Weekly Update 11/22/13

This week went by so quickly!  Thank you so much to everyone who made it to math morning!  We had a great turn out and the students were so happy to teach you how to play the games.  They are working so hard on their math skills and it's great to see them excited to share with you!
Important information:
Tomorrow, Friday, November 22 is an all school pajama day run by the student council.  
Wednesday, the 27th, is an early release day with dismissal at 12:00.  
There is no school on Thursday, the 28th, or Friday, the 29th.  
There will be no reading response next week as it's a very short week.  
In literacy this week, we've started focusing on non-fiction books, their features and purposes.  It's been great to change to non-fiction and focus on real life topics that the students really enjoy.  We've read about butterflies, the Earth, Martin Luther King Jr, and the rain forest.  We've been using sticky notes to keep track of our thinking during reading time.  Students might use a sticky note to show something they learned, a question they still have, or an important fact.  We will continue with non-fiction for the next few weeks.  In writing workshop, we've switched from narrative writing to more creative writing.  We've wrote about who in the whole world we would invite for dinner, if we could have any balloon in the Macy's parade which one it would be, and tomorrow we're going to write about how to catch a plum turkey!  It's great to see their creative sides and imagination come out!
In math, we're still focusing on place value but working on addition and subtraction strategies as well.  We will continue this next week as we focus more on story problems and the steps to explain their mathematical thinking.
In science, we've started the Earth, Sun, and Moon unit and so far the students love it!  We've been using our background knowledge to share what we think we already know about the sun and then asking questions that we want answers too.  We're also sharing our line of learning.  This is when we write our thoughts and then underneath write something we learned from a peer.  This helps create conversations and sharing of ideas around science topics.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday mini-break and enjoys time with family and friends.
Mrs. DeKing

Weekly Update 11/15/13

Hi Families,
**Next week on Thursday is math morning.  You will hear a presentation from 8:30 - 9:00 in the auditorium before heading to our classroom for math activities where your child will be the teacher form 9:00 - 9:9:30.  If you can join us form 8:30 - 9:30 that would be wonderful.  If you can't, no worries, just let me know and I will be sure your child is matched with another student or staff.
**Thanksgiving week: Wednesday is a half day with dismissal at 12:00.  There is no school on that Thursday or Friday.
Can you believe we saw our first sight of winter this week?  I know many of you love the snow!  Me?  Not so much and I'd prefer it stay far away!  It's been a short week but we've been busy.  In literacy, we focused on reader's theater with George and Martha stories.  Reader's theater helps students work on their fluency skills by reading a skit and using emotion and their voice to bring the story across.  We switched with some students in other classes so it was good to see other how each class worked so hard!  We also finished up our James Marshall unit.  Students are writing book recommendations to help a friend choose which James Marshall book they should pick.  Next week, we'll be focusing more on nonfiction text features and their purpose.  In writing, we shared our stories with our buddies on Tuesday to celebrate the end of the narrative unit.  On Thursday, we wrote our piece the same way we did our first one, we did a pre-assessment in September and now we completed the post-assessment.  I have not scored it yet, but just by walking around, I can see the hard work they are doing and how much they've strengthened their writing skills.  I can't wait to read them!  We also finished up Unit 3 in math, focusing on place value and making change.   Our next unit will be focusing on more difficult money problems, story problems for addition and subtraction, and more clock work.  We completed our work on the United States and next week we will be looking at our next science unit of Earth, Moon, and Sun.  Students usually love this unit and I look forward to getting started!
Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update 11/8/13

I'm very proud of our whole class this week!  We've had our new student join us and as you may have heard, she does not speak much English.  Student have been wonderful being respectful, kind, and helpful.  They welcomed her so well and you should be proud of your children!
Important information:
*No school on Monday 11/11/13 for Veteran's Day.
*Math morning is scheduled for Thursday, November 21 from 8:30-9:30.  At the beginning you will meet in the auditorium with the math coach and then proceed to our classroom for a variety of math activities.  As it gets closer, please let me know if you can't make it so I can buddy students up with families if necessary.
*For future planning...On Wednesday, November 27, there is an early release day at 12:00 (not 12:30 as usual).
*Thank you everyone for coming in for conferences.  The students were proud to share their work and it's so important for us to touch base and discuss the progress made and the work we still have to do.
*Since we have all met for conferences and we've discussed math and Fundations tests, I will begin sending copies of the tests home for you to view as well.  Please keep in mind that the Fundations tests are not always an accurate representation of what I see in in the classroom.  I am watching the tests, but also students' everyday writing, practice Fundations work with letter tiles or the white board, and their writing workshop work.
What's happening in room 235?
In literacy, we've been focusing on our James Marshall author study.  We're looking at cause and effect, problem and solution, character traits, and writing our opinion on books and what makes a good friend. In Fundations, we've been working on syllables and trick words: against, knew, know, always, often, and once.  During writing workshop, we have been working on completing and publishing our narrative books.  I am very impressed.  Each student showed growth during this writing unit and the work they've done to fancy up and expand their stories has been great!  Next week, we will be meeting with our 3rd grade buddies to share our stories celebrate their hard work!
In math, we've been working on place value.  Understanding how to write numbers and make them with cubes to show hundreds, tens, and ones is an important skill that much of our math builds on for later this year.  We played a game "Race to 100" and "Race to zero" with partners.  We've also been reviewing how to tell time and different ways to show amounts of money.  We will take unit 3 test at the end of next week.
In social studies, we've been learning about jazz music, the 4th of July, and rural/urban/suburban areas. We will finish the United States unit early next week and then begin science (Earth, Moon, and Sun).

Nuts and Pumpkins

Just a reminder to families that we're trying to keep a nut free classroom due to the number of nut allergies.  We want to keep all students safe so thank you for your cooperation with this.

Also, thank you so much for sending in the pumpkins and sharpies!  The students loved decorating the pumpkins and were so creative!