I'm happy to say that we have had a VERY smooth beginning to our year! I have been very impressed with how quickly we are catching on to routines and living up to the high expectations that I have! Here's a look into the upcoming week:
Reading - We will be reading a non-fiction story about Satchel Paige while working on the reading strategy of questioning and the skill of identifying facts and opinions. We will work on these through a variety of other activities during our stations as well.
Math - Unit 2 has just begun! This unit's focus will be on adding and subtracting algorithms. Students were introduced to a new addition strategy late last week called the "partial-sums" method. I discussed with the class how a carpenter has many tools in their toolbox, but do not necessarily use all of them all the time. We then discussed how this method is just another tool in our own math toolboxes; it is something we should at least try, but we are not required to use it. I let students know that I do not prefer them to use any one strategy over another. However, everyone did attempt to use the partial-sums method, but were able to use whichever strategy best suits them.
Science - We are currently wrapping up our first chapter based on classifying plants and animals. This week will include a short lab using microscopes to study the difference between plant cells and animal cells, along with an open-book test. The test will be given over the course of two class days (30 minutes each day) in order to allow students time to use their books and complete the test with a sufficient amount of time.
Social Studies - It's been a quick study, but we are also finishing up our chapter over ancient civilizations and Native American culture regions. Students have probably informed you that we are beginning a group project this week. On Friday, we discussed the requirements and guidelines for the project. Students formed groups, chose a culture region to present, and should be ready to begin working on Monday! Final projects will be due by the end of class on Friday, August 28th.
Writing - Our writing block has been focused on the trait of ideas using news articles as our source. We are currently working on developing focused paragraphs with catchy titles, subheadings, and the use of proper nouns in our own "original" newspaper articles. It's been very fun to see students be so creative and have fun with this type of writing!
If you haven't yet responded, please be sure to let me know what size t-shirt your student wears. I will be giving those to our PSG later this week for our Redbird Run fundraiser coming up in September!
Several students have displayed an interest in campaigning for our Student Council. Students who are interested should have brought home a letter from Mrs. McMullen, our Student Council advisor, with information regarding some important requirements for students who serve. Those students who have returned the signed information and have written a campaign speech will be eligible to run. Speeches will be read anonymously by myself to the class on Friday morning and a vote will then take place. Good luck to those who run!
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Welcome Back to School!
It's crazy to think about how quickly the summer flew by, but we are back to school and ready to get back into a groove! Thank you to all who were able to make time to meet me at Parent Information Night last week. I am truly enjoying getting to know your kids! This is a GREAT bunch!
Here are some of the things we will be working on this week in class:
Reading - We will be reading a tall tale titled "Thunder Rose" and focusing on the skill of identifying cause and effect relationships. We will also work on the comprehension strategy of summarizing, as well as using graphic aides such as charts and graphs to better our understanding.
Math - This week we will work on divisibility rules, identifying prime and composite numbers, squaring and unsquaring numbers, as well as prime factorization. Our test date for this unit will be on Tuesday, August 18th. Please be looking for a Test Alert to come home by the end of the week so students can begin preparing!
Writing - Students will complete one more autobiography type of writing, along with taking their own "selfie" to assist them! These should be fun! Another focus in writing this week will be responding to a piece of literature. We will be reviewing a strategy that most of the students know as A.P.E. to respond to a question about a text. This strategy will also assist them during Reading each week hereafter.
Science - We will be starting our work in Chapter 1 of the Life Sciences. This chapter's focus is on classifying plants and animals. Last week, students completed an investigation using keys to identify various trees and fish. This week, we will be reading and discussing material from our books as well as taking lots of notes!
Social Studies - Again, we will begin working through Chapter 1 of our new Social Studies curriculum. The focus of the chapter is on ancient civilizations, how the environment effected their lives, such as their housing, how they found food, etc. We will continue with this for a couple of weeks and end with a group project. That information will come home at a later date.
Students are receiving letters of "employment notification" on Monday morning! It is always so exciting to watch them open and read to find out for which job they have been hired. Be sure to ask them about it when you have a chance. Obviously, I am not able to always place students in their first choice of job, but I make sure to discuss how each job is important to the smooth running of our "company." I am doubtful that there will be much disappointment as there is a thrill in "getting a job" anyway, but please reinforce how important it is that we all do our jobs well no matter how big or how small; when we are all working together, our classroom will run like a well-oiled machine.
I am so thrilled with the start to this year that we have had! I am truly looking forward to an amazing year with this group of kiddos! Have a great week!
Here are some of the things we will be working on this week in class:
Reading - We will be reading a tall tale titled "Thunder Rose" and focusing on the skill of identifying cause and effect relationships. We will also work on the comprehension strategy of summarizing, as well as using graphic aides such as charts and graphs to better our understanding.
Math - This week we will work on divisibility rules, identifying prime and composite numbers, squaring and unsquaring numbers, as well as prime factorization. Our test date for this unit will be on Tuesday, August 18th. Please be looking for a Test Alert to come home by the end of the week so students can begin preparing!
Writing - Students will complete one more autobiography type of writing, along with taking their own "selfie" to assist them! These should be fun! Another focus in writing this week will be responding to a piece of literature. We will be reviewing a strategy that most of the students know as A.P.E. to respond to a question about a text. This strategy will also assist them during Reading each week hereafter.
Science - We will be starting our work in Chapter 1 of the Life Sciences. This chapter's focus is on classifying plants and animals. Last week, students completed an investigation using keys to identify various trees and fish. This week, we will be reading and discussing material from our books as well as taking lots of notes!
Social Studies - Again, we will begin working through Chapter 1 of our new Social Studies curriculum. The focus of the chapter is on ancient civilizations, how the environment effected their lives, such as their housing, how they found food, etc. We will continue with this for a couple of weeks and end with a group project. That information will come home at a later date.
Students are receiving letters of "employment notification" on Monday morning! It is always so exciting to watch them open and read to find out for which job they have been hired. Be sure to ask them about it when you have a chance. Obviously, I am not able to always place students in their first choice of job, but I make sure to discuss how each job is important to the smooth running of our "company." I am doubtful that there will be much disappointment as there is a thrill in "getting a job" anyway, but please reinforce how important it is that we all do our jobs well no matter how big or how small; when we are all working together, our classroom will run like a well-oiled machine.
I am so thrilled with the start to this year that we have had! I am truly looking forward to an amazing year with this group of kiddos! Have a great week!
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