Green and Gold Experience - Take Two

I forgot a student in the first video. You can watch both videos and see if you can find who I missed!

Reading Notes

1. Don't forget your October Reading Calendar! They are due tomorrow, Tuesday, November 1st. We will have our extra reading recess tomorrow and the students will earn a coupon for a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut.
2. We are spending two weeks on Balto, we didn't get to much of the story at all last week as we finished up our writing piece and had a short week.
3. We have 10 challenge words this week from Turtle Bay and Balto. It is okay if the kids struggle, as they are not easy words. I have told them the goal is to improve and for some that may only be 3 or 4 right on the post test.

Green and Gold Experience

Here's a video I made from the Green and Gold Experience on Thursday. It was lots of fun for the kids, but I wished I could have played more. Unfortunately, I missed a couple of kids so I had to get them in the video another way. Check out the video to find out how!

No School Friday

The secretary sent out an e-mail saying several parents had called in asking if there was school tomorrow. So just to make sure all my families know, we don't have school on Friday, Oct. 28.

Enjoy!

Weekend Game

For math we are working on measurement. We are measuring in both the U.S. customary system and the metric system. In the game below they can choose different levels. I would suggest starting with easy. We have only spent one day working on fractions as a small as a 1/4.

Enjoy the long break!

Measure It!

New Student

We have a new student in the class starting today. Welcome to Donavin, who started this morning.

The class has done an OUTSTANDING job this morning of being helpful and showing him how our class runs. Great work Van Clan and welcome Donavin!

Nouns!

This weeks part of speech is nouns. We will start by looking at some common and proper nouns.

Updates

There are several updates to start the week.
- The calendar at the right of the blog has been updates through December.
- Starting this week for spelling the students will be writing their words in cursive. We haven't gotten to uppercase letters in cursive yet, but those aren't necessary for spelling. For the next few weeks they will write the words on the test in cursive and print so they don't miss words because of cursive errors.
- This afternoon we will be going to the Fire Safety House, which will be set up at Iowa-Grant. It goes through different precautions you should take at home to keep your house safe.
- We will be starting Unit 3 in math tomorrow. This unit focuses on measurement.
- Each year student council gives each class a pumpkin to decorate. We are going to make our pumpkin a mad scientist. If you have anything to help decorate that would be great.
- The pictures for science are due on Tuesday. Most of the students have those in, but I wanted to up one more reminder.
- The Green and Gold party is on Thursday afternoon. This goes along with the Parent/Teacher Club fundraiser. All students get to go and our time is from about 1:00-2:00.
- Finally, for the weekend game I put a little joke in for how to carve a pumpkin. This link will actually allow you to carve an online pumpkin: Carve a Pumpkin

Weekend Activity/Game

I've already told the kids, but this has to be one of my favorite games all year. It fits perfectly with our language arts as the kids are writing how-to directions this week. I have them write how to carve a pumpkin because it fits so well with this activity.

It goes through great detail to teach you how to carve a pumpkin. Make sure you have your volume is on too, as there are some directions. Look at the directions carefully before you choose a pumpkin to carve.

How to Carve a Pumpkin Like a Pro

Halloween Party

Our Halloween Party will be in the afternoon on Monday, October 31st. We have a party committee who will bring treats and prepare games. Jaiden, Avery, Ryan, Luke and Mason are on our first party committee.

Please do not have students bring or wear their costumes to school. Thank you.

Parent Pictures

We have begun a unit in science on the life cycle. The first part discusses changes animals go through in their lifetime.

Our class will be doing an activity that requires them to observe changes, too… but they will be looking for ways you have changed through your life.

Please send a picture of one parent/caretaker from each of the following time periods with your child:
· Infant through 3 years old (or approximately)
· elementary age level
· teenage years
· adult

Enclose the pictures in a Zip-Loc bag or envelope with your child’s name on the bag. It is a good idea to write your name on the back of each picture too. Your pictures will not be harmed or within reach of curious fingers, etc. The pictures will be returned to you in their original format; however, some parents have digital images that printed on paper.

Your child needs these pictures no later than Tuesday, October 25, please. You may send them as soon as you find them, and I’ll hold on to them.

Conjunction Junction

On Tuesday we will be watching the Conjunction Junction video as we learn about making compound sentences.

Weekend Game

For math we have been working on addition recently. This weeks math game is Alien Addition. For this game you shoot the math problem that equals the number on your laser. When the game is started you can adjust the values to make it easier or harder.

Have a great weekend!
Alien Addition

Classroom Parties

We will have four classroom parties throughout the year with the first one coming up at the end of the month. I split the kids up for each one in alphabetical order.

For each party we will have the members of the group decide what they want to do. We'll have three students in charge of food and two students in charge of games. Depending on the the treats are we usually have two treats and one drink for students to bring in. I will meet with the group to decide who wants each job and send notes home so parents know.

Halloween Committee
Jaiden
Avery
Ryan
Luke
Mason

Christmas Committee
Marissa
Josh
Isaiah L.
Jalen
Elly

Valentine's Day Committee
Lauren
Colin
Olivia
Nic
Courtney
Brena

Spring Party
Brie
Austin
Grace
Brynna
Isaiah Z.

Schedule Change

The school has made a change to the 2011-2012 school year. All the changes are a ways away, but I wanted to make note of them early.

The changes are allow more time for staff development. We will have three more half days that are built in before holidays.

The following days are now all half days with a 12:30 dismissal:
November 23
December 22
March 23


Official Schedule

Parent/Teacher Conference Schedule

The parent/teacher conference schedule is out. If you need to make a change in the time just e-mail or call me and we can adjust it. Each conference is scheduled for 10 minutes long so that is why there are three names at some time slots. There won't be a report card to send home this year since grades are set up on a trimester schedule this year instead of quarters.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all in a week or two.

Thursday, Oct. 20th
4:00-4:30 Avery B.
4:30-5:00 Josh H., Brie S., and Brena S.
5:00-5:30 Mason F. and Colin M.
5:30-6:00 Ryan E.
6:00-6:30 Lauren L. and Grace V.
6:30-7:00 Jaiden A., Luke F., and Marissa H.
7:00-7:30 Courtney S.

Tuesday, Oct. 25th
4:00-4:30 Jalen L., Elly L., and Austin T.
4:30-5:00 Isaiah L. and Isaiah Z.
5:00-5:30
5:30-6:00 Nic P.
6:00-6:30 Olivia N. and Brynna W.
6:30-7:00
7:00-7:30

Weekend Game

We have been working on subject and predicate along with writing a complete sentence in language arts. This weekend's game is Penguins on Ice. Put the words in the correct place to create a complete sentence.

Choose Make a Sentence and you'll be ready!

Penguins on Ice

Language Arts Next Week

Next week will be an unusual week for language arts. We are taking our first unit test next week and also taking the MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) Testing next week. Because of this there will be a few changes. Below are some of the details.

- No new story. We'll read a little more about the Olympics, but we won't have a new story next week.
- No spelling list next week.
- MAP testing will be on Monday and Wednesday morning. We will take the language arts portion on Monday and the math portion on Wednesday.
- Our language arts unit test will be on Tuesday and Thursday.
- We'll break the unit test up so it isn't so daunting.
- No Wednesday Language Arts Homework. Since we don't have a new story and have lots a testing, I'm giving the students a break. They will still have their reading calendar work though.

Math Test

I am sending home the Unit 1 math tests tonight so parents can see how their child did. Please sign them and return them so I can keep them for future reference. Each time we do a math or language arts test I will do the same thing. I will send them home so you can see how he/she is doing and then ask that you sign and return them.

Reading Homework

The students' homework tonight is The Olympic Games: Where Heroes Are Made. It is a long story with several difficult names and cities to pronounce. Tonight's reading homework is a good night to take turns reading the selection aloud with your child.

Although we have many good, independent readers, it is good practice to still read aloud with him/her sometimes. This allows parents to hear their child read and see where some of their struggles are. Also, it gives the students a good example of a fluent reader.

September Reading Calendars

Congratulations to the following students for returning their reading calendars for the month of September!

Jaiden
Avery
Ryan
Luke
Mason
Marissa
Josh
Isaiah L.
Jalen
Elly
Lauren
Colin
Olivia
Nic
Courtney
Brena
Brie
Grace
Brynna

Great Job!

The Letter Y

We are about half way through the lowercase cursive letters. Today we did the letter y, so I incorporated a Sesame Street video for the day. I got a few grumbles about it being Sesame Street at first, but it is a pretty fun video.