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Tonight's homework is spelling practice for the new week.
I wanted to let you know that we starting working on our class play, "The Polar Express". We read through it today and tomorrow we are going to audition for parts. If your child is interested in getting a part, then remind them to practice tonight. We'll be practicing our play every morning. I hope by next week that we'll be down in the old gym blocking out all the movements. It's going to be an exciting couple of weeks. I'll try to keep you posted on our progress.
Don't forget to turn in November Book-It minutes beginning tomorrow. Our goal was to read 350 minutes for the month. If you've lost the calendar, don't worry, just send me a note stating that your child has met our goal.
Last week after recess a student said, "I fell on my tush at recess and now I've got a headache." I've been wondering ever since then if she fell on her head would her tush hurt?
Enjoy your evening.
Click here to play Multiplication Baseball. Enjoy!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
We had a nice time playing Multiplication Baseball today. Click on "Everyday Mathematics" to your left under Links, then follow the links to games, and you can play the online version. Check it out! I'll try to provide a direct link to it tomorrow.
We're started our rough drafts of "What I'm thankful For" in class today. Tonight's homework is to finish the rough draft, revise, and then edit. Students should be ready to start their final drafts tomorrow.
We met the Bess Beetles today. Ask your child what they discovered about them. They should be able to tell you why the Bess Beetle is an insect.
We ended the day with two new lower case cursive letters: b and h. They were pretty difficult for many students.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow!
For math today we continued to work on our multiplication fact power by cutting out fact triangles and practicing with a partner. If you're not sure what a fact triangle is, then check out the homework page tonight. It explains how to use the triangles for practice and the back provides a chance to write out some fact families.
We began a special Thanksgiving writing assignment by creating a "four square" about things we're thankful for. Ask your child what he/she is thankful for, and look for their finished paper on Wednesday.
This afternoon we learned that we owe a lot to the Iroquois League. Several of the symbols we see each day (like the eagle on the back of the quarter) comes for the Iroquois. The powerful eagle clutches in his talon 13 arrows symbolizing peace. The Iroquois also used the eagle as a symbol but their eagle clutched five arrows: one for each of the five tribes. The pine tree as a symbol of peace is also common to both governments. Benjamin Franklin even suggested that it be a part of our flag.
Tomorrow we'll meet the Bess Beetles.
Homework tonight is spelling practice. See if your child can tell the three "theres" apart!
In math today we started talking about the importance of fact memorization. So far your child only knows the easy facts like x 1, x 0, and some x 2, x 5, and x 10. Will work on more fact practice on Monday. In the spring of the year we'll really push for memorization of the whole multiplication table.
This afternoon we talked about the Haudenosaunee Indians and how they united with five other Indian nations to form one government and constitution. The nations worked together to solve problems of war, peace, and trade.
The Bess Beetles are enjoying their new homes in our classroom. We plan to meet them up close and personal next week.
Enjoy your evening.
The Bess Beetles just arrived so I got to take care of my new friends...Homework is another math page. Enjoy!
Tonight's homework is a math page. Your child should be able to show you the beginnings of division. We used counters a lot this morning to share equally and discussed remainders as well.
We enjoyed reading about tornados this morning for our reading time. See if your child can tell you any facts about tornados or some safety tips.
To end the morning, we made singular nouns into plural nouns by adding s, es, changing a y to i and adding es, and even discovered some irregular ones.
This afternoon we talked about the Cherokee Indians of the Southwest. Ask your child why they lived in two different homes. We learned a little of the sad story of "The Trail of Tears."
Finally we learned and practiced two new lower case cursive letters: "e" and "l".
Have a good night.
Homework tonight is spelling practice. This week's words are pretty tough and might require a little more practice than usual.
In math today we learned the terms "factors" and "product", and saw how multiplication can be displayed in an array.
This afternoon we studied our friends the crayfish. We observed their behaviors and took a little test. We're looking forward to the next lesson when we'll begin an experiment to find out if they're territorial.
Eagles vs. Cowboys tonight. I'd love to see the Boys take it to them, but Philly looks too tough.
Enjoy your evening.
Homework tonight is a multiplication math page. It's exactly what we did in class today, so hopefully it won't be difficult.
Last half day tomorrow!
Boy did we have fun with the crayfish today. We discoverd all sorts of structures on the them and noticed that there were differences between them. Some were smaller and one was even missing a pincer. We discovered some of the differences are related to being male or female. The males are generally larger and have fewer and smaller swimmerets. Ask your child what a swimmeret is!
Homework tonight is more crayfish fun. It's a paper that enables your child to continue to study the structures of the crayfish by comparing them to an insect. I know it's hard to find insects at this time of year, so you might refer to a picture of one to help in the comparison.
Our Veterans' Day assembly is tomorrow at 9:00. Everyone is welcome to attend, and we've been asked to wear red, white, and blue if possible.
I'll take the Colts to get back on track tonight against the Vikings. Are the Seahawks back on track? We'll find out next weekend in St. Louis.
Enjoy your evening.
Homework tonight is spelling practice.
Don't forget that half days for conferences begin tomorrow. We'll be lucky to squeeze in our spelling test. We have our math test over chapter 3 to take first along with P.E.
We didn't do any science this week because we're waiting for the crayfish to arrive. They should be here very soon.
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at conferences. Enjoy your evening.
Tonight's homework is a math page exploring the relationship between the diameter and circumference of a circle. We learned today that the circumference is about 3 times the diameter.
We started writing an acrostic for Veterans' Day this morning. If you get a chance, talk about any veterans you know.
This afternoon we learned about the Yurok Indians of Northern California. We learned that they used the resources the forest and traded with other Indians. We even discussed the word "economy". Ask your child what kind of money the Yurok used.
We ended the day learning two new cursive letters: u and w. The cursive papers should be in your child's notebook. Check out how their cursive is coming along.
Enjoy your evening.
Homework tonight is a math page. We practiced area some more this morning, and it seems the students are understanding it. You'll have to let me know if you notice any problems when doing the homework page tonight.
We read a silly fantasy story called "Guys from Space" this morning and then wrote either a realistic or fantasy version of our Halloween experience.
This afternoon we learned how the Navajo adapted to life in the desert. We read how they used different resources, and we talked about their culture.
We ended the day practicing the cursive letters "i" and "t".
Enjoy your evening. I hope we're not up to late watching election results!
For math today we learned about area. We found the area of various rectangles in square units, and even discovered that multiplying the two sides together is a faster way than counting all the squares.
In reading we discussed the difference between realistic and fantasy writing.
This afternoon the students earned an extra time of P.E. due to their consistently good behavior in gym. After P.E., we took our spelling pretest. Homework tonight is to begin practicing this week's spelling words.
Don't forget to get out and vote tomorrow!
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