Thanks to everyone for joining me and your child for student led conferences. I have typed up their goals for the second trimester and they have them in a prominent place so that they can work on them daily. I hope you and your children are getting excited for the upcoming holiday season. I'm sure you may have heard about our Elf on the Shelf's escapades! His name is Chippy and he appeared in our classroom the day we got back from Thanksgiving break! His whereabouts are one of the first things students do when they arrive in the morning. He has been mischeivious but not too much trouble.
We are finishing up Unit 4 in math which has been all about multiplication and division. We will be taking the Unit 4 math assessment this week on Thurs. 12/18 with a review on Wednesday. Please have your student practice their multiplication/division facts at home. Whether it be on the computer, flash cards, fact triangles or writing them down. The more practice the better they will be at remembering them. This is the foundation for more math that we will be doing throughout the year.
In Writing we have started working on Expository paragraphs. We have been working on using correct capitalization and punctuation as well as indenting when beginning a new paragraph. We also have been working on transition words this week. We will continue with this work into the new year.
During reading we have been highlighting characters. Understanding our character's feelings and walking in their shoes. We also have been working on predictions and finding evidence in our reading to prove our predictions. This week we will be focusing on what our character's actions and words tell us about them. After the new year we will be starting our Non-fiction reading unit.
In Science we have had a Force and Motion quiz last Thursday and students did well. I will send these home with them this week so you can review them with them. We started talking and experimenting with Magnets this past Friday and the students really had some great discoveries. We will have a Magnetic force quiz next Monday 12/22 to finish up this unit so that we can start our Maine Animal unit after the holiday break.
I sent a quick email about our holiday happenings on 12/22--Gingerbread Math. I thank all who volunteered to send in supplies. I make the gingerbread men from my grandfather's recipe. This was a tradition that I had with him when I was young and now continue it with my family each year. I am happy to share this with my students and the students of the pod. It should be fun! On 12/23 we will have our holiday party from 10 am to 12 pm. I should only need a few volunteers but if you would like to join us at the school wide sing along at 2:10 pm that would be great!
On a sad note, Andrew Dabila-Cole will be leaving our class. His last day will be Tuesday, Dec. 23rd. We will prepare something special for him to say good-bye. We will miss him but I know he is looking forward to seeing his family in North Carolina.
One last reminder. It is getting quite chilly and although we are having an unseasonable day today, it gets pretty windy on our back fields during recess. Please make sure that you send your child to school with a warm jacket, hat and mittens. If it is rainy or snowy they also should have boots. If there is snow they are not allowed on the field without snow pants. Thank you for reminding your students of this.
I wish you and your families a warm, healthy and bright holiday and peace to you and yours for 2015.
As always if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate calling or emailing me.
We are finishing up Unit 4 in math which has been all about multiplication and division. We will be taking the Unit 4 math assessment this week on Thurs. 12/18 with a review on Wednesday. Please have your student practice their multiplication/division facts at home. Whether it be on the computer, flash cards, fact triangles or writing them down. The more practice the better they will be at remembering them. This is the foundation for more math that we will be doing throughout the year.
In Writing we have started working on Expository paragraphs. We have been working on using correct capitalization and punctuation as well as indenting when beginning a new paragraph. We also have been working on transition words this week. We will continue with this work into the new year.
During reading we have been highlighting characters. Understanding our character's feelings and walking in their shoes. We also have been working on predictions and finding evidence in our reading to prove our predictions. This week we will be focusing on what our character's actions and words tell us about them. After the new year we will be starting our Non-fiction reading unit.
In Science we have had a Force and Motion quiz last Thursday and students did well. I will send these home with them this week so you can review them with them. We started talking and experimenting with Magnets this past Friday and the students really had some great discoveries. We will have a Magnetic force quiz next Monday 12/22 to finish up this unit so that we can start our Maine Animal unit after the holiday break.
I sent a quick email about our holiday happenings on 12/22--Gingerbread Math. I thank all who volunteered to send in supplies. I make the gingerbread men from my grandfather's recipe. This was a tradition that I had with him when I was young and now continue it with my family each year. I am happy to share this with my students and the students of the pod. It should be fun! On 12/23 we will have our holiday party from 10 am to 12 pm. I should only need a few volunteers but if you would like to join us at the school wide sing along at 2:10 pm that would be great!
On a sad note, Andrew Dabila-Cole will be leaving our class. His last day will be Tuesday, Dec. 23rd. We will prepare something special for him to say good-bye. We will miss him but I know he is looking forward to seeing his family in North Carolina.
One last reminder. It is getting quite chilly and although we are having an unseasonable day today, it gets pretty windy on our back fields during recess. Please make sure that you send your child to school with a warm jacket, hat and mittens. If it is rainy or snowy they also should have boots. If there is snow they are not allowed on the field without snow pants. Thank you for reminding your students of this.
I wish you and your families a warm, healthy and bright holiday and peace to you and yours for 2015.
As always if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate calling or emailing me.