February 29-March 4

"February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March." ~J.R. Stockton

Students enjoyed this beautiful extra day of February!  It was great to get back into our routine.  We will begin our Nutrition Unit this week.  We will focus our studies on living a healthy lifestyle filled with activity, variety, proportionality and moderation.

We began Unit 6 in math today.  Students solved subtraction problems using the trade-first method.  We will be playing Baseball Multiplication tomorrow.  Other activities this week include known fact strategies and Beat the Calculator.   Students will have a Home Link each night.

Our spelling rule this week involves the -tion and -sion pattern.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

Thank you to all of my parent volunteers this week!

Have a fantastic week!  :)

February 15-19

"In the coldest February, as in every other month in every other year, the best thing to hold on to in this world is each other." ~Linda Ellerbee

We visited with our PEA Reading Buddies for the last time until spring today.  Students shared a book with them about the Statue of Liberty.  We will look forward to seeing them again in April.  

We will finish Unit 5 in math this week.  Students will focus on problem solving strategies and the Break Apart Strategy over the next couple of days.  We will review for the test on Wednesday.  Students will complete a Review Packet for homework that night and the test will be given the following day.  Students will have one sided assignment on the other nights for homework.  

Our spelling rule this week involves the -tch and -ph pattern.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

We will begin our Nutrition Unit when we return from vacation.  Please encourage your child to bring a healthy snack each day for our Fruit and Vegetable Challenge.  

Thank you to all of my parent volunteers!  I am so appreciative of all of you!

Have a fantastic week!  :)

February 1-5

"The February sunshine steeps your boughs 

and tints the buds 

and swells the leaves within."

William C. Bryant

What a beautiful, warm start to our week!  The kids were very excited and happy about the weather.  We even opened the window for a few hours to get some fresh air.  Our Reading Buddies came to visit and shared the book Meet Kirsten with small groups.  The story tells about Kirsten and her family, who decide to immigrate from Sweden to Minnesota in the summer of 1854.  

We will be spending a lot of time on immigration this week.  Students will make passports, birth certificates and work in their immigration journals throughout the week.  Our Ellis Island simulation will take place on Wednesday, February 10th in the cafeteria.  Please remember to send in $2.00 to help with the purchasing of items for the snack bar.  Please sign and return the green form if you'd like to volunteer at "Ellis Island."

Our math lessons this week include the doubling facts strategy, patterns in products, and finding missing factors.  Students will have a one-sided assignment each night for homework.  

Our spelling rule this week involves words with the -ce, -ge and -dge pattern.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.  

Scholastic book orders are due on February 11th.  Our classroom code is HB244 if you'd like to order online.  

Have a fabulous week!  :)

January 25-29

"Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow." 
-  Robert Frost

We had a great start to our week.  We began our new math unit and our PEA Reading Buddies came for a visit.  Students took a spelling pretest and we began our new read aloud Fish in a Tree.  The entire school will be reading the book together to enhance upon the experience.  This great opportunity is called One Book One School.  

Our spelling rule this week involves the Hard and Soft Sounds of c and g.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework. 

We will be exploring equal parts, fractions of different wholes and area in math this week.  Students will also represent fractions using standard notation, words and drawings.  Children will recognize equivalent fractions using a visual fraction model.  There will be a one-sided assignment each night for homework. 

Scholastic book orders are due back on February 11th.

Have a wonderful week!  :)

January 19-22

The leaves hop, scraping on the ground.
It is deep January. The sky is hard.
The stalks are firmly rooted in ice.
It is in this solitude, a syllable,
Out of these gawky flitterings,
Intones its single emptiness,
The savagest hollow of winter-sound.
~Wallace Stevens

We had a great start to our four day school week.  Students reviewed for the Unit 4 math test this morning.  The test will be given on Thursday.  They will have a review packet to do for homework tonight.  We will go over it tomorrow and then they will study for their test using both Reviews on Wednesday night.  Thursday's night homework will be a one sided assignment.

Our Spelling Rule this week involves the double vowel syllable groups -eu, -ew and -ui.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.  Please remind students to study extra hard this week since we have one less day of homework to practice our words.

Scholastic book orders will go home this week.  They'll be due back by February 11th.  Please remember you can order books online using our classroom code as well.  HB244

Have a wonderful week!   :)

January 11-15

January brings the snow,
Makes our feet and fingers glow.
~Sara Coleridge

We started our day with a chilly morning.  Please help your child to remember to bring appropriate gear for these cold days.  PEA students came for Reading Buddies.  They read an immigration story in small groups.  I love watching my class interact with the older students.  It is such a great experience for all.

We will finish Unit 4 in math this week.  Students worked hard on finding the area of rectangles given the length and width of the sides today.  We will continue working on perimeter and area for the remainder of the week.  The Unit 5 Family Letter will go home on Thursday so parents will know what to expect in the coming weeks.  Students will review for the test early next week.  Students will have a one sided assignment each night for homework.  

Our Spelling Rule this week involves the three sounds of the double vowel syllable group -ea.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.    

Have a wonderful week!  :)

January 4-8

"Cheers to a new year and another chance to get it right." Oprah Winfrey

Happy New Year!  I was so happy to see my wonderful class this morning.  Students wrote about their vacation, read an Italian immigration story and worked on reading assignments.  It was a great start to our day.

We learned about special quadrilaterals today.  Students compared and contrasted different four sided shapes.  Other topics this week include perimeter, area and composite units.  Students will have a one sided assignment each night for homework.

Our spelling rule this week involves the double vowel syllable groups of -ou, -ow and -oo.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework. 

Have a fantastic week!  :)