Week ending 5/27/16

I can't believe Memorial Weekend is here already!  This year is certainly going quickly and after today we only have 18 days left!  Wow!

Important information:

• Please be sure to fill out this form for your child about how proud you are!  Please complete over the weekend so I can put things together early next week. 
•  https://docs.google.com/a/newton.k12.ma.us/forms/d/1YSDTjphRw-j1DVR87z9oVvArJi5Yxx4ipxNLu4PrucM/viewform
• We hope you can join us next Friday am for our end of year celebration!  It will be at 8:45 and last about an hour.  Please see the Sign Up Genius for food/plates/etc. sign ups.  Thank you for your help with this!  
• http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4ea8a928a20-endofyear
• Our field trip to the Museum of Science is June 6 all day.  We will send more information home next week! I'm really looking forward to it!

3, 2, 1, things you need to know about our class this week...

3 types of poems we've been working on writing are Bio-Poem, Haiku, and Cinquains.  I'm amazed at their writing...it's so fabulous and we can't wait to show you!

2 math skills we've been working on are organizing numbers into equal groups and Kojo's Math which is a tie in to our Ghana unit.  

1 activity we did today was "Stump Mr. DeKing!"  For two weeks now we've been trying to stump Mr. DeKing through FaceTime by asking questions about things we've learned about to see if he knows.  :)  It's been so fun!  

Week ending 5/20/16

Hello families!  We've had a busy week in room 250!  Please read the important information below as there's some dates and other info that you need to know.  Thanks!
Important information:

• Monday, May 30, there is no school.
• Friday, June 3 at 8:45 is our classroom celebration!  
• Please see the sign up genius link to bring in an item if you are able.  Thanks! :)
• http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4ea8a928a20-endofyear
• Monday, June 6, is our field trip to the Museum of Science.  More specific information will be coming.
• Please follow the link below to complete something special for your child.  I am proud of them for so many reasons and I know you are too!  Please read the form and write your words there.  I will then use them for our celebration.  
• http://goo.gl/forms/51K8mUl8dN2XCfI12
• Ask your child about "Stump Mr. DeKing!"  We started it last week and they have loved it!

3, 2, 1 things you should know...

3 elements of poetry we've been working on are: noticing stanzas and longer line breaks, many poems rhyme, and punctuation can be used in many different ways.

2 math skills we've been reviewing are subtracting money, breaking down numbers into place value, and solving number stories.

1 thing Jayden wants you know is we had our chrysalises change into butterflies!  They were beautiful!  We released them yesterday and it was awesome to see them take off!

Week ending 5/13/16

We've had a great week!  The weather has been nice, the class has been working so well together today and we have finished up some units, such as math for place value…and we started some new ones, such as poetry for reading and writing.
We had an in school creative arts presentation today from the Museum of Science on life cycles.

Here's some things the class wanted to share with you that we learned today at our in school presentation:

• The animal life cycles are not always the same as humans.
• Pine trees, the Sequoia,  start out as seedlings and the grow to pine cones with seeds in it.  
• The Sequoia trees need forest fires for the sap to melt so the seed pods can open up.
• The Sequoia trees could be as large as three blue whales stacked on top of each other, 350 ft. high.
• The life cycle of a reptile is an egg, hatchling, juvenile, and then adult.
• When mammals are born, you can tell it's a bird but maybe not which type of bird it is.  
• Frogs have a big change in their life cycle, metamorphosis.
• The life cycle of a butterfly is an egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and then butterfly.  
• The whole group practiced growing as trees too.  
• We saw a reptile, the Chuckwalla.
• We saw the largest living thing…a Sequoia…well, we actually saw a seedling of a Sequoia.
• We also saw Caatinga Horned frog.

Here's some pictures from today's presentation as well:

 Museum of Science Life Cycles presentation

 Chuckwalla lizard

Sequoia seedling

 Practicing growing as a tree.

 Sequoia full size

 Egg stage

 Caterpillar

Chrysalis

 Butterfly

Caatinga Horned Frog

Week ending 4/29/16

We are just about in May!  We have less than 40 days left!  It's amazing how fast time has gone by!  This week has been very busy with practicing money in math, summarizing in reading workshop, learning about the Earth in science, and finishing up our opinion recommendations in writing workshop.
Important information:

• Tuesday the 3rd and the 10th, CAP will be here to present to our class.  Please be sure the permission slip is returned.  
• Thursday, the 5th is an early release day with dismissal at 12:30.  

We had a fabulous visit from our Ghana friends Joe and Vida!  They are fantastic and love to share the history, geography, games, and an idea of what it would be like to be in Ghana for a day!

Important facts we learned about Ghana…

• The capital city is Accra.
•  There are 40 different languages.
• The biggest man-made lake in the world is located there.
• The Northern region is the largest region.
• Aburi - city where you visit after landing and riding a small bus
• Adinkra symbols are important and on the drum we saw today.
• Villages will drum from village to village to send messages.
• Gourds are used to make a variety of items such as bowls, spoons, and games.
• Children in the villages must do their chores before the sun comes up.
• In Ms. Vida's village there is no electricity so the rooster wakes them up!  
• Malls just started being built there in the last 10 years.  
• Students in Ghana wear school uniforms.  
• Kente cloth is important in Ghana culture…but we'll learn more about that in our Ghana unit!

The kids LOVED trying out carrying a baby or the water bowl!

Here's some pics from today:

 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Ask your kids to show you their new dancing moves!

Week ending 4/15/16

We had a fabulous day at the Chinese Cultural Center!  We learned about the Chinese calendar, have a bookmark with our name written in Chinese, made lanterns, put dumplings together, watched Chinese dances, added on an abacus, practiced writing, and learned a bit about Mah-Jong.  

Be sure to ask you child all about it!

Hope everyone has a fabulous vacation!

Here's some pics from today!

Week ending 4/8/16

It's Friday families!  It was so nice to see many of you here this morning with us to read to your child!  Thank you to those of you that welcomed another student to read with you when their family couldn't make it.  Very much appreciate that!

Important information:

• Monday, the 11th, is the first home game for the Red Sox.  If your child has any Red Sox gear, they should wear them to help celebrate!  If not, they can wear red, blue, or white.  If not…now problem!  
• Next Friday, the 15th, is our field trip to the Chinese Cultural Center.  Please be sure your child is on time and ready to go.  Getting a good night's sleep and having a good breakfast can be very helpful! 
• For the field trip…be sure to send your child in with a bag lunch either in a brown paper bag or plastic bag from Shaws or Target, etc.  Please do not send your child in with a regular lunch box to take with us for lunch.  
• You may send your child in with a snack to have when we return from the field trip.  

3, 2, 1 things you need to know about our week…

3 skills we've worked on in math are measuring with a meter stick, a tape measure, and what linear measurement is.  We used students to measure the length of our classroom by laying down head to feet.  We found out that our classroom is 8 kids long!  We also talked about how I could not go to the store and ask for a rug 8 kids long.  They wouldn't know what I meant!  Ask your child why that doesn't work.

2 writing activities we've been working on writing workshop are completing a graphic organizer for our ideas to write a book recommendation.  Some of us are on the next step of beginning our book awards.

1 activity we've learned this week is "Double Double This This".  Ask your child if they remember how to play.

Here's a few pics from this mornings activities….