Book orders are due next Tuesday, March 4th. I sent a grade update today. Report cards go out March 13th.

25 Good and Productive Days!

The children have earned 25 Good and Productive Days! As a reward, we are having a movie afternoon on Thursday! Showing at the Corderman Cinema will be "How to Eat Fried Worms" based on the children's novel by Thomas Rockwell. One reading group in our class has read the book and will be anxious to compare/contrast the book to the movie! The children may bring movie-type snacks for their enjoyment during the movie.

Week of 02/25/2008

Topics this week are:

Reading: Readers Theater, review previously learned skills

Math: Geometry

Science: Forces and Motion

Spelling: /er/ sounds

English: linking verbs, comma

Thanks Carolyn Nicholas for the package of index cards!! The children are making marble mazes! It is a middle school project, but they are doing awesome!! I asked them how we can relate math and science to the mazes and I about fainted when they said, "It demonstrates Newton's 1st Law of Motion and we are measuring!" Yeah!!! Maybe they are hearing me after all!

Spelling Enrichment:

ideally iguana immunity inaugural incessant incompetent inertia infamous insinuated international intricacy ironic interpreter italic isolation

Week of 02/19/2008

This week we will cover these topics:

Reading: Inferences, Power Words

English: Adverbs, Prepositions, Pen Pal Letters

Science: Forces and Motion

Math: Rules of Divisibility, Multiples and Factors

We will be doing a project beginning on Thursday that will tie math (measurement), science (force and motion), and art (creating). It is a pretty cool project! If anyone could donate a package of florescent 3 x 5 index cards, it would be great! We will need them on Friday.

Spelling Enrichment Words:

haggard harassed hasten hastiness havoc heinous henceforth hesitantly historical hoist honorary hospitality humidity humiliated hyphenated

SPELLING ENRICHMENT

gadget gardener gawky genuine gracious gymnasium guidance gravitate gnat granule ghastly geranium grieve gaudy guitar

Week of 02/11/2008

This week will be exciting because of Valentine's Day. Please pray for me parents. I am going to try to keep it as normal as possible Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Thursday we will do Valentine things, and on Friday, we will do President Day things. Remember that President's Day is Monday, February 18th and the children will be out of school. The following is what we will be doing the first 3 days this week:

Reading: skill focus - predictions, review all other skills, review power words and introduce 2 new ones, unraveling

Spelling: suffixes

Math: long division

English: We will continue to cover and recover all the parts of speech, as well as work on writing good sentences. In the library, the children work on using various resources.

Science: forces and motion - The children are all going to get an opportunity to study up and demonstrate an experiment to the class. Our first group - Samuel, Brent, and Mason did a great job last week!

I am so sorry that the 2 last math problems with reading/math homework last week were so difficult!! I am so proud of the kids and parents that gave it a whirl anyway! 5 students got them right!! I gave them a Homework Hero award! Thanks for your support. I never planned on homework being that difficult. I only want it to be a short review of things they have learned. Those 2 problems should have been bonus money problems! I promise this week's homework will be a normal short review!

Chinese New Year was a lot of fun. Crazy and exciting maybe, but fun none the less! We have a little extra money left over, but instead of trying to divide it up between the children, Mrs. Jenkins and I are saving it to spend on treats for an activity this Spring. I will let you know when that happens.

The following is a story I read in my Chicken Soup Daily Inspirations book. I thought you might enjoy it!

One lazy afternoon while watching my children play, I started thinking about how differently the world looks through the eyes of an adult with so many responsibilities. Suddenly I felt a pang of longing for the days when I, too, could romp and play without a care for cost-of-living increases, budgets, and mortgages.
I let my children reteach me that afternoon how much fun it is to squish fresh mud into patties, and how thrilling it is to climb just one branch higher in a tree and then from your perch in the sky, gaze over your kingdom and yell, "I'm the king of the world!"
It took only a few stolen moments from my children's youth to remind me how precious these carefree days are for them. Now, instead of reprimanding them over and over about this and that and giving lectures on appropriate behavior, I enjoy the moment with them. You see, I've been taught a lesson the children haven't learned yet: The moment won't last forever.
Stacey Granger

Mastery Club!!

CHECK OUT THE NEW MASTERY CLUB TOWARDS THE BOTTOM OF THE WEB PAGE!

Week of 2/04/2008

Here is what is on the agenda this week:

Reading: cause and effect
Math: division
Science: force and motion
Spelling: compound words
English: writing to an author

Remember Friday is our Chinese New Year celebration! $2 is due tomorrow to help cover the cost of our Chinese food. We really need volunteers. Please help, either to just pick up the food from Imperial China and deliver it to us (12:30), and or, to help for about an hour serving and cleaning up (12:30-1:30).

Midterms will be sent home on Wednesday. Please look for them. They need to be signed and returned by Friday.

Here is our list of spelling enrichment words for the week:

fabulous facility failure faithful fastening feigned feud finesse flabbergast flamboyant
fluent folklore forgivable fraudulent foreign

Guess what?!! We had 100% participation with reading/math homework last Friday! Yeah! I am so proud of the kids! Thank you parents for supporting them! Let's do it again this week!