What a lovely day inside and outside! The children worked well today and we all enjoyed our time outside enjoying the beautiful day! It was such a lovely way to begin the week after so much sadness last week.
As you know, this week is a short week. Tomorrow is the big Fall Festival and the children are so excited. The children should be prepared for tomorrow and I would encourage you to ask them to see how much they remember. But just in case, here are a few guidelines. The children are to come to school in costume. We will have to complete a little morning work before we prepare for the parade at 8:30. Once the parade festivities are over, we will return back to the classroom and the children will change into their spirit clothes to be more comfortable. I shared with the children that they cannot be released until 10:00am when as adult signs them out. If your child is going to leave with another adult tomorrow, I will need a note from you. Thank you for your help. It is so important that the children are safe and under supervision. I did let the children know that if at any time, they become separated or the "plan" falls apart, then they are to return to the room and I will help them. I know tomorrow will be great fun and then it's onto Halloween night! I would prefer the children not bring any candy to school on Thursday.
We have much to accomplish this week despite less time in the classroom. We will continue with our Personal Narratives and then begin our Poetry unit. I do hope to have a couple of Poetry samples by Poetry in the Park. The children will be coming home with their poem to learn tomorrow. We will have a week to learn the poem as Poetry in Park is November 8. I hope you will be able to come!!
Spelling words this week are only 16 strong, but very important. They are plurals that even sometimes adults misspell.
We are finishing up Charlotte's Web. The children are writing scripts to depict one scene from the book. We have a reflection to write and share and then we will be ready to move on to our next class novel, 7*9= Trouble. The children will be more independent in reading this book and working more closely with a reading buddy. I will have several lessons on how to be a reading buddy and how to manage time and producing quality work together.
In Math this week we are learning more about Perimeter and Area as well as Diameter and Circumference. Tonight for homework they are to complete pages 65 and 66. I did give them class time to begin these two pages so I could help them if needed.
Tonight's responsibilities include:
Spelling... abc order on the sheet...they are allowed to write the words in cursive if they want to
Witches Homonym Sheet... circle all the incorrectly used homonyms
Reading Comprehension...Thomas Jefferson and The Big Cheese.. due on Friday and don't forget to sign
Math...Workbook pages 65, 66
I will be busy preparing report cards over the next couple of weeks. I will have many papers that will be coming home. Make sure you look closely at the comments that I sometimes make on papers so that you will know what I would like your child to remember the next time they need to complete an assignment.
Happy Halloween Eve!
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
Mighty Monday!
Today was a productive day though we do not have much time together on Monday mornings.
We are coming to the end of Charlotte's Web. And though I know the children know the storyline whether by having the story read to them or by watching the movie, they really seem to be enjoying the read. I even have our own Reader's Theatre ready to go once we have completed reading the story. We are doing a great deal of vocabulary detective work and word work activities that I feel has really helped with the understanding of the story. Before they may have heard a person read the word, but now they are responsible to finding the word, understanding what it means, and how it impacts the story. Later on this week, the children will have a writing assignment as if they are a reporter from either the Zuckerman's farm or from the County Fair. They will be expected to use details from the story in their report as well as some of the vocabulary words that they have learned. We will also continue our work on Thick and Thin Questions.
Also today, the children worked in small groups and made paper bouquets of flowers for our sweet friend, Dawn Weinman. We sent her a card last week that had pop up flowers in it. I learned yesterday that it has been one of her favorite cards since she is not allowed to have flowers in her room. So we decided to stay with the flower theme.
This week, our spelling words are all words that are October/Halloween words. Tonight they are to write a story, not just a paragraph, using at least 10 or more of the words on this week's list. I did tell them that the story is not to be full of "blood and guts". They have some special stationery on which to write the rough draft. They will be paired with a writing buddy tomorrow and given time to help each other proofread their work.
In Math, we are beginning our Unit 3, Linear Measures and Area. You should find a Parent Letter in the homework folder tonight that will give you an idea of the concepts we will learn. However, we are continuing our work with the adding and subtracting strategies. We spent a great deal of time today, continuing to review the strategies. Tonight they have the remaining 8 problems on a practice sheet that I hope they will be able to do on their own. They are to only use the Trading Strategy..traditionally known as borrowing and carrying. I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised when I graded the math tests that many of the children did not accurately answer the questions of ballpark estimate and the adding and subtracting. During the practice test they all seemed to understand and very few asked questions. I think that was a learning lesson in itself. The children were much more vocal with their questions today. In all fairness to the children, I plan on giving them a little quiz sometime this week to help their grade a little from their test. After another day or so of practice, I think we will be completely confident!
The children do have a reading comprehension assignment, Senor Coyote, the Judge. There are 4 short questions they need to answer. I suggested to the children that they focus on the questions first before they begin reading. Please don't forget to sign the paper as soon as they have read it aloud to you.
We will have a Wordly Wise test on Friday. Don't forget to ask your child to show you the symbols for our words. This is a new technique that I am finding is a great way for the kids to make associations with the words.
In Computer Lab this week, the children will begin a new project.. I will let them come home and share this with you. It is VERY exciting! Also, the Simple Machine's projects are awesome. We were able to have our Museum on Friday. We have a few children out today, and so I decided to hold off the presentations until tomorrow.
I also wanted to share that the children can bring their library books back to school when they are finished reading. They do not have to wait till a Thursday to return their book. In fact, it helps if they are returned early, then they have more time check out a book on our library day.
We are coming to the end of Charlotte's Web. And though I know the children know the storyline whether by having the story read to them or by watching the movie, they really seem to be enjoying the read. I even have our own Reader's Theatre ready to go once we have completed reading the story. We are doing a great deal of vocabulary detective work and word work activities that I feel has really helped with the understanding of the story. Before they may have heard a person read the word, but now they are responsible to finding the word, understanding what it means, and how it impacts the story. Later on this week, the children will have a writing assignment as if they are a reporter from either the Zuckerman's farm or from the County Fair. They will be expected to use details from the story in their report as well as some of the vocabulary words that they have learned. We will also continue our work on Thick and Thin Questions.
Also today, the children worked in small groups and made paper bouquets of flowers for our sweet friend, Dawn Weinman. We sent her a card last week that had pop up flowers in it. I learned yesterday that it has been one of her favorite cards since she is not allowed to have flowers in her room. So we decided to stay with the flower theme.
This week, our spelling words are all words that are October/Halloween words. Tonight they are to write a story, not just a paragraph, using at least 10 or more of the words on this week's list. I did tell them that the story is not to be full of "blood and guts". They have some special stationery on which to write the rough draft. They will be paired with a writing buddy tomorrow and given time to help each other proofread their work.
In Math, we are beginning our Unit 3, Linear Measures and Area. You should find a Parent Letter in the homework folder tonight that will give you an idea of the concepts we will learn. However, we are continuing our work with the adding and subtracting strategies. We spent a great deal of time today, continuing to review the strategies. Tonight they have the remaining 8 problems on a practice sheet that I hope they will be able to do on their own. They are to only use the Trading Strategy..traditionally known as borrowing and carrying. I have to admit that I was somewhat surprised when I graded the math tests that many of the children did not accurately answer the questions of ballpark estimate and the adding and subtracting. During the practice test they all seemed to understand and very few asked questions. I think that was a learning lesson in itself. The children were much more vocal with their questions today. In all fairness to the children, I plan on giving them a little quiz sometime this week to help their grade a little from their test. After another day or so of practice, I think we will be completely confident!
The children do have a reading comprehension assignment, Senor Coyote, the Judge. There are 4 short questions they need to answer. I suggested to the children that they focus on the questions first before they begin reading. Please don't forget to sign the paper as soon as they have read it aloud to you.
We will have a Wordly Wise test on Friday. Don't forget to ask your child to show you the symbols for our words. This is a new technique that I am finding is a great way for the kids to make associations with the words.
In Computer Lab this week, the children will begin a new project.. I will let them come home and share this with you. It is VERY exciting! Also, the Simple Machine's projects are awesome. We were able to have our Museum on Friday. We have a few children out today, and so I decided to hold off the presentations until tomorrow.
I also wanted to share that the children can bring their library books back to school when they are finished reading. They do not have to wait till a Thursday to return their book. In fact, it helps if they are returned early, then they have more time check out a book on our library day.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Wide Awake on Monday!
The children certainly got some rest over their long weekend. We were quite lively today! I know this will be another full week, so the more energy they have the better!!!
This week, our spelling list includes words that have a sound that is spelled with either a K or CK. Tonight for homework, the children are to put the words in alphabetical order on the sheet provided. The words are: black, cheek, crack, mark, sock, smoke, duck, check, blink, sunk, make , brick, blanket, spooky, market, rocket, milk, snack, neck, and sick.
Today we worked on identifying subjects and predicates in sentences in hopes of seeing how a good detailed sentence is formed. Once we found the complete predicate, we focused on the main verb and made decisions on whether or not the verb gave a good mental picture of the what the subject was doing in the sentence and if it didn't, what other word we could choose.
This week we will continue with our Charlotte's Web reading. We are going to focus on details from the story that make the story move along in the book. We will store our details in a paper bag puppet of Wilbur which will later become the main prop for writing their own scripts for certain events in the book.
Today, we completed our Pumpkin Science experiment. You will want to ask your child if our pumpkin floated and how, or if it sank. We are going to extend the experiment by getting a larger container that will hold more water. Your child may also ask you for some corn oil and maple syrup to complete and experiment that we discussed to day in class. Don't forget the Science project is due on October 19. I can't wait to see their Simple Machine creation!
Instead of the traditional reading comprehension activities this week, the children are coming home with a poem entitled, A Halloween Scene. They have to answer 10 short questions, create and illustrate a scene that represents the poem as much as possible, and then complete a crossword puzzle using the bolded words from the poem. This reading activity is due on Wednesday. I encouraged them to at least complete the questions and plan out the picture tonight. They also have a poem that will be recited in front of the class by October 19. I an going to share with the children that they don't have to wait until Friday to recite the poem if they are prepared ahead of time. They just to let me know in the morning so I can find small windows of time for them to present.
I will hopefully be sending home our Poetry in the Park poem by early next week. I always try to find a fun poem that hasn't been performed by my class before. So I am on the search!!! Once I have successfully found a poem, I will send it home for the children to begin learning the words. We will work on the "feeling" part of the poem in school. There may a prop or two, but I will certainly let you know that as well once the poem has been chosen.
Tomorrow in Math, we will check over some work that we did today and take a practice math test for Unit 2. We will review the test and should have plenty of time for the children to ask questions. The children have learned three strategies to add and subtract large numbers. They have also learned with the help of a diagram, how to organize informtion/numbers in a word problem. I will give the Unit 2 math test on Wednesday.
This week, the children will divide up into groups according to their interest in a topic. We are going to take the main topic of Florida, which we have already been reading and learning about. But then under the main topic there will be sub-topics such as animals, places to visit, and important landforms. The children in each group will be given a small amount of time to complete research on their one topic. Then they will plan how that can share that information with the rest of the class. I am going to try and give them as much time in class that I can, but they may have to continue some of the work at home as homework. I will keep you posted!
Please make sure your child has turned in ALL the Fall Festival forms and money this week. Also, please make sure that your child knows who is coming that day and how they are getting home. There will be a sign up sheet on my classroom door that day. Each child should be with an adult and must be signed out that day before they are allowed to leave the classroom.
This week, our spelling list includes words that have a sound that is spelled with either a K or CK. Tonight for homework, the children are to put the words in alphabetical order on the sheet provided. The words are: black, cheek, crack, mark, sock, smoke, duck, check, blink, sunk, make , brick, blanket, spooky, market, rocket, milk, snack, neck, and sick.
Today we worked on identifying subjects and predicates in sentences in hopes of seeing how a good detailed sentence is formed. Once we found the complete predicate, we focused on the main verb and made decisions on whether or not the verb gave a good mental picture of the what the subject was doing in the sentence and if it didn't, what other word we could choose.
This week we will continue with our Charlotte's Web reading. We are going to focus on details from the story that make the story move along in the book. We will store our details in a paper bag puppet of Wilbur which will later become the main prop for writing their own scripts for certain events in the book.
Today, we completed our Pumpkin Science experiment. You will want to ask your child if our pumpkin floated and how, or if it sank. We are going to extend the experiment by getting a larger container that will hold more water. Your child may also ask you for some corn oil and maple syrup to complete and experiment that we discussed to day in class. Don't forget the Science project is due on October 19. I can't wait to see their Simple Machine creation!
Instead of the traditional reading comprehension activities this week, the children are coming home with a poem entitled, A Halloween Scene. They have to answer 10 short questions, create and illustrate a scene that represents the poem as much as possible, and then complete a crossword puzzle using the bolded words from the poem. This reading activity is due on Wednesday. I encouraged them to at least complete the questions and plan out the picture tonight. They also have a poem that will be recited in front of the class by October 19. I an going to share with the children that they don't have to wait until Friday to recite the poem if they are prepared ahead of time. They just to let me know in the morning so I can find small windows of time for them to present.
I will hopefully be sending home our Poetry in the Park poem by early next week. I always try to find a fun poem that hasn't been performed by my class before. So I am on the search!!! Once I have successfully found a poem, I will send it home for the children to begin learning the words. We will work on the "feeling" part of the poem in school. There may a prop or two, but I will certainly let you know that as well once the poem has been chosen.
Tomorrow in Math, we will check over some work that we did today and take a practice math test for Unit 2. We will review the test and should have plenty of time for the children to ask questions. The children have learned three strategies to add and subtract large numbers. They have also learned with the help of a diagram, how to organize informtion/numbers in a word problem. I will give the Unit 2 math test on Wednesday.
This week, the children will divide up into groups according to their interest in a topic. We are going to take the main topic of Florida, which we have already been reading and learning about. But then under the main topic there will be sub-topics such as animals, places to visit, and important landforms. The children in each group will be given a small amount of time to complete research on their one topic. Then they will plan how that can share that information with the rest of the class. I am going to try and give them as much time in class that I can, but they may have to continue some of the work at home as homework. I will keep you posted!
Please make sure your child has turned in ALL the Fall Festival forms and money this week. Also, please make sure that your child knows who is coming that day and how they are getting home. There will be a sign up sheet on my classroom door that day. Each child should be with an adult and must be signed out that day before they are allowed to leave the classroom.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Marvelous Monday!
What a great day! Let's get some rest again tonight and we ready to go tomorrow!
It was nice to get to spend some time with each of you over the course of last week for conferences. As I may have stated, we can always conference again if needed. Your child will make many strides as the days and months progress and there may be times when added practice is needed at home. I will always keep you posted of all aspects of your child's progress including both academics and behavior. If you would ever like to have another conference, please don't hesitate to ask.
Tomorrow we have our first Picture Lady visit. I know that the children will remember their "guest speaker" manners! This is always a fun learning experience for both the children and me.
We completed our Bouncing Balls experiment today. YEA! We had been trying to get outside during Science class a couple of days last week and Mother Nature didn't cooperate. The children did a fabulous job of working together to gather data of the many bouncing balls. Sorry, the teacher forgot her camera.No worries, there will be plenty of other opportunities to see your little scientist at work. Tomorrow we will share our data and form our conclusions. Then we will move onto to another experiment called Floating Pumpkins. Based on what they already know about pumpkins and water, the children will form their own hypothesis on whether or not they think the pumpkin will float steam up, steam down, or sideways!
In Social Studies, we are going to devote another week to learning more about Florida. Last week, the children completed informational webs in computer lab with main topics being Fun Facts, Geography, and Places to Visit. The focus of that activity was to have the children learn how to use the program Inspiration using their knowledge of what they had learned about Florida in class. I would like to take this idea one step further and divide the children into groups according to their own interests. The group will focus on one of the three specific main topic and research specific facts under that topic. The group will then have to decide how they wish to present their material. For example, they have learned how to use Comic Life and Wordle in computer lab, but they may choose another way to persent the information such as create a brochure or poster.
This weeks spelling words are short vowel followed by a double consonant words. Tonight for homework they are to write each word twice on loose leaf paper. They can write the words in color or use certain fonts if they choose to type the words on the computer. The test will be on Thursday since the children are not in school on Friday.
The Reading Comprehension activity this week, Ice Can Scream, continues with out poem theme. This week the children are to find the verbs in the poem and then add additional verbs that would also be an action of ice. I asked them to try and think of two extra verbs.The children should also focus on the pattern of the stanzas while they are reading them. Don't forget to sign the activity sheet as soon as your child has read it to you. We will be working on a Poetry Unit a little before Poetry in the Park. The reciting of our poem on that special day will be our culminating activity.
The children also have a poem for October called Trick-Or-Treat. This poem is due on October 19. I did tell the children that this time they could add a small prop to the poem. The prop can be something to hold or wear on the top of the head. No masks!
In Math, we will work on our last Algorithm, Trade First Method, continueBallpark Estimates, and solving word problems with three or more addends. Tonight for homework, the children must complete Home Link 2.3, a review of "What's My Rule".
Tomorrow we will read the story in our Wordly Wise workbook, Roundup Time in Virginia. This is one of my favorite stories because not only do I have the famous books that were written about this event, I actually have a picture to share with the kids. This is a special event to Virginians and it is absolutely amazing to watch. I will do my best to bring this story to life for the children. They will be coming home with a few questions to answer for homework. We will restate the questions in class, but then they will have to use the details from the story in the answers. We will have our Wordly Wise test on Thursday. The children will be coming home with the index cards to help them study at home.
We are moving right along in Charlotte's Web. We have reached Chapter 10. The children are becoming quite good at finding important vocabulary. One question thus far has been, why Fern's mother was more worried about her than her dad. You may want to ask your child that questions just to see what they had to say. The follow up question was, Why do mom's seem to worry more than dad's? I am sure this question will make you smile and perhaps chuckle. We will be working on how to be more specific when responding to literature whether in complete sentences or by using a sticky note to make a prediction or make a connection.
By the end of the week, we should be finished with our first personal narrative. We will spend a little bit of time editing and revising before we move onto our second writing sample. The second personal narrative will focus more closely on a specific event or memory, using the five senses to describe and reflect on that one event.
Please make sure that the paper envelopes have been signed and returned. In your child's papers, you may have seen an end of the year second grade assessment. If you did not see this last Friday, you will see it in the next round of papers. I gave the children some time in class last week to complete this assessment. I felt like I needed to know areas of strength and weaknesses. Some of the skills from second grade were not meant to be mastered. But they will be expected to master those skills from that assessment by the end of third grade.
We have art on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Also, once your child has finished with his/her library book, they can bring it back to school and turn in before it's our scheduled library time. This can sometimes keep books from getting lost.
It was nice to get to spend some time with each of you over the course of last week for conferences. As I may have stated, we can always conference again if needed. Your child will make many strides as the days and months progress and there may be times when added practice is needed at home. I will always keep you posted of all aspects of your child's progress including both academics and behavior. If you would ever like to have another conference, please don't hesitate to ask.
Tomorrow we have our first Picture Lady visit. I know that the children will remember their "guest speaker" manners! This is always a fun learning experience for both the children and me.
We completed our Bouncing Balls experiment today. YEA! We had been trying to get outside during Science class a couple of days last week and Mother Nature didn't cooperate. The children did a fabulous job of working together to gather data of the many bouncing balls. Sorry, the teacher forgot her camera.No worries, there will be plenty of other opportunities to see your little scientist at work. Tomorrow we will share our data and form our conclusions. Then we will move onto to another experiment called Floating Pumpkins. Based on what they already know about pumpkins and water, the children will form their own hypothesis on whether or not they think the pumpkin will float steam up, steam down, or sideways!
In Social Studies, we are going to devote another week to learning more about Florida. Last week, the children completed informational webs in computer lab with main topics being Fun Facts, Geography, and Places to Visit. The focus of that activity was to have the children learn how to use the program Inspiration using their knowledge of what they had learned about Florida in class. I would like to take this idea one step further and divide the children into groups according to their own interests. The group will focus on one of the three specific main topic and research specific facts under that topic. The group will then have to decide how they wish to present their material. For example, they have learned how to use Comic Life and Wordle in computer lab, but they may choose another way to persent the information such as create a brochure or poster.
This weeks spelling words are short vowel followed by a double consonant words. Tonight for homework they are to write each word twice on loose leaf paper. They can write the words in color or use certain fonts if they choose to type the words on the computer. The test will be on Thursday since the children are not in school on Friday.
The Reading Comprehension activity this week, Ice Can Scream, continues with out poem theme. This week the children are to find the verbs in the poem and then add additional verbs that would also be an action of ice. I asked them to try and think of two extra verbs.The children should also focus on the pattern of the stanzas while they are reading them. Don't forget to sign the activity sheet as soon as your child has read it to you. We will be working on a Poetry Unit a little before Poetry in the Park. The reciting of our poem on that special day will be our culminating activity.
The children also have a poem for October called Trick-Or-Treat. This poem is due on October 19. I did tell the children that this time they could add a small prop to the poem. The prop can be something to hold or wear on the top of the head. No masks!
In Math, we will work on our last Algorithm, Trade First Method, continueBallpark Estimates, and solving word problems with three or more addends. Tonight for homework, the children must complete Home Link 2.3, a review of "What's My Rule".
Tomorrow we will read the story in our Wordly Wise workbook, Roundup Time in Virginia. This is one of my favorite stories because not only do I have the famous books that were written about this event, I actually have a picture to share with the kids. This is a special event to Virginians and it is absolutely amazing to watch. I will do my best to bring this story to life for the children. They will be coming home with a few questions to answer for homework. We will restate the questions in class, but then they will have to use the details from the story in the answers. We will have our Wordly Wise test on Thursday. The children will be coming home with the index cards to help them study at home.
We are moving right along in Charlotte's Web. We have reached Chapter 10. The children are becoming quite good at finding important vocabulary. One question thus far has been, why Fern's mother was more worried about her than her dad. You may want to ask your child that questions just to see what they had to say. The follow up question was, Why do mom's seem to worry more than dad's? I am sure this question will make you smile and perhaps chuckle. We will be working on how to be more specific when responding to literature whether in complete sentences or by using a sticky note to make a prediction or make a connection.
By the end of the week, we should be finished with our first personal narrative. We will spend a little bit of time editing and revising before we move onto our second writing sample. The second personal narrative will focus more closely on a specific event or memory, using the five senses to describe and reflect on that one event.
Please make sure that the paper envelopes have been signed and returned. In your child's papers, you may have seen an end of the year second grade assessment. If you did not see this last Friday, you will see it in the next round of papers. I gave the children some time in class last week to complete this assessment. I felt like I needed to know areas of strength and weaknesses. Some of the skills from second grade were not meant to be mastered. But they will be expected to master those skills from that assessment by the end of third grade.
We have art on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Also, once your child has finished with his/her library book, they can bring it back to school and turn in before it's our scheduled library time. This can sometimes keep books from getting lost.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Mighty Monday!
I do hope that everyone had a great weekend! Though this week is a four day week for the children, we will still have much to accomplish.
The Geography projects are wonderful! We haven't been able to get to everyone yet to share. But I can tell that every child is so proud of their work and so complimentary of the work of others. The children are getting a taste of presenting to the class. They are sharing two of their favorite physical features and explaining how they came up with the ideas for the finished product. They also have to share one thing that they learned while completing the project. Many have learned how to cut and paste, find pictures using Google, and different ways to illustrate the geographic feature. We will finish sharing tomorrow and the projects will be on display for you on Thursday.
The children were assigned new lunch tables today. This month they are mixed in with other third grade friends from other classes. We hope that this will encourage new friendships outside their own classroom.
This week in Spelling the children have a group of words that have a Soft and Hard C and G sound. The words are listed on the side of the blog and can be found on Spelling City under that name. Tonight they are to write the words in ABC order on the sheet that was given to them in class. The 50 point spelling contract last week seemed to really pay off. I had very good spelling grades as a whole from the class. I will tell you that I am not going to expect the children to do that kind of a project every week. But it will come home again from time to time and the children will be expected to choose projects that they haven't done.
This week for the at home Reading Comprehension, the children are to compare two different styles of poetry. We discussed what couplets are in poetry and that when they are asked about the similarities and differences of each poem, they should focus on the main idea or the overall theme of the poem and not necessarily the words.
We have begun our Personal Narrative unit in Writing Workshop. Today we worked on our list: "Memories that are close to my heart!" I encouraged the children to ask you for perhaps a couple of special events or moments that perhaps the children have forgotten about that they can add to their page. We discussed how this list which includes special events and people could help springboard their writing in the near future. So better to have many ideas from which to choose.
In Math this week we are working on strategies to help with organizing information for word problems. Strategies include the Part-Part Total , the Start-Change-End and the Quantity-Quantity-Difference method. So far the children seem to understand how these strategies can be helpful when solving word problems. Two new terms today were deposit and withdraw. They had to understand these words in order to know what operation to use while solving the problem. This in turn led to an interesting conversation about ATM machines. Smiles! We read a Math book on Friday called, Only One. The children are going to create their own page for our class book. The format is :
There may be __________.
But there is only one __________.
This is a great book written by Marc Harshman. I will often include a math story along with out class lessons that do reinforce a math skill in some way.
We are continuing our reading of Charlotte's Web. Tomorrow we will be reading Chapter 6. The children are responsible for vocabulary words and writing responses in their reading journals. We are also keeping a story map going that outlines characters, events, problems, and solutions. Our class discussions are based on the information that the children find while they are reading. This week, we will begin the art of "sticky notes" where the children will make connection to the text. These connections fall into three categories. (text to self, text to text, and text to the real world) Please remember to sign the weekend reading comprehension activity that comes home.
Last week we completed our Inspiration Maps on FLorida and our Simple Machines posters, thanks to Comic Life. The children have learned how to use these computer tools to share information that they have learned. We will continue to use this knowledge throughout the year with partner projects.
The Science Water Experiments are due on Wednesday. The children were to choose two and complete each experiment using the attached format of the Scientific Method. Each project should be completed on a separate sheet of paper. We are completing our "Bouncing Ball"experiment this week.
I did assign that Stages 4,5, and 6 should be completed this week. Please make sure that your child dates when they have completed that particular stage. You need to sign as well to verify that your child did the stage in its entirety.
I sent out a couple of group emails last week. Please let me know if you did not receive a single email. I entered all the email addresses that were given to me at the beginning of the year. A few emails did return to me as undeliverable. If you are one of these people that did not receive a single email from me last week, please write your email address down in your child;s agenda or email me from your home so that I may double check the address. Thank you very much!
I look forward to meeting with you all on Thursday. I wil be discussing your child's progress, work and study habits, and behavior. I will do my best to stay on time. To help with that, you may want to pre-think any questions or areas of concern and having them written down so that we can make sure we cover as much information as we can.
We will miss Library check out on Thursday due to Conference Day. The children can return their book anytime this week and I will make sure it gets back to the library. We will just have to wait till next week to check out new books. We were scheduled to have a library lesson. I will see if by chance we can find another time to have our lesson. The children really enjoy going to library!
This week begins our ART rotation. The children will go to art class on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon for the next three weeks!
I do plan on having the children order books from one of the book clubs. However, I have not received one yet that includes the types of books that I would like to have my children buying and reading. I expect that one will arrive soon and I will send it home for your "shopping pleasure'.
Please make sure that your child is following dress code when coming to school. Pants or shorts with loops need belts and the shirts need to be tucked in when they arrive in the mornings. In class we call this "dressing for success".
The Geography projects are wonderful! We haven't been able to get to everyone yet to share. But I can tell that every child is so proud of their work and so complimentary of the work of others. The children are getting a taste of presenting to the class. They are sharing two of their favorite physical features and explaining how they came up with the ideas for the finished product. They also have to share one thing that they learned while completing the project. Many have learned how to cut and paste, find pictures using Google, and different ways to illustrate the geographic feature. We will finish sharing tomorrow and the projects will be on display for you on Thursday.
The children were assigned new lunch tables today. This month they are mixed in with other third grade friends from other classes. We hope that this will encourage new friendships outside their own classroom.
This week in Spelling the children have a group of words that have a Soft and Hard C and G sound. The words are listed on the side of the blog and can be found on Spelling City under that name. Tonight they are to write the words in ABC order on the sheet that was given to them in class. The 50 point spelling contract last week seemed to really pay off. I had very good spelling grades as a whole from the class. I will tell you that I am not going to expect the children to do that kind of a project every week. But it will come home again from time to time and the children will be expected to choose projects that they haven't done.
This week for the at home Reading Comprehension, the children are to compare two different styles of poetry. We discussed what couplets are in poetry and that when they are asked about the similarities and differences of each poem, they should focus on the main idea or the overall theme of the poem and not necessarily the words.
We have begun our Personal Narrative unit in Writing Workshop. Today we worked on our list: "Memories that are close to my heart!" I encouraged the children to ask you for perhaps a couple of special events or moments that perhaps the children have forgotten about that they can add to their page. We discussed how this list which includes special events and people could help springboard their writing in the near future. So better to have many ideas from which to choose.
In Math this week we are working on strategies to help with organizing information for word problems. Strategies include the Part-Part Total , the Start-Change-End and the Quantity-Quantity-Difference method. So far the children seem to understand how these strategies can be helpful when solving word problems. Two new terms today were deposit and withdraw. They had to understand these words in order to know what operation to use while solving the problem. This in turn led to an interesting conversation about ATM machines. Smiles! We read a Math book on Friday called, Only One. The children are going to create their own page for our class book. The format is :
There may be __________.
But there is only one __________.
This is a great book written by Marc Harshman. I will often include a math story along with out class lessons that do reinforce a math skill in some way.
We are continuing our reading of Charlotte's Web. Tomorrow we will be reading Chapter 6. The children are responsible for vocabulary words and writing responses in their reading journals. We are also keeping a story map going that outlines characters, events, problems, and solutions. Our class discussions are based on the information that the children find while they are reading. This week, we will begin the art of "sticky notes" where the children will make connection to the text. These connections fall into three categories. (text to self, text to text, and text to the real world) Please remember to sign the weekend reading comprehension activity that comes home.
Last week we completed our Inspiration Maps on FLorida and our Simple Machines posters, thanks to Comic Life. The children have learned how to use these computer tools to share information that they have learned. We will continue to use this knowledge throughout the year with partner projects.
The Science Water Experiments are due on Wednesday. The children were to choose two and complete each experiment using the attached format of the Scientific Method. Each project should be completed on a separate sheet of paper. We are completing our "Bouncing Ball"experiment this week.
I did assign that Stages 4,5, and 6 should be completed this week. Please make sure that your child dates when they have completed that particular stage. You need to sign as well to verify that your child did the stage in its entirety.
I sent out a couple of group emails last week. Please let me know if you did not receive a single email. I entered all the email addresses that were given to me at the beginning of the year. A few emails did return to me as undeliverable. If you are one of these people that did not receive a single email from me last week, please write your email address down in your child;s agenda or email me from your home so that I may double check the address. Thank you very much!
I look forward to meeting with you all on Thursday. I wil be discussing your child's progress, work and study habits, and behavior. I will do my best to stay on time. To help with that, you may want to pre-think any questions or areas of concern and having them written down so that we can make sure we cover as much information as we can.
We will miss Library check out on Thursday due to Conference Day. The children can return their book anytime this week and I will make sure it gets back to the library. We will just have to wait till next week to check out new books. We were scheduled to have a library lesson. I will see if by chance we can find another time to have our lesson. The children really enjoy going to library!
This week begins our ART rotation. The children will go to art class on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon for the next three weeks!
I do plan on having the children order books from one of the book clubs. However, I have not received one yet that includes the types of books that I would like to have my children buying and reading. I expect that one will arrive soon and I will send it home for your "shopping pleasure'.
Please make sure that your child is following dress code when coming to school. Pants or shorts with loops need belts and the shirts need to be tucked in when they arrive in the mornings. In class we call this "dressing for success".
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