Monday October 14

Hi everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful 3 day weekend!

You may have heard from your child that we are launching into our study of ants! They are amazing little insects and we will be working together for the next six weeks to learn as much as we can about them.
 Here is how we decied we could learn more about ants:

Today, we learned a poem about ants, and saw our new ant farm! 

Harvester Ants

During math, we figured out how many ants would be in each row if there were 100 ants.  For example:
100 ants - 10 rows, how many in each row?
100 ants- 5 rows, how many in each row?
4 rows?  2 rows?

We also had a fun fall art project today where we learned a little bit more about owls (including wondering why they are part of Halloween so often) then created a folded paper owl...they are very festive hanging in the hall!

Have a great day...see you tomorrow!

Thursdsay October 10

Yesterday (and today) Isabella was our final Special Person and she told us about visiting Hawaii.  Sounds like fun!

Today we began to talk about our next area of study:  the amazing world of ants!  We discussed the different way we could learn about ants together at school.  The students had great ideas such as reading books, observing ants in the classroom (contained, of course) looking for ants in the neighborhood, watching ideas about ants on video, and maybe taking a field trip to see ants.  We will explore these ideas more over the next 6 weeks.  If you have a connection to an "ant expert", we would love to have them visit and share their ideas with us.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tuesday October 8

Today Alex was our Special Person and he told us about when his family was coming back from Australia and his dad surprised them with a visit to Disneyland!  Soooo fun!

Here are some ideas from the kids today:

"I had fun writing and finishing a published story." Cassidy
"I was happy because I finally was Special Person." Alex
"My favorite part of the day today was choice time because I get to use LEGOs and I really love LEGOs." Drew
"I liked music because we got to play the triangle." Miles & Ryder
"Reading I SPY with Thomas and Ezra was fun!" Matthew
"I liked measuring objects with the yard string." Kali
"Math was fun!" Beckett
"Playing Count and Compare with Beckett was fun." Jasper
"Measuring was fun because Miles was still when I measured him." Layton
"I liked getting to know Hensley better." Norah
"I enjoyed figuring out the I SPY puzzles on the computer with Sam." Ezra

We were busy today!  Remember, tomorrow the students take a TAG screening test.  Try to be here on time.  Thanks...

Monday October 7

Hi everyone!  Sophia was our Special Person today and she told us a story about visiting her cousins and bouncing on their trampoline.  It turns out that the kids in our room love bouncing on trampoline's, so we had many ideas to write about.  Thanks Sophia!

Please let Sharon know by the end of the week if you are available for administrative volunteering to help the classroom.  Thanks!

If you think you may want to volunteer this year on field trips or in the school, please make sure you have filled out a background check.  If you want to drive, please keep your license and registration updated with the office. 


Have a great day!

Friday October 4

Today our Special Person is Anders and he told us about his trip to Brazil...wow!  That's amazing!

Just  reminder, get those on-line book orders in tonight!

We were very busy again today and your child should be bringing home their collection of independent literacy work from this week.  My favorite time today was when the students shared their personal narrative stories.  They form mini "study groups" to share their stories and were very kind a respectful to each other while they listened and asked questions.  Here are a few pictures:

It really is amazing to see how much they have growth as learners during the past 23 days of school.

Have a beautiful weekend!  Hopefully the sun will stay!

Thursday October 3

Today our Special Person was Thomas and he told us a story about visiting an alligator farm in Florida and watching his brother ride a zipline over the alligator pit!  Wow!

We were very busy today!  We spent the first hour engaged in individualized literacy learning.  During math, we took measurement data that each student gathered to create individual line plots.
We are learning a new song where we count by 2...ask your child if they can sing it for you!  We spent 45 minutes writing our own stories and stories for the Special Person- so much learning!

Here are some ideas about the day:
"I enjoyed writing my personal narrative story." Norah
"I'm glad we have new CD players because I enjoy using them during quiet reading." Matthew
"I enjoyed my work during morning Literacy Centers." Beckett
"Thomas' story sounded really interesting!" Miles
"I was happy to see my little sister on the playground during recess." Cassidy
"I really liked my iPad day." Olivia

Wonderful ideas everyone!

Reminders:
Library books, homework, and book orders are due tomorrow!  See you then!

Wednesday October 2

Parker was Special Person yesterday and he told us a story about visiting Seattle with his family.  Great story Parker


Ezra was Special Person today and he told us a story about sliding down a pool slide while he visited Sun River with his family!  Sounds great.


We began our clay totem animals today.  There will be a make-up day for students who were absent.  I took a few pictures of our great art time. It looked like lots of fun!

On a personal note: you may have noticed that I do not post when I am out for the day.  Thanks for all the well wishes (and chai tea Dawn!) and I feel like I am on the mend.  This has been a really nasty cold though, and I'm hoping it does not move to my lungs..  The students have been very kind and understanding, and our substitute said it was a really nice day yesterday.

See you tomorrow!