Wednesday, March 28, 2012

One More Day!!!!

All but three of the students have made their AR goals!! The last three will make it tomorrow! Which means 100% of our students will make their goals for this quarter!! We can do it.

Morning Journal: What was your favorite thing you did with your PLC for science fair? Least favorite? What did you learn from your science fair project?

Morning Math: We had a mixture of customary and metric linear conversions.

Math: We reviewed over both customary and metric conversions. I went over the questions on the math test study guide. All of the students were told to bring these home, so they can study for the test tomorrow.

Imagine It: We took our Imagine It test on "What Ever Happened to the Baxter Place?" We began taking the STAR assessment, so we can set our new AR goals for next quarter.

Please make sure your child studies for both the science and math tests. If they bring in the study guides signed by you, they will receive 5 points on their tests.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Two More Days!!

Just two more days stand between us and spring break!! I know everyone is ready for a small break for our brains. Every child brought home their Imagine It book tonight and they are supposed to read "What Ever Happened to the Baxter Place?" Ask them to find the main idea and at least two supporting details on each page of the story.

Morning Journal: It's National New Pencil Day!! If you can please send in a pack of new pencils for our class to share. What do you need to do to make sure you are prepared for school each day?

Morning Math: Metric Linear Conversions!

Math: We reviewed metric linear conversions with cm, m, and km. We will have a test on metric and customary conversions on Thursday. We will review tomorrow for the test and the study guide will come home for all students to review.

Imagine It: We continued our study of main idea and supporting details. We looked at how pictures can be supporting details to the main idea. All of the students chose a main idea and wrote a short story supporting the main idea. The students read their stories out loud and the class had to come up with what they thought the main idea would be for the story.

AR: Almost every student has made their goal. We will begin taking the STAR test to get our new AR levels for the last quarter of the year!!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Three More Days!!!

Continue to encourage your child to hold on for three more days. That is all we have left until spring break. I know everyone is ready and excited, but we still have a lot to learn over the next few days and tests to take. I sent the test schedule through e-mail, but here it is for you again:

Wednesday: Imagine It test on "What Ever Happened to the Baxter Place?"
Thursday: Science Test on the scientific process. The study guide came home today. Math test on linear measurement, both metric and customary. We will complete the study guide in class on Wednesday for them to study.

Morning Journal: What did you do over the weekend?

Morning Math: They had some customary conversion problems to complete in their math journals.

Math: Metric Conversion: 100 centimeters=1 meter and 1,000 meters=1 kilometer.

AR ends this Thursday!!! Please encourage your child to read and make their goal.

Friday, March 23, 2012

National Create Your Own Holiday Day!!

What holiday would you create if you could make any holiday? We had children's candy day, lay around in your pajamas day (I told them that was my weekend), and everything is free day (my favorite). This was an entertaining morning journal. Many students still owe me morning journals from the past couple of weeks. I have asked them to bring home their morning journals over the weekend to complete them. All assignments are due to me by Thursday to be counted for this nine weeks.

We completed our morning math test and I will have these graded by early next week. As usual, I will go over the correct answers, so your child can learn from their mistakes.

Math: I introduced metric linear measurement with millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, meters, and kilometers. Today we looked at which one was the smallest measurement through the largest measurement. We will have a test on linear measurement next Thursday.

Imagine It: We took a reading formative test, which most of the students did very well on. I also reviewed main idea and supporting details.

Thank you for your support during the science fair process. I'm sorry I was unable to attend. My youngest son got sick and I could not come. We will take a test on the scientific process next Thursday. A study guide will come home on Monday!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Science Fair Day!!

Tonight is science fair. I hope you are all able to attend and come see the science fair projects. The spaghetti supper starts at 5:00 and goes until 6:30. The science fair will end at 7:00pm.

Morning Journal: Free Choice!!

Morning Math: Pictograph, Pie Graph, Addition, Multiplication; I went over which questions were going to be on the test and I asked the students to bring these home to review for our test tomorrow.

Math: Review of inches, feet, yards, miles. There is no math homework tonight!

Reading: I am going to extend our study of "Where did the Baxter Place Go?" We are going to continue this study into next week and look at main idea and supporting details each day. We will take this test, next Wednesday.

The class had major spring and science fair fever this afternoon. They struggled to follow simple directions, such as "sit down". I needed their help to set up for science fair tonight, but they were unable to get it together to help me. Please remind your child that school is not over yet. We still have five days before spring break and we have a lot of learning to do before then. Thank you for your help in this matter.

I look forward to seeing you tonight.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

National Puppy Day!!

Happy national puppy day!!

Journal: Write a real or make-believe story about a dog.

Morning Math: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Perimeter

Math: We reviewed over inches, feet, yards, and miles. Tomorrow we will focus on metric linear measurements.

Science: WE ARE DONE!!! We are ready for the parents to come and see our final results. I hope that you can all join us tomorrow at 5:30-7:00pm.

Imagine It: Today's focus was main idea and supporting details. We looked at how a story can have an individual main idea on each page and everything else can support this main idea. Ask your child to find a main idea and supporting details in the story you are going to read tonight.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

First Day of Spring!!

It's the first day of spring, but it feels like summer. What happened to a little bit of spring weather? I love the summer, but we still have a little bit of school year to get through. I know everyone is looking forward to spring break. Remember it starts next Friday, March 30th, but first I hope to see you at the science fair this Thursday, March 22nd from 5:30-7:00pm.

Morning Journal: What do you like best about spring?

Morning Math: Multiplication with Arrays, Subtraction, Place Value, Patterns, Addition, Place Value Blocks

Math: Today we learned that 12 inches=1 foot, 3 feet=1 yard, 5, 280 feet=1 mile. The students have a small half sheet with practice problems for tonight's homework.

Imagine It: We finished reading "What Ever Happened to the Baxter Place?" This story has helped us to make a lot of connections, predictions, and learn some about how the world works. I will have all students bring home their Imagine It books tomorrow, so they can read this story to you.

Science: We are finishing up our science fair projects and analyzing our results. The science fair boards are almost done and we look forward to you seeing them on Thursday.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Three Days Until Science Fair!!!

We are getting our posters made and putting all of the finishing touches on our science fair projects. I hope all of you can join us from 5:30-7:00pm on Thursday, March 22nd.

Morning Journal: Today is incredible kid day! What do you do to show you are an incredible kid?

Morning Math: We did not get the opportunity to go over this today, so I will go over both Monday and Tuesday's tomorrow. We did take a timed addition, subtraction, and multiplication test.

Math: We went over the morning math test from Friday and your child was supposed to make corrections to their test. We also went over the capacity, weight, and temperature test from Friday. Every student should be bringing these home with the answers corrected. I introduced customary linear measurement with inches, feet, yards, and miles. Today we discussed how big each of these measurements are and played Simeon Says. Ask your child to show you about how big each of these measurements are with their hands. The students are supposed to find 10 things around their house that can be measured in inches, feet, yards, or miles.

Imagine It: We began reading "What every happened to the Baxter Place?" This week we are focused on making connections, asking questions, and making predictions. So far we have made text to text connections and text to self connections. Ask your child to make connections to the story you read together tonight.

Science Fair: March 22nd

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!

I hope all of your are enjoying this beautiful weather with your families.

Morning Journal: Why do you think they use the color green, shamrocks, and leprechauns to represent Saint Patrick's Day?

Morning Math: We completed the morning math test and these will come home early next week. I like to go over the answers and have the students correct them before the test comes home.

Math: We took the capacity, weight, and temperature test and we are going to go over these on Monday.

Imagine It: We took the test on "The Disappearing Island". Everyone had the opportunity to take an AR test on this story to further their goals.

We looked at the history of Saint Patrick's Day and what all of the symbols represent.

Have a great weekend.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Science fair madness!

We are trying to learn how to get along with our PLCs and it has been a really difficult process. The students are learning how to take turns with watering their plants, typing on the computer, and writing down information. I am looking forward to our science fair next week and I know the students are too.

We had a discussion today about the weather getting warmer and the fact that their bodies are starting to change. I discussed with them that when they get hot and sweaty that some of them may start to smell, which means they need to take baths more often and some of them may need to start wearing deodorant. I told them the deodorant decision was ultimately up to their parents, but they might want to discuss it with you guys.

Morning Journal: The old saying goes, "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." What do you think this saying means?

Morning Math: We went over everything that will be on the morning math test tomorrow and all students were told to bring their sheet home so they could study.

Math: We reviewed for our test on capacity, weight, and temperature tomorrow. We completed a review sheet as a class that the students were asked to bring home to study for the test. Please review the study guide with your child.

Imagine It: We found cause and effect relationships within our story "The Disappearing Island". We went over the test questions that will be on tomorrows test. Please review cause and effect with your child on their reading passage tonight! They need to try to unpack the questions and use their strategies to prove the answers. The reading passages are being graded!!

Science Fair: March 22

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Fun in the Sun!

I have to admit to everyone that yesterday I went out and played with my kids in the beautiful weather and then went out to eat. I got home so late that I put the kids straight to bed and then went to bed myself. I am sorry I did not blog yesterday. I will do double time today. We have spent the last two days in test mode and yesterday the students found out a little bit of what it will truly be like to sit during the EOGs. We sat for a little over two and a half hours! Before EOGS I will teach them how to take small metal breaks, so they can sit for a long period of time. Remember EOGs are not timed! The students have a full four hours to take the test and some of them may need this time to complete it. I will send you the tentative schedule for testing as soon as I receive it.

Morning Journal: May 13th: If you could create any type of Girl Scout cookie, what would it be and why? Design a package for the cookie. My favorite was the red velvet cookie with cream cheese filling. YUMMM!!
May 14th: Create a new type of candy bar, what would you put in it and why? Design a package for your candy bar. Double marsh mellow filled with caramel is my pick!!!

Morning Math: Addition and Subtraction to four digits with re-grouping, Fractions, Place Value, Number Lines, Measurement, Multiplication

Math: Review of Fahrenheit and Celsius! We will have a test on capacity, weight, Fahrenheit, and Celsius on Friday. A review sheet will come home tomorrow!!

Imagine It: We have read "The Disappearing Island". The skills and strategies we have focused on are: Clarifying, Summarizing, Author's Purpose, Cause and Effect.

Science fair is in full swing and we are counting down the days until the science fair on March 22nd. We hope you can come and see the hard work of all the PLCs.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Oh, Monday, Monday!

The flowers are dying, there not dying, leaves are changing colors, there not changing colors. The projects are all over the place. Ask your child what is happening with their science fair project. We will continue working on these every day.

Morning Journal: What did you do over the weekend?

Morning Math: Place Value through the Millions, Multiplication, Angles, Patterns (We went over the correct answers to the morning math test from Friday. I ask all students to correct their answers, please make sure your child is making corrections to their test.)

Math: Review capacity and weight test. I reviewed temperature in degree Fahrenheit and introduced temperature in degrees Celsius. I taught the students the rhyme "30 is hot, 20 is nice, 10 is cool, and 0 is ice". This is always difficult for them to understand, because they are not used to hearing temperatures in degrees Celsius.

Imagine It: We read "The Disappearing Island" and worked on clarifying and summarizing the selection. We discussed the vocabulary for this story and we all learned a new word "dinghy: a small boat". The students thought this word was hilarious and it put an abrupt stop to our lesson.

Spring Pictures: Wednesday!!!

Friday, March 9, 2012

And we're off!!! Science Fair Projects Begin!

Today we started all of the plant science fair projects. The students have formulated their hypothesis, made a list of materials, created procedures, and begun developing their research. Most groups got a start with typing on the computer today.

Morning Journal: What is your favorite video game and why? This was a popular morning journal. It is the anniversary of the first time Mario was seen in a video game. This was back in 1981!

We took our morning math test today.

Math: We took a quiz on customary capacity and weight. It looks like we will be reviewing this concept on Monday. We also looked more in depth at temperatures measured in degree Fahrenheit. We will continue our study of this on Monday.

Imagine It: We took our test on "Days of Digging". The students have been writing an Imaginative story about being an archaeologist and discovering a rock that turns out to be a great discovery. I am looking forward to you reading these at the science fair. (March 22)

I DID NOT GET TO SEND TESTS HOME TODAY!!! I got really wrapped up in science fair and before I knew it, it was time to go home. I will send them home on Monday.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Research!

Today's focus during science was research for our science fair projects. Since I have decided to imbed soil and plants into the science fair, we will all complete the same research as a class. Today we watched a video on plants and how they grow. The students were to make a list of ten facts that they learned from the video. After watching the video, we got into our PLC's and combined our lists into the ten most important facts about plants. We will get started on our science fair projects tomorrow!

Tests Tomorrow: Morning Math, Imagine It (Days of Digging), Mayflower passage is due tomorrow for a grade.

Morning Journal: The Iditarod Dog Race starts this weekend! Write a story about what it would feel like to be a part of the dog race. What would you do? How would you feel?

Morning Math: ALL students were to bring home their morning math sheets with the problems either circled or starred that will be on the test tomorrow.

Math: Temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. The most important temperatures for them to remember are: 32 degrees F=Freezing Temperature of Water, 68 degrees F=Room Temperature, 90 degrees F=Hot Day, 212 degrees F=Boiling Point of Water. They also need to know how you would dress in each of these temperatures and how to read a thermometer. We practiced reading a thermometer both counting by ones and twos.

Imagine It: We popcorn read "Days of Digging". We practiced drawing conclusions while reading the story and discussed different clues the author may give in the text to help us draw conclusions. Remember: clues+experience=conclusion.

Work shop: We did not have a regular work shop today, because half of the grade level was at the Polk House field trip. Instead, we read a Time for Kids article about using I-Pads in the classroom and whether or not this was an effective teaching strategy. This was a very timely article because CMS has currently allotted 10 million dollars to buying I-Pads for some classrooms in the district. Teachers have to apply for this privilege and explain how these I-Pads would be used effectively in the classroom to help our students to become 21st century learners. As soon as I find out more I will definitely apply!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Field Trip Success!

We had a fantastic day at the Polk House. I was impressed with the students listening skills and the questions that they asked the docents. The students were even able to remember some of our science concepts from the last unit. They remembered that dark colors absorbs heat and light colors reflect it. They also remembered that another word for trading is bartering. It was great to see so many connections being made.

Morning Journal: What is your favorite type of weather and why?

Morning Math: Least to Greatest, Subtraction, Measurement

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Archaeology is Awesome!

We are learning all about archaeology and how an archaeologist looks at artifacts to discover how people lived in the past. The field trip tomorrow will be a great enrichment activity for our unit on communities past and present. Please make sure your child brings a bag lunch and drink!

Morning Journal: We did not have a regular morning journal today. I had them answer a customary capacity question using "Super G".

Morning Math: Fractions, Place Value, Addition

Math: We reviewed over customary weight with 16 ounces=1 pound. We worked on conversions and how we add or multiply and subtract or divide to solve the conversion problems. I introduced metric weight with 1000 grams=1 kilogram. Everyone seemed to grasp that it was the exact same as milliliters and liters conversions.

Imagine It: We finished reading "Days of Digging" and applied the strategies of asking questions, summarizing, and clarifying what we have read. The students are all bringing home their Imagine It books tonight to read "Days of Digging". Please use the comprehension questions behind the reading tab in their FROG binder to practice these strategies.

Science: We developed our hypothesis, materials list, and procedures for our science fair projects. We will begin working on our projects on Thursday.

Monday, March 5, 2012

It's Just Another Manic Monday!

Man on man, March came in like a lion and it made the students bounce off the walls. Between the weather, it being Monday, and us having a field trip this week (Wednesday), the students were really struggling to pay attention. Please stress the importance to your child of them paying attention at all times. We are at a fast sprint towards the end of the school year and we need every minute to count. Thank you for your help.

Morning Journal: What is your favorite board game and why? I realized today that board games are a thing of the past. Most of our students spend their time playing video or computer games. Try having a quiet family game night with your child; no computers, tv, or video games.

Morning Math: Expanded Form, Multiplication, Addition Word Problems

Math: We reviewed over customary and metric capacity. I introduced customary capacity and we practiced converting ounces into pounds and pounds into ounces. 16 ounces=1 pound
Since it was day three we had math at the end of the day and the students were struggling to pay attention. I will review over this concept tomorrow and give a quiz.

Imagine It: We are reading another expository text called "Days of Digging". We are looking at how an archaeologist finds artifacts from communities long ago. We will get to see some examples of artifacts from communities long ago at our field trip on Wednesday. This week's focus is: summarizing, clarifying, and asking questions.

No science today, because it was day three.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Happy birthday Dr. Seuss!!

Today we celebrated Dr. Seuss's birthday and Read Across America Day! We read Horton Hears a Who, The Lorax, and I Don't Want to Get Up Today. We also watched Horton Hears a Who and throughout the movie the students were comparing and contrasting between the book and the movie.

Morning Journal: What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book and why?

Morning Math: We took our morning math test. These tests came home today.

Math: We SOLVEd word problems based on Dr. Seuss books.

Imagine It: Dr. Seuss read aloud and AR tests.

The following tests should have come home today: Morning Math Week 20, Earthquake!, timed multiplication, Capacity test.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Professional Learning Community

Your children are now part of a professional learning community or PLC. Instead of calling them science fair groups, I am preparing them for being in a professional learning community. They had to pick a team leader, recorder, time monitor, and summarizer. They also had to create norms for their learning communities.

Morning Math: I went over their morning math for the entire week and had them bring home their morning math sheets to study for the test tomorrow.

Math: We reviewed over both customary and metric capacity.

Imagine It: We took a vote and decided to take our test on "Earthquake" today. We want to focus on Read Across America day tomorrow.

Science: Please see above description.

March 2: Read Across America Day: We are going to celebrate Dr. Seuss and his wonderful contributions to literature. We are going to wear our jammies to school in honor of the book "I'm Not Going to Get Up Today".