Weekly Update-February 24

Announcements

We had another busy, short week! I think the students and I are ready to get back into the routine of our 5 day week. Word work will resume next week.

A huge thanks to all the parents who volunteered this year for our class parties. The students and I had a blast at all of them, and we really appreciate your efforts to make these a success. A special thank you to Stefanie Arnold for stepping up and being our room coordinator! 

In the Classroom

In math this week, we started a unit that involved real world multiplication problems. We had to help a baker, Muffles, solve different problems for his truffle shop. The students worked in partners all week as they solved these problems. We will assess over multiplication next week and then begin our Division unit.

We started our Opinion unit in writing this week. Students took their pre-test on Tuesday. We then looked at examples of well-written opinion pieces and made a chart of what those students included in their pieces. Finally, we started sharing our opinions about different topics. Next week, we will begin discussing how to support our opinions with evidence.

In reading this week, we focused on biographies. In shared reading, we read a book about the famous cellist, Yo Yo Ma. Students studied the different features in a biography and how they help us learn. In their small groups, students read biographies about Steve Irwin, Ellen Ochoa, and the Griffey family.

This week was all about diseases in Health. We discussed what the words disease and symptoms mean, learned about infectious vs. non-infectious, and created our own germs. 

Upcoming Events

March 7-Early Dismissal at 1:15

Spring Pictures-March 16
Field trip to Planetarium at Rock Bridge High School-March 23

Spring Break-March 27-March 31
Comet Culture Night-April 11 at 6:00

Weekly Update-February 16

Announcements

We had a very busy, short week here in room 215! Due to Conferences, there is no Friday Folder checklist this week and we did not complete Weekly Journals. They will both resume next week.

The students had a blast celebrating Valentine's Day on Tuesday. We loved looking at all the creative boxes and, of course, eating candy. 

Thank you to everyone who came for Parent Teacher Conferences. As this was our last scheduled conference, please let me know if you would like to meet again as the year continues. 

In the Classroom

We finished learning all the factors in math this week. We spent time practicing these facts by using our flashcards and playing games. We also discussed multiplication word problems. Students learned how to determine if they should multiply and then applied their fact knowledge to solve the problems. We will start a new unit called Muffles Truffles next week.

We finished our non-fiction expert pieces! The students worked so hard to complete their publishing this week. The best part was our celebration on Thursday. It is so wonderful to see the students reading each other's work and giving positive feedback.

In Science this week, we completed our My Plate webquest. We also had a special guest teacher on Wednesday. Ms. Dana reviewed the food groups and important nutrients with us. We even got to make a salad that had something from every food group in it!

We also had one last activity to do for Geography. On Wednesday, we did a Mystery Skype to put all our great Geography vocabulary to the test! Our mystery class was located in Connecticut, and we had so much fun trying to figure out their location. Our bloggers took some great pictures!

Upcoming Events

February 17-No School

February 20-No School, President's Day

March 7-Early Dismissal at 1:15

Spring Pictures-March 16

Spring Break-March 27-March 31

Weekly Update-February 10

Announcements

Your conference confirmation day and time came home last week and is written again in the Friday folder. Please make every attempt to reschedule as soon as possible if you need to. I look forward to meeting with everyone next week!

We will have our Valentine's Day celebration next Tuesday from 2:15-3:00. Thank you to everyone who volunteered to help with the party! Students will be exchanging Valentine's earlier in the day. They should bring their Valentine's and box (if they made one) on Tuesday morning. Please use the list I sent home to make sure every student has one. If you need another list, just let me know. 

In the Classroom

We continued to study multiplication facts this week. We focused on the factors of 4, 6, and 7. Here are students practicing their 6 facts through a dice game. 

Students are publishing their expert non-fiction books! We are practicing neat handwriting, adding in photogrpahs, and diagrams, and adding other special touches to make our pieces interesting to the reader. Here is a sneak peek at some of the pieces.

We used some of our reading time this week to study famous African Americans. We went on a gallery walk through our school to see photographs. Each student wrote down the names of people they were interested in learning more about, and then we used iPads to research.

We started our next Science unit, Health, this week. Students reviewed healthy eating habits they had learned with Mrs. Zapata in December. We discussed MyPlate and went on a webquest to explore the MyPlate website. 

Upcoming Events

February 14-Valentine's Day Room Party, 2:15-3:00

February 16-17-Parent Teacher Conferences

February 17-No School

February 20-No School, President's Day

March 7-Early Dismissal at 1:15

Spring Pictures-March 16

Spring Break-March 27-March 31

Weekly Update-February 3

Announcements

Please join us next Thursday, February 9th, for Bookapalooza! This annual Paxton Keeley event will be held from 6:00-8:00. Students can send in books for the used book fair where many books are only .25! There will be storytellers, special readers, and the Teacher Book Basket Raffle. There will also be a Poetry Jam at the end of the evening. Pizza and treats will be available. I hope to see everyone there! 

Parent-Teacher Conference confirmation notes are located in the Friday folder this week. Please let me know as soon as possible if you need to reschedule.

Our classroom is still in need of #2 pencils and notebook paper.

We decided to try something new for our February seating arrangements. Each student filled out a survey stating where they believe they can be the best learner: in a group with others, in a row facing the front, or by themselves. I designed our seating arrangement based on their answers. Students are being wonderful learners!

In the Classroom

In math this week, we focused on multiplication facts. We studied the factors of 10, 9, 0, 1, and 3. Students are learning to explore the patterns in the multiples and getting lots of fact practice through worksheets and games. Flashcards, apps, or games are a great way to practice multiplication facts at home. 

In writing this week, students did self-revisions, partner revisions, and teacher revisions. They also began editing their books. We will begin publishing our books next week in order to share them with everyone at conference time.

We continued exploring main idea and supporting details in reading. This week, we focused on fiction books. We used various picture books to practice finding the big idea of the text as well as proof in supporting details.

We wrapped up our Geography unit this week by studying the border states of Missouri. Students completed giant border state puzzles to practice. We assessed over this unit Friday and will begin our Health unit next week.

Upcoming Events

February 6-No School, Teacher Workday

February 9-Bookapalooza, 6:00-8:00

February 14-Valentine's Day Room Party, 2:15-3:00

February 16-17-Parent Teacher Conferences

February 17-No School

February 20-No School, President's Day