Class Update September 30, 2017

Important Dates:

Friday, October 13th- End of first quarter; Half day for students

Monday, October 23rd- Parent teacher conferences; Book fair begins

Wednesday, October 25th- Parent teacher conferences

Friday, October 27th- NO SCHOOL

Sunday, October 29th- Trunk or Treat


Writing:  We have finished our first personal narrative pieces, and we are currently working on our second narrative piece.  Students are focusing on adding in a blend of dialogue, action/description, and their thoughts and feelings into their narratives.  This helps create an interesting story for the reader.  The goal is to finish this piece by the end of the quarter.


Reading:  We have been learning about how the author's point of view and perspective affect us as readers.  We also just started learning about the theme of fiction stories in our mini lessons.  Guided reading groups have been going well, and students have been finding evidence in the text to support their thinking.  Another component of our reading time is spent on book clubs.  The book clubs meet on Tuesdays and Fridays.  Students are responsible for reading the chapters assigned as well as writing a thick question to discuss with their groups before the meeting date.  Students should be finished with their first book clubs in a few weeks, and then they will decide what they want to read next.  Below are pictures of book clubs in action!

Math:  We just had a quiz over the beginning of chapter two which focused on exponents and prime factorization.  The rest of the chapter deals with multiplication.  Please have your child practice their multiplication facts at home nightly so they can become automatic.  This will really help them as we are doing multiplication and division.

Science:  In science, we have been learning about designing fair tests when performing investigations.  We just started our Oreo project. Students will be making observations and designing an investigation to experiment with Oreos.  Next week, check with your child to see what testable question they come up with relating to Oreos!  Below are pictures of the students making qualitative observations of the cookies. 

Social Studies:  Miss Scalise will begin teaching about the Declaration of Independence in Social Studies. 

Class Update September 15, 2017

Important Dates:

Friday, September 22nd- NO SCHOOL- Teacher Professional Development

Wednesday, September 27th- Picture Day

We took a break from our regular morning meeting today and had some quick Friday fitness fun!  A lot of the kids really got into it.

Writing:  The students have been working hard on their personal narrative pieces.  We have been focusing on elaborating in our writing.  This includes adding dialogue, sensory details, and description.  This coming week we will be editing and putting the finishing touches on this piece.  Then, students be choosing another idea to develop for our second narrative piece.  


Reading;  Students are learning to write about their reading.  We are focusing on fiction skills, and we have been making inferences about the plot and the characters in books.  Starting next week, students will be in a book club where they are reading and discussing a novel in small groups.  This is a lot of fun for them as the book clubs are mostly student led.  They also have choice in deciding what book they want to read for their book club.  Please make sure your child is reading nightly.  Students who read for long chunks of time will progress much faster than those who do not.

Math:  We are currently wrapping up chapter one.  Our test will be on Tuesday, and the students have a study guide that will help them prepare.  You can also access the online math book by following the instructions under the online textbooks tab on my blog.  In our next chapter, we will be learning about prime factorization and multiplication of whole numbers.  Please have you child practice his or her multiplication facts so that they are memorized.  Knowing math facts quickly and accurately helps save your child time when getting into multiplying larger numbers.

Science:   In science, we are continuing to learn about the scientific method.  We have formed several testable questions and carried out experiments to find out the answers to our questions.  We made a hypothesis and then investigated to find out if black or white cups of water would get hotter in the sun.  We then related this back to real life such as deciding what color to wear on a hot, sunny day.  We even tied it in to the differences between black and white cars.   In another fun experiment, students tested three different paper towel brands to see which was more absorbent.  We found that Bounty outperformed the Costco brand and the school paper towel brand.  By doing this experiment, we learned about variables, graphing data, and drawing conclusions.  Last week, we also took a quick walk over to GEMPP park and explored the area.  We used this to make observations and to think of more possible questions we could investigate.

Social Studies: The students are studying the causes that led to the American Revolution.  Next, we will be learning about the Declaration of Independence.

Class Update September 1, 2017

Important Dates:

• Monday, September 5th- NO SCHOOL for Labor Day
• Friday, September 8th- PTO Movie Night at 6:00
• Wednesday, September 13th- Dismissal at 1:40
• Friday, September 22nd- NO SCHOOL for teacher professional development
• Wednesday, September 27th- Picture day

We are all settled into our routines now, and a lot of learning is happening!  During the first few days, we wrote a class mission statement that reflects how we want our classroom to look and feel.  The students did a great job with this.

We did more team building activities, and we have been focusing on how important it is to work together.  Throughout the year, we will be incorporating STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) projects into the different subject areas.  Below are a few fun challenges the students worked through.  In one, the students had a limited amount of supplies and needed to build a support that would hold two cups off the table.  In the second, students were given a piece of paper and 5 centimeters of tape.  The challenge was to build a structure that would hold a book off the table for 30 seconds.  As you can see in the pictures, there was a lot of creativity happening!  They realized that by rolling the paper into columns, they could hold more books.  I think the record was over 30 books!

Writing:  In writing, our first unit is about personal narratives.  So far, we have been learning about different strategies for writing personal narratives.  We have talked about writing about a memory with a special person, a first or a last time doing something, and a memory in a special place.  Also, we have read examples of personal narratives to help get the ideas flowing.  After writing a few short drafts of different ideas, students have chosen which idea they would like to elaborate on.  A big focus of personal narrative is getting the kids to zoom in a particular moment.  We use a watermelon and seed analogy to explain this.  A watermelon is a broad topic, and the seed focuses in on a particular moment within the broader topic.  

Reading:  In reading, we are learning how to slow down and think about what we are reading.  I have been conferencing with students, and reading groups will begin next week.  Students will meet in a small group with me, and they will also be a member of a book club that meets twice a week.  Book clubs will begin in the next week or two.  Last week, we enjoyed the nice weather and read outside in our outdoor learning space!

Math:  We spent a few days practicing math stations.  A typical math lesson consists of a 10 minute mini-lesson, and then students try a few problems on their own.  I use the problems they do independently to make my math groups for the day.  The math group is a follow up of the day's lesson.  Some students need more reinforcement on the skill, and others are ready for a challenge.  Groups change daily based on student need.  While I am meeting with small groups, the students go to their math stations.  We have 5 stations, and students go to one station a day.  There is a hands on group where they play partner games that go along with our current math topics or topics previously learned as a review.  At the problem solving station, students solve real life math situations with a partner.  There are also 2 computer based stations that allow students to practice math concepts that we are learning.  The last station is an independent station where students review concepts that have been previously taught to ensure they retain what they have learned.  

We are currently on chapter one which covers place value of whole numbers and decimals.  If your child does not know his or her multiplication facts up through 12, please review these at home nightly.  If you would like suggestions for online ways to practice these, please let me know.  

Science:  In science, we have been exploring the different science tools we will be using this year.  We are also learning about the scientific method.  Earlier in the week, we talked about how observations help guide the questions we come up with.  We went outside and made qualitative and quantitative observations of objects we found.  

Also, students have been talking a lot about Hurricane Harvey.  We watched a few video clips and came up with some questions we had about hurricanes.  Then, I posted some articles and videos on Google Classroom.  Students decided which questions they wanted to find the answers to, and they researched to learn more about what they were curious about.  They really seemed to like this, and they came up with some very interesting questions!