Hi Families! I can't believe that it is already going to be October this coming Friday! Wow! We sure had fun this week watching Because of Winn Dixie on Thursday and having our Apple Day on Friday. I was amazed when we watched Winn Dixie at how many details the children could pick out that were different between the story and the movie. I love it! Everyone brought their apple for Apple Day! Yeah! I am so proud of the kids! We had a good time and hopefully they learned a lot! We had stations where I worked with one group at a time. They included: finding their apples' weight in grams and ounces, finding their apples' circumference and height in both centimeters and inches, apple taste testing, and using the scientific method to determine whether an apple would sink or float. I read a tall tale called Johnny Appleseed and we topped off our day eating homemade applesause with our kindergarten buddies! Fun! Thanks to Jumbos for donating apples to our class for our applesauce and taste testing! I really appreciate it!!
This week looks like this:
Reading - We will be enjoying our literature circles again this week. The skills we will be concentrating on are fluency and finding the main ideas of each chapter.
English - Verbs.....I will also give the children highlighter tape to highlight verbs in their literature circle books.
Spelling - List 3(sounds of 'a') This week I will make sure I add the list to spellingcity.com. Sorry I failed to do that last week...it completely slipped my mind! (I think I may be losing a little of my mind parenting a teenager and a toddler at the same time......I can't believe the similarities! Ha!) I will also start spelling enrichment this week and will add that list as well. Spelling enrichment, remember, is completely optional, but I really encourage it for those that find our regular spelling list unchallenging. :)
Math - Estimating sums and differences, adding and subtracting 4 digit numbers, and subtracting across zeros
Social Studies - Native American Removal, Civil War, moving West, land runs and cattle drives.....We will also make a clay artifact typical of the earliest people of Oklahoma...the Spiro Mound people. I also sent a homework project home with the children on Thursday. This assignment is due on October 5th. It is both a social studies grade and a reading grade. It is called a 5 Pocket Person. Make sure to ask your child for the directions I sent home describing the project.
Please continue to vote on our limeadesforlearning.com grant......remember to click on Find a Project and search by keyword: owl.........it's called "Hands on Learning right from the Owl's Mouth". Thanks!
***Also, don't forget about the Scrip Gift Card Program. Orders are due October 1st. This is a great and easy way to support your school! It's money you already spend anyway. For instance, I spend a few hundred dollars at Walmart each month, so I will just buy the Scrip Gift Card to Walmart. I will pay with it when I shop and money will go back to Glenwood. My family eats out sometimes, so I will buy a $25 Scrip Gift Card to Chilis. It's money that I will spend anyway and Chilis will give some back to Glenwood. I encourage you to take a look at this program if you haven't done so yet. It is such an awesome way to help our school. Believe me, with all the budget cuts lately, every dollar helps!
Take a look at our 2 kiddos who have passed their multiplication tests through 12's!! Kayla came in first with Brennan a close behind second!! Good job kids!! We have several more headed to their 12's possibly this week!!
Don't forget to bring your apple tomorrow if you haven't brought one yet. Also, please, please vote for our owl project. Directions for voting are on the previous post. Thanks so much!
Hi Families! This will be an exciting week. There will be lots of fun to look forward to! Here is what it looks like:
Reading - We will finish Because of Winn Dixie on Tuesday. We have really enjoyed reading this wonderful story. On Wednesday, we will begin Literature Circles reading books matched to the children's reading levels. I hope that you set aside time each evening for your child to read. Reading is so important! You need to ask your child what his/her reading level is. I wrote down each child's reading level based on an Accelerated Reading Assessment tool online. I gave the children their level privately. I want them to use this level when checking out books. Many of my students are below grade level. At the beginning of 4th grade they should be between a 3.8 to 4.2 level to be on level for beginning 4th grade. Some are above, many are on level, but many are below. The best way to become a better reader is to simply spend time reading. In our busy world, I know that it's hard to find time to do that, but please make it a priority. I can assure you it will pay off! :)
English - Verbs
Spelling - Consonant Diagraphs - I will post the words on spellingcity.com on Monday....List 2. We will also begin enrichment spelling for those that want to participate. I will post that list online as well.
Math - Rounding, Estimating sums and differences, Multiplication Facts....please continue to practice at home
Social Studies - Natural Resources of Oklahoma, Native Americans of Oklahoma
THINGS TO REMEMBER FOR THIS WEEK:
On Monday we will have our first payday! This is an exciting day! Most of the children have been working very hard! If you haven't had a chance to check out the link, Economy System, on the right, please take a minute to do so.
The children have earned a Behavior Bingo! We will watch the movie Because of Winn Dixie as a reward! We will compare/contrast the movie to the book. We will do this on Thursday. The children may bring a popped bag of popcorn and a soft drink.
On Friday, we will have Apple Day! We will read the story Johnny Appleseed and do many learning stations and activities related to apples. I need each child to bring an apple to school by Thursday. If they do not bring an apple, they do not get to do the stations.
I was very disappointed that 8 children forgot their flour/salt mixture last week for our dough map. I really need family support to pull off many of the activities that I do throughout the school year. I fined the children (a fine they will pay on payday) and mixed up 8 more bags for these children, but told them that the next time they forget, they won't get to participate. 4th grade is a HUGE year for learning about RESPONSIBILITY. We talked about this in class and the fact that they are old enough to start doing for themselves. Parents are busy often times, so it's time the children step up to the plate and take some responsibility. They are old enough. This is very hard for me as their teacher to even think about leaving anyone out of an activity, but if I coddle and always save them, they will not learn anything. They will think, "Oh well, Mrs. Corderman will provide what I need and let me do it." I hope you understand and will help me to help your child become more independent and responsible this year. :)
I wrote a grant and submitted it to limeadesforlearning.com and donorschoose.org. I'm hoping to get enough votes on limeadesforlearning.com to get this grant funded. It goes with our Owl Unit in November. The project is dissecting owl pellets! The children love this project! I do this every year, but this year with budget cuts, we will not get to do it without outside funding. I'm so sad about this, but hopeful about the grant! Please go to limeadesforlearning.com and follow these directions to help us win this grant! :)
On the right there will be a link called Find a project....click on it.
Next, in the middle area of the page, search by subject...math and science, then search by keyword: owl.
My grant is called, Hands on science right from the owl's mouth!
If you vote on it, you have the option of getting a daily reminder to vote, I suggest this.
Please spread the word and if you are on Facebook, that is a great way to help out too.
Voting ends on September 30th. :O
Hi Families! Hope your weekend was a good one! The children are doing awesome! I'm so proud of them! This week will be a busy one. Here is what it looks like:
Reading - We will continue reading the novel, Winn Dixie and working on comprehension, fluency, visualizing, and expanding our vocabulary. The children and I are enjoying this beautiful story. :)
Spelling - Vocabulary words from Winn Dixie.....I forgot to post the words on spellingcity.com but they should have brought home a list last week. I will post the words for sure this week. The first test will be Thursday and the final test will be Friday. Remember, if they make an A on the first test, they don't have to take the test on Friday.
English - More proper nouns
Math - On Monday, we will complete and go over a place value study guide. On Tuesday, we will have a test over place value. Please go over the study guide with your child on Monday evening to make sure they get all the concepts involved. We will begin rounding numbers on Wednesday. Please keep working on multiplication facts as well. Some of the children started their speed tests last week and are doing awesome!!!
Social Studies - We will begin our Oklahoma unit. We will begin by going over the land and regions of Oklahoma. We will also make a salt relief map of Oklahoma! Fun! :) Please send a ziplock bag with a salt/flour mixture. (1/2 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of salt) Please have this bag to me by Wednesday. If anyone can mix up the dough balls for me Wednesday morning, it would be extremely helpful!! Let me know if you can help out.
On Friday, we will be going on a field trip to the Cherokee Strip Museum to celebrate the Cherokee Strip Land Run. It should be very fun! We will leave school around 9:15 and get back around 10:45.
Thank you for helping us to reach our $200 goal with the Scholastic Book orders!!!! I was able to order almost 100 books with this order and still have lots more bonus points to order more books in the coming book orders. Thank you again!
Hi Families!
Hope your week was a good one! I'm really enjoying your children. They are so fun and have such sweet spirits!
Here is what the week ahead looks like:
Reading - We will be reading the novel Because of Winn Dixie. Our text book just had an excerpt of the story and it's such a great story, I thought we needed to read it together as a class. We will be working on comprehension, prediction, visualizing, and fluency with this novel.
Spelling - We will be working on vocabulary words from Winn Dixie. The words are somewhat challenging, so between that factor and the short week this week, we will be spending 2 weeks on the words. We will have our first test on Thursday, September 16th. If your child makes an "A" he/she will not have to take the test the next day (Friday).
English - Plural Nouns
Social Studies - Map work - Look for a homework assignment coming home on Friday. This assignment will be due the following Friday, September 17th.
We always begin our day with morning work that includes both math and English. We go over all the answers in class each day. We have a test over the math part each Friday. We also journal write each morning. I write back to them as well. This is a great way for me to get to know your child!
I sent home our first Scholastic book order last Thursday. It's got a lot of great books for awesome prices. Remember, if our class collects a $200 order, then we get 6,000 bonus points which will purchase tons of books for our classroom library! Please help us reach our goal if you can! :)
I am in need of parent volunteers. If you can help out, please let me know. I need help copying papers each week. That involves about 30 minutes, once a week. I also will need help with some fun events coming up. If you can help out in any way, please let me know! I would SO APPRECIATE it!!!
Thanks for sharing your beautiful children with me this year! It's going to be a learning enriched, fun-filled year!!!
