October 27- 29

Short Week

We hope that everyone enjoyed their weekend.  We get an extra long weekend this week, with Thursday and Friday being "No School" days.  

This week in Reading and Writing we will be wrapping things up.  In Reading, the students will quiz over Sleepy Hollow, present their memory bags on Tuesday, and watch the movie on Wednesday to do a book movie comparison.  We have let students know that those with unfinished Memory Bags will work during the movie time, so hopefully everyone turns those in on time! (Some are already turned in, and the students seem really excited about them!)  In Writing, students are finishing up their final drafts of their Monster Narrative that are due Tuesday morning. 

In Spelling this week, we reviewed today for our test that is on Tuesday.  We plan to go over missed words in Wednesday.

In Math, we are using this week to help students build their fluency in basic multiplication facts.  They will not have any homework, as we will be building fluency in the classroom to help with these skills.  If you have a chance, you may review facts with your child at any time.  Let us know if you need any resources to do this.  There is a link to the right of this screen to a website our students should be familiar with.  

In Social Studies, students will prepare for a chapter 2 test.  The test will be on Wednesday, first thing in the morning.  Hopefully, we can get them back to them by the end of the day, before the long break.  The suspense could be torture over that long weekend!  Fingers are crossed.  Their packets will be the best way to study for this test.  We will play a review game on Tuesday in class.

We hope to see everyone at conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We know the Royals will be playing both nights, and that most of you (and us!) are wanting to watch our boys in blue.  The good news is that conferences are only for 15 minutes, and everyone should be finished by 8:00!  We are excited to share news with you about your child, and look forward to seeing you.  That being said, GO ROYALS!  

Thank you

Thank You Ever So Kindly!

Thank you to all parents/grandparents who were able to attend, donated items, or who helped in any way with our parties.  The kids (and teachers!) had a blast!  We don't know what we would do without you all!  Please send any and all pictures to us for the yearbook!

October 20-24

This week in Reading we will finish our class read aloud, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  We will continue completing activities with this book, chapter by chapter.  To wrap the book up, students will be asked to create a "Memory Bag".  In this bag, students will use their imagination to come up with objects to represent each story element in the book; 1. Setting (Time and Place) 2. Characters  3. Plot (Events- at least 3, with at least one item being the solution)  4. Conflict (Problem)  5. Theme (The main idea of the book)  Each item will be recorded on a provided sheet, and then placed in a bag.  Students will present their "Memory Bags" on the week of the 27th.  Creativity is the key!  That makes this project so much fun!  For instance, we are not looking for a replica of the Headless Horseman, but rather something that he stands for.  He was a Revolutionary War soldier, he hurls pumpkins at people. he rides a horse, he is headless....  Something that represents one of those traits.  Please don't go out and buy anything!  Just have fun being creative, and thinking outside of the box.  Students will also continue with their literature circle jobs and books.  We hope to have these books finished by the week of conferences, or the week after.  

In Writing, we will continue drafting our Monster Narratives,  Some are turning out quite well.  We have an imaginative class!  

In Math this week we will continue working on multiplying larger numbers. We are also coming back and working on basic multiplication tables as we've noticed some of our students could really use a refresher! 

In Social studies this week we will continue reading about famous historians from Missouri. You may have seen the note taking packet that we are using for this unit of SS. This packet was made in an attempt to help them be better prepared for the tests. They have been told that they can use this packet on their test so they should take their time and make sure their answers are right before then! The SS test will be on October 29th.

In Spelling this week we will start a new unit with a new word list on Tuesday. This unit focuses on different patterns for making certain sounds as well as prefixes and suffixes. The spelling test for this unit will be NEXT Tuesday. 

Reminders:

Fall Parties will be held on Friday, October 24.  We hope to see you then! 

Wednesday will be a noon dismissal.

Fundraiser pick ups are tomorrow from 3-6! 

Parent-teacher conferences are next week, please get in contact with us if your note with your scheduled conference time did not make it to you or if you need to change your time!

Multiplication Help

It seems that the "post" links did not work.  We did, however, get the links to the right of the screen to work.  So, take two on the multiplication fact practice!

Multiplication Help

Here are a few quick links to help your child with basic multiplication facts, and two-by-two multiplication.  Enjoy!  (I am working on how to create links for future reference!)

Basic Facts
http://www.multiplication.com/games


Turtlehead Method

http://www.teachertube.com/video/turtlehead-multiplication-77588

October 13- October 17

We hope that everyone had a great weekend!  The fall weather is really upon us.  The end of the quarter is Friday. All 10 AR points are due by the end of that day.  With that in mind, keep an eye out for the white conference slips coming home to confirm your child's conference time.  

Here is a look at our week ahead.

In Writing, students will begin thinking about and drafting their "Monster" narrative.  This story will ask the students to include two events leading up to the conflict (problem) and two events leading to the solution.  Our goal is to have the monsters and their papers on display for conferences.

In Reading, students will continue reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  We are loving this spooky tale!  The class will also continue to work on their Literature Circles.  

In Math this week we will continue with multiplication strategies. We will also start moving to some harder multiplication and word problems. The strategies we have been working on will work for these problems as well and we will continue perfecting those.

In Social Studies this week we are discussing Missouri's diversity and its famous artists, athletes and musicians. 

In spelling this week, we will discuss homophones and possessive pronouns. We will focus an entire day on they're, their, and there and when to use each of these. The spelling test is this Friday for the 3rd list sent home! 

Have a great week!

Field Trip Update

Field Trip Update

The Conservation Department has just emailed me.  They have relocated the field trip to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on Fredrick.  It will be there rain or shine.  Therefore, the field trip will go on!  Sorry for any confusion previous posts may have caused.  I wanted to keep you as updated as possible.  See you Thursday!

Field Trip

Field Trip

Due to a high possibility of rain, there is a chance that out field trip will be canceled and the Conservation Department will reschedule a date to bring the presentation to us.  At the latest, we will be informed at 8:00 on Thursday morning if our trip is canceled.  For any parents that were planning on attending, we would need a number to reach you and let you know that the trip has been canceled.  Please send a note with the best number to reach you on that morning.  We are so sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause.  We just found this out this morning.  We will keep you posted! 

October 6- October 10

We hope that everyone had a great weekend.  The fall air is really beginning to cool down!  Please keep that in mind as your child prepares for school.  Recess is at 12:40, but the air is sometimes still cool.  Layers are best!

This week in English Language Arts, students will work on making subjects and verbs agree.  This will help us in creating complete sentences as we prepare to write a narrative.  At the end of the week, students will begin brainstorming ideas.  In Art, students will be creating a 3-D monster!  We will use this monster as the main character in our narratives.  We hope the students enjoy this opportunity to bring their artwork to life.  

In Reading, the classes will begin reading a book together to work on finding the main idea in literature.  We will begin reading Washington Irving's classic, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  It has been retold on a junior level, and makes for a suspenseful read!  Using this text, students will record their thoughts and predictions about the story.  

This week in math we will continue working on multiplication and the different ways to approach these problems. Our lessons will focus on helping them to understand multiplication by using place value. You've probably noticed we focus on factoring out the 10 to make the math simpler. We do this by using rectangular drawings and multi step factoring when we are multiplying.\

In science with week we will finish up the unit with a test on Tuesday. (This should have been written in their agenda every day this week). We have done a lot of lab work and interactive activities to solidify their understandings in science. We will review on Monday with a game and then take the test on Tuesday. We will then move back to Social Studies and discussing Missouri again.

In spelling this week we will focus on the long E sound and patterns that make that sound (ee, ea, y, e, etc). Then we will look at homophones. We will really focus hard on "there," they're," and "their."

As a reminder, our field trip to Mark Youngdahl Conservation Area is thisThursday, October 9.  We will be leaving the school at 8:30, and arriving back around 1:00.  Please dress your child appropriately in tennis shoes or boots, and in layers.  Bring a sack lunch, with drink.  Parents are welcome to attend, but there will be another field trip at the end of the year that will be a full day trip. 

Field Trip

As a reminder, our field trip permission slips are due today, Friday, October 3.  We are going to the Mark Youngdahl Trail for Conservation Kid's Day on Thursday, October 9.  If you have not signed and returned this, please do so as soon as possible.  Thank you in advance!  Have a great weekend!