Sunday, April 24, 2011

Week of April 25th

Happy Easter to all my kiddos and their families!!  Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend! 

Testing is this week!  Please make sure your children get adequate rest and a good breakfast. :)  We will be testing in the mornings Monday through Thursday.  Testing works up a good appetite, so you might want to pack your child a good snack too.  Our afternoons will be focused mostly on science and social studies.  In science, we will be looking at rock types and minerals, doing an experiment, and rock eating :).  We will also be learning more about the butterfly larvae we have in our classroom.   In social studies, we will be doing some USA work.  I have 18 children that have passed their online 50 state location quiz on expert level with a 100%!!  I am super proud of them.  I know the rest will make it as well!! Several of the children are now working on passing their 50 state capitals quiz with an A and several have passed it and have now moved on to locating countries in Africa and Asia.  Four students have even made it to Europe!  Wow!  They are blowing me away!

In celebration of testing being over, we will have a POP Party on Friday.  The children may bring anything that has the word pop in it such as.......popcorn (popped please), pop, pop rocks, popsicles, pop tarts, etc.

Don't forget to look at the A to Z countdown calendar.  Tomorrow afternoon is Game Day.  Also, don't forget to return the letter I sent last week if you can help out with the auction or Leonardo's.  I really need your help.  Thanks so much!   

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Week of April 18th

Hi Families! Check out the kids' space habitats below!  Here is this week's agenda:

Reading and Math - Test Prep

No spelling for 2 weeks (due to test prep and testing)

Science - Geology (Fun unit!) :)

Social Studies - We will finish up our West unit.  The children will have a West location test on Wednesday and the West capitals test on Friday.  I sent home a study guide this past Friday.  Hopefully, it made it home. :)  We will also begin doing some USA assignments.  They are working on locating all 50 states on a website located on my blog under USA.  Some of the children are really close to getting all 50 already! Yeah!!

English - Poetry

Don't forget to look at the A to Z calendar I sent home last week.  Monday is Beach Towel Day so the children may bring a beach towel to read on outside.  Tuesday is Candy Day so they may bring their favorite candy to school to eat.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Week of April 11th

Hey Families!  Hope all is well with everyone!!  I can't believe we have only 6 weeks left!  This is when I start to get a little teary.  I truly love your children and will miss them so very much!  The children have been working so hard and I am super proud of them!!  Here is this week's agenda:

Reading - We will be finishing up The Mouse and the Motorcycle book this week!  The children and I are really enjoying it!  Their homework project for this story is to collect a shoebox and items that will create a mouse house for Ralph.  We will make the mouse house in class on April 22nd, but they need to be collecting items and can bring them to school anytime.  We talked about making furniture out of egg cartons, wallpaper out of scrapbook paper, etc.  The children are creative.  I'm sure they can think of a lot of things! :)  They were coming up with quite a few things when we talked about it yesterday!  We will make Ralph out of clay.  It should be a fun project!

Math - Fractions - reducing fractions and adding/subtracting fractions with unlike denominators    We will also continue to REVIEW everything we've learned this year!

English - We will finish up our online stories this week in computer lab.  Please help your child at home if he/she needs pictures scanned and please also edit your child's work.   The stories are due in completion by Friday.  Thank you to those that sent the signed order forms back on time.  I sent a new copy to those that didn't.  I NEED them by Monday.  I have to send them to the company before our production date happens.   Remember, you don't have to order a book for your child to get a free one.  I just need the form signed and returned.   Also this week, we will continue to work on poetry.

Spelling - List 21 on spellingcity.com and List 21.5 is enriched

Social Studies - We will begin studying the final region, the West, of our country this week.  We will look at the states within this region as well as landforms, resources, and economy.  We will also talk about the Oregon Trail, the Gold Rush, as well as other key events in this region's history.  The test over the state locations and capitals will be next week. 

Science - We will finish up our unit on the body.  There will be a test over the main organ locations and their functions on Friday.  We will create a study guide on Tuesday for them to take home.

That's about all!  Our Countdown to Summer Vacation starts on Friday!  Friday will be "A" Day.  A stands for Art, so we will have an artist from Leonardo's come and do a cool art project with the kids!  Fun!  Look for the A to Z list on Monday!

****ALSO*****  I forgot to put down an important event on the "Dates of Important Events and Projects" list I sent home.   Oops!  Friday is our school's Spring Fling!  This is a very fun event!  You should have received a few papers by now about this event and how you can help as well as how to buy tickets and how much they are.  You don't want to miss it!  I go every year and have a lot of fun.  I am anxious to take Eli this year! 

One more thing......I promised the children they could have a Read and Feed in their Space Habitats on Friday.  They may bring a snack and drink to school then.  Make sure their drink has a cap/lid.  They may also bring a stuffed animal.  After our Read and Feed, we will have a drawing to determine who gets to win the Space Habitats.  By the way, they did awesome constructing their habitats!!  This was a challenging, higher level thinking activity, but they rose to the challenge.  I will post pictures and video soon of this project!!

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Week of April 4th

Hey Families!!  Hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather!  So glad it's Spring!  Can't wait to dig in the dirt and start planting flowers!  It's therapeutic to me! :)  Whew!  Last week was one busy, but productive week!  I'm so proud of how hard the children worked!  I sent home an agenda for the remainder of the school year.  I told the kids to post it somewhere in a safe, visible place.  Here is what the week ahead looks like:

Reading - We are going to be reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary as a class.  We will be doing comprehension questions with each chapter as well as studying some of the vocabulary used in the story.  *Remember* The children's Cereal Box Book Report is due this Friday.  This report is over the story they just finished. 

Math - Measurement ...... After measurement, we will have covered everything that is in our state testing.  We will continue to review everything, but we will also revisit fractions now to do a more in depth study of that concept.  I always cover concepts that we will test over first, to make sure they are prepared, then I go back and do more expanded lessons on certain concepts to prepare them for 5th grade.  5th grade curriculum is way more intense. This week in fractions, we will begin by finding equivalent fractions, and changing mixed and improper fractions.

Spelling - List 20 on spellingcity.com.......List 20.5 is the enriched list.

Social Studies - We will do a week long unit on the Southwest Region of our country.  This region has only 4 states in it!  One of the states is Oklahoma. We have already covered Oklahoma history which also encompassed the whole region for the most part.  We will take a look at our region's land and resources as well as learn about the Navajo Indians and compare/contrast the Trail of Tears to the Long Walk.  We will have our location/capital test on these 4 states and their capitals on Friday.

Science - Body

English -  We will be writing poems this week and taking a look at different types of poems.  We will also continue to use our computer time to type our online stories.  Your child may want you to help them download some pictures from home.  Please take the time to do this as well as help to edit your child's story.  This is a very special project!  You will be amazed at the quality of the book.  I will be sending home a letter/order form this week. You may choose to buy copies, but your child will get one free book regardless of a purchase.!  Isn't that great?!  In order to get the free book, the letter home has to be signed by a parent.  Please look for that and get it signed and sent back.


Please consider volunteering for our field trip in May to Leonardo's.  I need 4 more adults in order to go.  Please let me know if you can come.  We will leave school around 9:45 and return around 2:30.  The cost will be $5 per person, both children and sponsors.  Club membership doesn't count....so sorry.  I will begin to collect money in a few weeks.  Let me know if you can volunteer. :)  It is an awesome day!!