based on the actions in a story. We began today by using the story Dandelions by Eve Bunting. My goal is also to complete the class novel, Muggie Maggie and respond in our journal by Friday. Also, a new activity came home this week that is due on Friday. From time to time, I will send home a reading comprehension activity for the children to complete within the week. The objective is for them to read the passage orally to you once and then to read it to themselves once. The questions or activities vary. This week they have to compare and contrast how their lives are the same and yet different from that of a pioneer boy or girl. Please make sure that you sign the reading sheet before it is returned to class on Friday. That is my way of knowing that you have not only seen the work, but that you have listened to your child read aloud.
We are working our way through the Florida Book. Today, we will be reading about the history of Florida. We discussed yesterday about the role of trains and how important they were to the economy and population of Florida. Today, we will read about the environment and how important it is to preserve our coral reefs. Once we have familiarized ourselves with our book, the children will go on one last scavenger hunt to answer such questions as:
1)What is Florida's oldest city?
2) How large are the Florida Everglades?
3) List five animals in the Florida Everglades that are endangered.
4) What are the five countries that have owned Florida?
5) List Florida's 5 main crops.
If you are having trouble with the answers yourself, you may want to ask your child by Friday what they discovered.
The children should be working on their Geography project as well. I have shared with the children that as long as they follow the core directions and guidelines, they can add additional information and ideas of their own. We have discussed in class how that works and even generated some ideas. However, I am leaving that motivation to the children and letting them decide for themselves.
Also, I just wanted you to know that I do write the assignments down on my own agenda to show the children every day. At the end of the day, they are responsible for getting all of their belongings together to go home. However, I do go over the homework one more time before they leave the room to pack their book bags. For some, it is a time to socialize which makes if more difficult to focus on what they are doing. I am all for having fun and chatting with friends, but please help me to emphasize that one can socialize after the book bag is packed. Thanks for your help! This can and does eliminate disappointment and frustration the next day when one doesn't have an assignment completed.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Terrific Tuesday!
I trust that everyone had a wonderful three day weekend full of relaxation and fun. The children did return ready to work.
Thank you for all the sweet birthday wishes last Wednesday. If you go to the parent blog, you can view some pictures and catch up with the room moms and possible volunteer opportunities.
This week we will continue with several skills and begin new skills and activities. I know it is a shorter week, but they do have a spelling list (Silent -e) and will have a test on Friday. Tonight for homework they are to write the words in alphabetical order on the sheet that I provided in class today and practice writing the two rules. Again, this Friday the dictation will be for the children to write the rules of the words.
We will begin a new vocabulary lesson in our Wordly Wise workbook. The words include: attract, attractive, attraction, crew, dangle, drift, event, launch, opposite,reverse, signal, and steer. We will study the definitions as we read the story, Up, Up, and Away. The children will read about riding in a hot air balloon in the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.
This week we will try to finish practicing our lower and upper case alphabet in manuscript.
Our character trait for the week is respect. I will read a couple of stories that demonstrate respect not only between child and adult but between each other as they work together in small groups or with a buddy.
I will be sending home the first Social Studies project tomorrow on Landforms. I had hoped to get that out today, but ran short of time. I want to make sure that the children understand the objective and expectation before they begin. If you have any questions once you have had a chance to review, please don't hesitate to email me.
We will be completing our first math unit. The goal is to be prepared to test this unit by next Tuesday. Tonight they have page 16 in the workbook.
Please continue the Dance Mat practice. I would like the children to get through Stage 7 by Friday. There will some available time in class, but practicing at home is truly a more focused environment.
We are putting our Scientific Method to practice this week. We are observing potatoes, and making educated guesses about raisins in cereal and seeds in apples. I have challenged the children to learn the 9 categories that we have outlined in our science journal.The categories that we have learned are as follows: Observations, Questions, Research, Hypothesis, Plan and Experiment, Conduct the Experiment, Record the Data, Analyze the Data, Form a Conclusion.
As you have already witnessed, I will send home challenges from time to time My request is that they at least attempt to solve some if not all the challenges. Tomorrow I am sending home a September challenge that your child can choose to do one, two or all of the questions. They have the month of September to complete the questions. But it is always helpful not to wait to the last day of the month. If your child does not wish to complete this challenge, then I hope that they will choose another challenge along the way. I did send them home with some Brain Teasers on Friday.
This week in Reading, we will focus on the setting and mood of the characters and how we can interpret or infer the mood of a character by the words and descriptions the author uses as well as the actions of that character.
We had our first "formal" writers workshop today. We began evaluating our "Memories close out heart" and choosing the one that we wanted to use as our topic for our first Personal Narrative. We worked on different ways to begin the Personal Narrative and then ended the writing time listening to another authors advice on telling ones Life Story. Hopefully your child would be able to tell you at least one "lie" or misconception when writing ones life story. You do NOT have to be a celebrity, do amazing feats, wait until your old and gray, or think that no one will read it, so what's the point! As I told the children when they are writing, that their most important audience is themselves, but not to forget their classmates and their teacher. By beginning with Personal Narratives, they are telling stories that they can hold on to and perhaps even share with their own children someday. We will spend quite a bit of time with this particular unit of writing. The goal is to publish at least two pieces. There will come a time for us to share with you on a Celebration Day where everyone is proud to share their accomplishment of completing the writing process but also their memories.
Graded papers will be coming home this week on Friday. Remember, sign the envelope and return the following Monday, but you keep the papers.
Thank you for all the sweet birthday wishes last Wednesday. If you go to the parent blog, you can view some pictures and catch up with the room moms and possible volunteer opportunities.
This week we will continue with several skills and begin new skills and activities. I know it is a shorter week, but they do have a spelling list (Silent -e) and will have a test on Friday. Tonight for homework they are to write the words in alphabetical order on the sheet that I provided in class today and practice writing the two rules. Again, this Friday the dictation will be for the children to write the rules of the words.
We will begin a new vocabulary lesson in our Wordly Wise workbook. The words include: attract, attractive, attraction, crew, dangle, drift, event, launch, opposite,reverse, signal, and steer. We will study the definitions as we read the story, Up, Up, and Away. The children will read about riding in a hot air balloon in the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.
This week we will try to finish practicing our lower and upper case alphabet in manuscript.
Our character trait for the week is respect. I will read a couple of stories that demonstrate respect not only between child and adult but between each other as they work together in small groups or with a buddy.
I will be sending home the first Social Studies project tomorrow on Landforms. I had hoped to get that out today, but ran short of time. I want to make sure that the children understand the objective and expectation before they begin. If you have any questions once you have had a chance to review, please don't hesitate to email me.
We will be completing our first math unit. The goal is to be prepared to test this unit by next Tuesday. Tonight they have page 16 in the workbook.
Please continue the Dance Mat practice. I would like the children to get through Stage 7 by Friday. There will some available time in class, but practicing at home is truly a more focused environment.
We are putting our Scientific Method to practice this week. We are observing potatoes, and making educated guesses about raisins in cereal and seeds in apples. I have challenged the children to learn the 9 categories that we have outlined in our science journal.The categories that we have learned are as follows: Observations, Questions, Research, Hypothesis, Plan and Experiment, Conduct the Experiment, Record the Data, Analyze the Data, Form a Conclusion.
As you have already witnessed, I will send home challenges from time to time My request is that they at least attempt to solve some if not all the challenges. Tomorrow I am sending home a September challenge that your child can choose to do one, two or all of the questions. They have the month of September to complete the questions. But it is always helpful not to wait to the last day of the month. If your child does not wish to complete this challenge, then I hope that they will choose another challenge along the way. I did send them home with some Brain Teasers on Friday.
This week in Reading, we will focus on the setting and mood of the characters and how we can interpret or infer the mood of a character by the words and descriptions the author uses as well as the actions of that character.
We had our first "formal" writers workshop today. We began evaluating our "Memories close out heart" and choosing the one that we wanted to use as our topic for our first Personal Narrative. We worked on different ways to begin the Personal Narrative and then ended the writing time listening to another authors advice on telling ones Life Story. Hopefully your child would be able to tell you at least one "lie" or misconception when writing ones life story. You do NOT have to be a celebrity, do amazing feats, wait until your old and gray, or think that no one will read it, so what's the point! As I told the children when they are writing, that their most important audience is themselves, but not to forget their classmates and their teacher. By beginning with Personal Narratives, they are telling stories that they can hold on to and perhaps even share with their own children someday. We will spend quite a bit of time with this particular unit of writing. The goal is to publish at least two pieces. There will come a time for us to share with you on a Celebration Day where everyone is proud to share their accomplishment of completing the writing process but also their memories.
Graded papers will be coming home this week on Friday. Remember, sign the envelope and return the following Monday, but you keep the papers.
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