Our AC unit seems to be working! So yay! We are having better weeks, as they are turning things around. I'm sure it comes from the talks that you are all having at home. We have had problems with friends turning homework in on time, and writing their name on their work, so please remind them to do so. We also had problems with friends not being nice to each other, and saying mean things to each other. As a community we talked about it and vowed to work together to create a community where we are saying nice things to each other and being kind.
With map testing this week, we are in a weird week. This week we are free of spelling and vocabulary words. Thus meaning no spelling and reading test Friday. We however are taking the days the we do have free from testing and focusing on grammar and writing. Over the next couple of weeks they will begin to have writing homework as we move into our first writing project, peer biographies. We will conduct the interviews tomorrow, and they will have some time to start their rough drafts. In math we are focusing on wrapping up topic 2. We are going to take some days to review and I am going to teach them how properly prepare for the test. They will bring home their practice test, so it may be helpful for them if you can give them a couple practice problems. We are approaching the end of lesson 1 in our science books. In chapter 1, we learned about scientist and what they do. We took a deep dive into the scientific method and they will get their first hand experience with it in the coming weeks. They are super excited for the experiment and so am I. Important Dates:
0 Comments
One of our AC units is broken, and it is being worked on. Until I receive word, please dress the students in cool clothing and send a water bottle. It can get pretty warm in the classroom. We gained a new friend this week, Rocco. He shadowed with us a few weeks back and the students have been looking forward to his arrival.
Map testing has started this week. We take our map test next week. So, please be sure to encourage students to each breakfast in the morning and get enough sleep. Our map testing days are Monday (9/23), Tuesday (9/24) and Thursday (9/26). If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walk with Grace, Grace Lutheran School’s annual walk-a-thon fundraiser is Friday, October 4th. The event is just FOUR WEEKS AWAY making it the perfect time to sign up for Pledgestar and start raising money for our school! This is a very fun day for the students and teachers, but as with any event – we need help! Please click on the link below to see the many ways you can support the event and our school. Pledgestar: http://pledgestar.com/grace Volunteer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B4CA8AC22A5FC1-walk In conjunction with the walkathon, our students will be doing a service project for Ronald McDonald House Charities. 10% of donations given to the walkathon will be earmarked for this organization. If you have any questions, please contact Brian Schultz at [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reading: Our essential questions for the week is, "How can problem solving lead to new ideas?" We haven't discussed that question as we will spend some time working with it tomorrow as we look at the stories we're going to read this week. We are focusing on biographies this week, and we've started to read one about Elijah McCoy, who invented the oil cup for the steam engine train. We are still on our grammar book break, as we are still taking some time to focus on paragraphs and perfecting them. Next week we will jump back into our grammar things. Math: We moved into topic 2 and we are learning some of the different patterns that will help us master multiplying. For example, we learned that multiples of 5 end in 5 or 0 and multiples of 2 end in 0,2,4,6,8. Learning the 9s pattern was a little tricky, so we had to spend a couple days with it. We learned that we can use our fingers to help us solve equations with 9, and we also learned that numbers in the tens column count up by 1 and the numbers in the ones column count down by 1. We also spend some time with the zero property and the identity property. We will finish the topic off by focusing on multiples of 10. Social Studies: With Hispanic Heritage Month starting on Sunday, we are taking some time learn about different Spanish speaking countries. We started off by talking about the Spanish speaking countries that we know and we watched a small video. From now till October 15, we will learn about different countries. We will wrap up by having a culture fest with 4th grade, as we do some activities, eat some food and learn some fun/cool dance moves. Important Dates:
We survived the second week! We are doing better with following directions. Tomorrow is 9/11, so we will spend some time discussing that. If there is anything you would like to avoid/skip please let me know. Tomorrow is also picture day, so if you have not already please return the picture form.
There has been an update to our lunch. I was informed that our friend who has a nut allergy is not sensitive so it would be okay if friends bring PB&J or Nutella things to eat. However, we will keep classroom parties nut-free. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Walk with Grace, Grace Lutheran School’s annual walk-a-thon fundraiser is Friday, October 4th. The event is just FOUR WEEKS AWAY making it the perfect time to sign up for Pledgestar and start raising money for our school! This is a very fun day for the students and teachers, but as with any event – we need help! Please click on the link below to see the many ways you can support the event and our school. Pledgestar: http://pledgestar.com/grace Volunteer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B4CA8AC22A5FC1-walk In conjunction with the walkathon, our students will be doing a service project for Ronald McDonald House Charities. 10% of donations given to the walkathon will be earmarked for this organization. If you have any questions, please contact Brian Schultz at [email protected] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reading: Our essential question for the week is "How do people from different cultures contribute to a community? " We discussed this question whole group and talked about the different communities that we live in. We then discussed how we could possibly bring a piece of our community into our class community. This week we are focusing on autobiographies. We are reading one that is written by Gary Soto, who is an author. We are taking a break from our grammar books to focus on our writer's workshop start up. Today we spent some time working on free writing, and throughout the week we will focus on paragraph structure. They are excited to write and I cannot wait to read the things that they are able to produce. Math: We will be having a math test tomorrow. So, please be sure to have them study. On Thursday we will move into topic 2, which will focus heavy on multiplication. The lessons will focus on different groups of factors so the students can master them in sections. In this topic we will focus on what is considered the "easy" factors such 0,1, 2, 5, 9, and 10. We will learn to look for patterns and also look at different properties. Important dates:
We survived the first full week of school yay! It was a rough one, as we struggled with staying on task, following directions and talking while adults are talking. However I am hoping that this week would be a better week.
It dawned on me after curriculum night that we never addressed birthday party celebrations. If you would like to send birthday treats, feel free to do so. We do have a nut allergy in class and as of now the only substitution is sun butter (Nutella not allowed because of hazelnuts). I’m sure most of them came home and talked about paychecks, and I talked about them with one group at curriculum night. However to give a synopsis: we have classroom jobs and we switch them every two weeks. They get a paycheck worth $25 (they’ve tried negotiating for more money) and they are allowed to purchase tickets. A few tickets include listening to music during a class, having a snack in class, sitting at my desk, me buying them lunch and homework pass. However to along with all of those tickets they get fines/ tickets for some of the same reasons they lose dojo points (I.,e, not following directions). They also pay a fine for not writing their name on their homework, not turning their homework in on time, missing/incomplete homework. This is to teach them responsibility and so far things are moving along great! They love their paychecks, they love shopping, and they are having fun. Notice: If you have not already, please turn in hot lunch form, it's due Friday! Picture day is Wednesday September 11, please return them before then. Reading: Our essential question for the week is, "what can traditions teach you about cultures?" As we met in small groups, we discussed the different traditions that we have in the USA and the different reasons/importance behind them. We talked about the different traditions around the world and the different things that they celebrate and teach us. We also talked about our family traditions. In grammar we are finishing up what we started last week by adding two more kinds of sentences, commands and exclamatory. Next week we will take a break from our grammar books and do some writers workshop things. Math: We are wrapping up our 1st math topic. We started the topic off discussing the many ways to solve multiplication. Today we took a switch and started looking at some ways we can solve division. Today was a challenge as we were looking at division is a way that we have never seen it; repeated subtraction. It confused some, and other seemed to get the hang of things. We will continue to work through these things. Our first test will be Wednesday or Thursday of next week. Science: We are finishing up lesson 2, where we learned some skills that scientist use. We spent a lot of time talking about hurricanes and weather maps. They began to talk about the hurricane in the Bahamas, so we will take some type outside of the lesson to look more at hurricanes. We will wrap up tomorrow and then move into learning how scientists answer questions. In that lesson, we will learn the scientific method and we will even get a chance to put the method to some use as we do an experiment using an egg. This experiment always is a joy. Important Dates:
|
Author
Archives
May 2022
Categories |