October 23-28

October, tuck tiny candy bars in my pockets and carve my smile into a thousand pumpkins.... Merry October! Rainbow Rowell

We had a very busy Monday morning! We worked on writing, vocabulary and reading comprehension. Our Reading Buddies came from PEA and students enjoyed reading The Web at Dragonfly Pond together. Ms. Karen came for Brain Gym and helped to activate our whole body learning. 

We will have our spelling test tomorrow. But we will not start our new spelling unit until Thursday. Students will have four assignments due before the next test date of November 3rd. Our new rule involves the Long /i/ pattern including i, igh and ie words. 

We will finish Unit 2 in math this week. Our lessons will ask students to create mathematical representations for solving division problems, practice division number stories and learn about remainders. We will also use arrays to solve number stories and solve problems using all four operations. Students will have a Home Link each night for homework. We will review for the test on Monday and the assessment will be given the following day. Please look for the Unit 3 Family Letter in your child's folder early next week. 

Have a fantastic week! :)

October 16-20

"October was always the least dependable of months ... full of ghosts and shadows."  :) ~Joy Fields 

We began our week with a Word Sort activity related to our spelling pattern and anchor text. We also worked with our Leveled Readers and watched a Grammar Snap video on compound sentences. Students loved activating their brains and bodies with a visit from Ms. Karen, our physical therapist. 

We were grateful to have a special guest in our class today. Her name is Annabelle and she's a student at the SST. She's in the Careers in Education program and hopes to be a teacher one day. The kids enjoyed working with her.

The spelling pretest will be given tomorrow. Students will have four spelling assignments due before the test date. The test will be given on Tuesday, October 24th. Our new rule involves the Long O pattern.

Our Learning Objective in math today relates to solving two-step number stories and is a continuation from last week's lesson. Students will also solve problems involving multiples of equal groups and make sense of multiplying by 0 and 1. We will solve array problems and play Array Bingo. Students will have a Home Link each night for homework. 

We are very excited for our Walking Field Trip to downtown Exeter on Wednesday morning. Thank you to parents who offered to volunteer. Please sign and return your child's permission form as soon as possible, if you haven't done so yet. This experience will be a wonderful addition to our PBL unit. 

Have a fabulous week! :)

October 10-13

"October is the opal month of the year. It is the month of glory, of ripeness. It is the picture-month." Henry Ward Beecher

What a beautiful day! We began our week by writing about our long weekend. Students are becoming more proficient writers by the day. We also learned the new vocabulary for our anchor text called Destiny's Gift. We read the story and filled out a graphic organizer related to the main character's feelings, traits and motivations. 

Students worked in partners on Interview Questions. Students will practice listening, speaking and note taking skills as they learn to properly interview a friend. Then we'll be interviewing school members about their positive impact on our learning community. 

We will have Computer Lab this afternoon. Students are learning about Google Slides and will create a slideshow using their new skills. 

Our math lessons this week include using diagrams or pictures to solve number stories. We'll also solve number stories using two operations. Students will have a Home Link each night for homework.

Students have a one-sided spelling assignment due tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday. Their test will be given on Friday. 

Have a wonderful week! :)    

October 2-6

"In the entire circle of the year there are no days so delightful as those of a fine October." Alexander Smith

We had a fantastic Monday morning with our first visit from the PEA Reading Buddies. The students will be joining us on Monday morning for 30 minutes each week. Today we read outside in the Reading Garden in small groups. Everyone enjoyed reading The Great Kapok Tree. We also participated in Brain Gym to activate whole body learning. Students really seem to appreciate this movement break. 

We will finish our first unit in EDM today. On Tuesday, students will review for the test. The review will go home for practicing and study purposes. The assessment will be given on Wednesday. We will begin Unit 2 on Thursday. Please remember to refer to your child's homework for Learning Objectives. Home Links will be given on Monday and Thursday afternoons for homework. 

Our new spelling rule focuses on the VCE pattern. Students will have spelling homework on Monday and Tuesday evenings. They can choose from the Spelling Menu choices. The test will be given on Wednesday. We will begin our new spelling unit on Thursday. 

We will continue with our Maps and Globes unit this week as well as our PBL activities. 


Have a wonderful week! :)

September 25-29

"The goldenrod is yellow
The corn is turning brown
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down."

We had a fabulous start to our week! What a beautiful day! Students practiced bus evacuation procedures outside this morning. We answered our Essential Question related to A Fine, Fine School in our reading comp books. We also enjoyed doing Brain Gym with Ms. Karen before lunch. 

I have decided to push back our spelling test by one day due to many little, concerned faces this morning. :) It's hard to have a spelling test on a Monday morning. Thank you to those families that studied over the weekend. I appreciate your understanding and flexibility with the new schedule. We will have our new spelling pretest on Wednesday. The next spelling test date will be Wednesday, October 4th. Students will have a spelling menu choice each night for homework.

Students were introduced to division and solved division number stories in math today. We will also be working on developing strategies for our 2s, 5s, and 10s facts this week. Other lessons include calculating elapsed time, comparing masses and dividing wholes and sets into equal shares. Students will have a Home Link each night for homework.

Reminder *** Early Release on Wednesday!

We will continue to work on our Community activities in relation to our Project Based Learning curriculum. 

Have a great week! :)

September 18-22

"By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer."

We had a wonderful start to our school week! Students were introduced to our new Journey's Reading program. We started with an essential question: How is learning at school different from learning at home? We worked on vocabulary, phonics and comprehension. Please ask your child about the book we read called A Fine, Fine Day.

Students were given their first spelling pretest. They will have spelling homework this week. A spelling homework page will go home this afternoon with different activities for students to choose. Our spelling test will take place next Monday so students must have four assignments completed by Friday. They will study for their test over the weekend. 

Our math lessons this week involve telling time to the nearest minute and calculating elapsed time. We will also represent and interpret data on scaled bar graphs, use drawings and number models to represent and solve multiplication stories. Students will have a Home Link each night for homework. Please look for the Learning Objective sticker on each assignment. 

We will continue working on our Community PBL activities this week. We will focus on what being a part of a community means and how our actions can affect our community. 

Have a fantastic week!  :)

September 5-8

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela

Welcome to my weekly blog! Please refer here for homework questions and upcoming classroom events and activities. :)

We had a wonderful beginning to our week. Students worked cooperatively on a STEM project this morning. They had 20 minutes to build the highest tower possible using only two pieces of newspaper and 12 inches of tape. It was a difficult task, but students worked well together. We reflected on our strengths and challenges after the project in our PBL notebook (more about that later). :) We also watched an inspiring video from the Kid President.

Our math lessons this week include exploring the Student Reference Book, playing Number Grid Difference, reviewing and using a variety of tools, and using an open number line to round numbers. Students will have a one sided math assignment each night for homework with the exception of Thursday night. I will not give any homework on Open House night. Please take a moment to notice the Learning Objective or I Can statement located on a sticky label on your child's math homework. I have children add the objective to their homework each day so that parents are aware of what we are learning.

We will work on our map and globe skills this week. Students will learn to make a map legend. They will use that knowledge to create a classroom map for parents to use on Thursday night at Open House.

Students will practice writing Friendly Letters this week. They will write their first Learning Wheel entry this week for parents to find at Open House.

Have a fantastic week!  :)