Weekly Update 5/23/14

I can't believe there's only 20 days left of school!  Oh my!  As we think about the last few days of school, there are many things going on…we'll have Color Day, presentations for parents, last day of school, our Museum of Science field trip, and so much more!
Things to remember:
* Going home today is information about special homework project coming up starting next week.  Please be sure to read it carefully and allow your child to guide the process and complete the work on their own as much as they can.  They love showing their work that they've accomplished!  Thank you! Look for the info in your child's folder!
* There is no school on Monday, May 26th.
* Don't forget about the silent auction!  It's all set up by the front door.  I'm offering pancake breakfast with a friend one morning.  Go bid and raise money for the school!
* Monday, June 2, is our field trip to the Museum of Science.  More info will go home next week but just wanted to remind you that students will need a packed bag lunch as there's no fridge and difficult to carry lunch boxes around.  Also, send food that's easy to open and easy to eat as we have a quick lunch so we can get back to the museum exhibits.
* Wednesday, June 11th, at 2:00 is our end of year parent presentations for you!
* Tuesday, June 17th, is Color Day (more info going home soon about that).
* Please send in 2 brown paper bags to carry artwork and classwork home.  Your child has a notice about it.
* Friday, June 20, is our last day of school.  Please keep me updated if your child will not be here as I have things that need to go home. Thanks!
* If you have any tissues, please send them in!  Even though cold season seems to be over, allergy season has begun!

A few thoughts about the end of year…

What's happening in room 235?
In literacy, we continue to focus on poetry.  We've read many poems with rhythm, poems with a beat, onomatopoeia, poems with sound, poems with connections to us, poems with verbs and nouns, and describing words.  We wrote the poem below for you using nouns and adjectives.  We hope you enjoy it!  In writing workshop, we've been working on writing poems, making poetry observations, describing the difference between scientific and poetic observations, and we turned our science observations from Kayla's Garden, into a poem to share with our friends. Ask you child to share some words they chose to use for their observation poem.

In math, we worked on subtracting larger amounts of money and started talking about arrays and chickens and eggs.  We also started unit 12, which is a review of all we've learned this year! Ask you child what chickens and eggs have to do with math!

In science, we've been observing the chrysalis that we have for the Painted Ladies butterflies, the caterpillars we have for the Cabbage White butterflies, and talking about whether a chrysalis is alive or not and what a habitat is.  Next week, hopefully we'll have some butterflies to observe!

I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend!  Enjoy the weather and time with your families!  When we return we'll only have 19 days left!  Where did the time go???

Weekly Update 5/16/14

It's been a beautiful week overall!  I love this weather and I hope you do too!
It's been busy in room 235 this week as well.
Important information:
* It is so important that students are very fluent in their addition and subtraction facts as they move on next year.  If they don't do Xtra Math, that's total fine.
* With the nice weather…please be sure your child has sandals that are appropriate for the playground and remember sneakers on PE days.  Please try and leave flip flops at home.  Thanks!
* Monday, 26, there is no school for Memorial Day.
* Tentatively our end of year celebration is set for Wednesday June 11th at 2:00.  We will send you an invitation once the date is official.
* June 17th will be Color Day with a rain date on the 18th.
* The last day for students is June 20th with a dismissal at 12:00.  If your child will not be here the last day of school, please let me know as I have things to go home with them.

What's happening in room 235?
In literacy, we've been working on poetry.  The students love it!  We have worked on noticing elements  of poetry such as rhythm, alliteration, line breaks, recognizing some poems rhyme and some don't, some are long and some are short, and what descriptive words the author uses to pull us in.  We even wrote our own alliteration poem (which is at the bottom of this blog for you to read)…they giggled away and loved working as a whole class to write it!  In writing, we've been writing opinion pieces on our favorite places and favorite day.
* Ask your child what their favorite place is?
* Ask your child what they know about poetry so far in our unit?

In math, we've been working on subtracting and having the students understand the way subtraction and addition  work together.  We've also been working the very basic concepts of multiplication.  We've been focusing on groups of items and how many in each group.  We may have 4 cups, each cup has 2 buttons.  How many altogether?  4 groups with 2 in each group.  Our answers look like this: 2+2+2+2=8 button and 4x2=8 buttons.  Recognizing that understanding how multiplication works, groups and how many in each group, will help them later in 3rd grade.
* Ask you child some addition or subtraction word problems.

In science, we are growing brassica plants, have added butterfly eggs to the plants, have caterpillars eating food and we will be watching their transformation to butterflies as the next few weeks go on, we've been observing and measuring our plants, observed the inside of a lima bean, and we started working on plant structure.
* Ask your child what living things need to live.

Weekly Update 5/9/14

This has been a busy week!   We started a new poetry unit and life cycles.   We also had a fabulous presentation today from the Museum of Science on life cycles.  The students loved it and the presenters had lots of information to share.
A few reminders:
*As the weather gets warmer, you may choose to put sunscreen or bug spray on your child before they leave in the morning.
*If you have any paper towels or a cleaning wipes container that's just laying around, please send it in!  *With the end of the year coming, we use quite a bit cleaning out lockers, student bins and cubbies, etc.
*Monday, May 26, there is no school for Memorial Day.

What's been happening in room 235?
In literacy, we've started doing some sight words and Fundations assessments to see student progress in reading the words.  Students are doing fabulous so far!  We will start the reading assessment, DRA's in the next few weeks.  It's wonderful to see all their progress.  All students have made progress this year!
We've been working on words with /ou/ and /ow/ in Fundations and will move on to the different /u/ sounds next week.   We started working on poetry this week and focused on what poetry sounds like, how to read poetry fluently, and choosing a line of poetry that speaks to them and illustrating that line.
We have been writing back to our pen pals and also have been writing opinion pieces about recess and the playground structure.  We even went outside at the end of the day to do our writing.  It was so nice to get out and just write in Kayla's garden at the tables.  Perfect place to end the day!
In math, we've been working on dollars and cents, place value, and learning how to think about the multiple ways to solve number sentences.  They know the answer often but explaining the answer and solving it a new way, only increases their math flexibility and understanding.
In science, we planted brassica plants and are waiting for them to grow!  We will be receiving butterfly eggs next week which will live on the plants and continue to grow.   We got off to a slow growing start for the plants, but now it looks like they're taking off so hopefully we'll be all set for the eggs.  Students love this time of year because they can see the eggs, the caterpillars, and later butterflies!

Weekly Update 5/2/14

Hi Families!
It's been a busy week!  I hope all of you had a wonderful vacation.  The students were so excited to share what they did, where they went, or who they visited!
Important information:
* We have visitors from the Museum of Science coming next week to talk about life cycles.
* CAP permission slips went home and we will have our workshops the last 2 Tuesdays of this month. If you haven't sent in the slip, please do so on Monday.

In literacy, we've spent this week reviewing character traits, questioning before, during, and after read as well as working on story maps.  It's always important to review information we've learned this year.  Next week, we'll be starting poetry!
In math, we finished up our unit 10 on coins, making change, place value, and adding tens and ones to make a new number.  We also working on problems solving with money.
In writing, we've finished up our book reviews!  Yeah!  They are awesome!  I'm so impressed with all the hard work they've done!  If you have a chance, come visit our lockers and see our work!  Next week, we'll work on writing opinions about recess and lunches, as well as our ABC China book.  We will write it, illustrate it, and also type each page.
In science today, we planted brassica plants in preparation for our butterfly eggs to arrive next week.
In social studies, we've been finishing up China and learning about what a day is like for a child there compared to what a day is like for us.  We also talked about foods and other products from China.  Today, we had a special presentation!  We had visitors today from Ghana who shared their life and told stories.  The students loved it!  I sent you some pictures and a video…they were great!

Have a great weekend!