**No School--October 10th-Teacher's Institute--No School--October 13th-Columbus Day.
**We had a lovely afternoon for our field trip to Maze Library! Children's Librarian Ms. Jessica Bartz treated the students to a great interactive reading session which included songs, movement and dance activities. She also took us on a tour of the library pointing out where to find DVD's, audio books, nonfiction, fiction, picture books and readers. Students who completed the library card application got their cards. Thanks to K. Meier and B. Howell for volunteering to walk with us!
**Wednesday, October 8th was Walk to School Day. We had a lots of students who waked to school that day. If students didn't get a chance to walk, I walked around the playground with them. Students colored their gym shoe and got their stamp.
**Don't forget to send in your child's baby picture for our Seasonal Babies Project. We will do the project on Wednesday, October 15th.
**Please keep turning in your confirmation letters for Parent/Teacher Conferences. Please email me to reschedule if you need a different day and time. Parent/Teacher conferences are Monday, October 20th, Tuesday, October 21st and Wednesday, October 22nd. Don't forget.....Thursday and Friday, October 23rd and 24th, school is in session in the morning only. Dismissal is at 11:00 am. Hephzibah, Magical Minds and the District School Bus will pick at 11:00 am.
**The first rotation of Route to Reading will conclude on Thursday, October 16th. At that time, you will receive notification of your child's skill status. Route to Reading Rotation 2 will begin on Tuesday, October 21st.
**See information for "Poppin on the Patio"--5th Grade Fund Raiser for Outdoor Education in your child's homework folder. It will be 3 consecutive Wednesdays beginning on October 15th. Let's help out our Book Buddies!
**Art Teacher, Ms. Tague sent home information on accessing ARTSONIA. Your child's username and password were included. Great way to see what your child is producing in the Art Studio.
**The 3rd Grade Girl Scout Troop is collecting toiletries for the needy. You can bring in shampoo, soap, shaving cream, toothpaste, diapers wipes etc. Students can bring items in and we will put them in the collection basket.
**You can still sign up for Family Math Night--"Rocking Round the Clock." Email me for info. It is Thursday, October 16th from 6:30-8:00 pm. You and your child will solve the math problems.....I will make the root beer floats in the lunchroom soda shop!
**There is still time to sign up for TRIVIA NIGHT--sponsored by PTO. Information and sign up can be done thru the PTO website. Great grown up fun!
**Go Ms. Gullo's Class---FUN RUN FUN RUN!!!! We need more students to sign up for the PTO's BIGGEST FUNDRAISER of the year!!! Check the PTO website for sign up info. You can do it!!!! Kindergarten will "run" at 8:15 am. on Wednesday, October 22nd. Come cheer us on. You can even make a sign!
**Our Green Team Reps-Evan and Atessa made rags from their old shirts. Each class got a set of rags. We will use them with our dry erase boards. Great way to reuse items!
**Our Student Council Reps-Ethan and Lily reported that student council will be working on a project in conjunction with "Stand Up for Cancer." More info is coming on how they will involve the school.
**FUTURE FIELD TRIP--BROOKFIELD ZOO on Tuesday, November 25th from 9:00-1:30 pm. More info will be forthcoming. I need at least 4 parent volunteers.
This week:
It was all about APPLE MANIA! The students participated in an inquiry to determine what they knew about apples. They had fun using the magnifiers and the microscope to observe the blossom (flower) seeds, flesh, core, skin. They learned what a blossom was. Some apples were cut on their sides to reveal the star! We read informational (nonfiction) books on the subject and used the internet search to find out names that apples have. The students explored some of the many types of apples and observed their similarities and differences. The students learned how to create a diagram and label apple parts. We even had a bit of a taste test! Yes!!! We do have a striped skunk family visiting our classroom courtesy of the Field Museum. We will be studying nocturnal animals, bats, spiders and skeletons in an informative and noncreepy way before Halloween.
Reading/Language Arts: The students began work in Unit 2 Friends in our Treasures Reading series. They built background knowledge about what a friend is and what types of activities you can do with a friend. They listened to the song, "The More We Get Together." Many students remembered this song from their time in preschool. The students listened to the Big Book story, "What Do You Like?" They responded and made connections about activities they do with friends. The students found the title page and discussed the main characters and the setting of the story. They learned about how to compare and find differences and commonalities by using a Venn Diagram. They compared the girl and the boy in the story--what they both liked and the types of things each one liked separately. The sight word like was introduced. The students reviewed their previous words and played "Hands Up, Hands Down." The target sound in isolation was Ss. They used chants and rhymes to reinforce the sound and created a word web of Ss words. The students reviewed what a noun was and sighted several examples in the Big Book story. Robust Vocabulary for this week included FAVORITE, FRIENDS, PARTNER, HOBBY, COMPLETE. The students read their read aloud story, "I Like." Students worked on tracking and beginning fluency. They learned what a speech bubble was. Students discussed the characters and setting and chose an event in the story to share with a partner. Workstation activities included letter/picture sort using letters M, S, A, P, sound blending (3 phonemes) activity using Reading Magic 1--tap the box record the sound/letter on your paper-tap the picture box--did you make the word? word puzzles--use the letters--connect them to make a word. How many words can you make? create a mural with your group on how friends play, a variety of games reinforcing beginning letter sounds and upper/lowercase match. The students are bring in puppets/stuffed animals to help with our Haggerty Blue Book exercises!
Math: The students continue working on rote counting and counting quantities to 20. This week, the students began using their calendar books. At present, I am projecting the page on the screen so they can learn the format. We work with a different target number each day. They are recording the date, month, day and year, circling the day of the week, filling in what number comes before and after the target number, showing the target number in a ten frame, using tally marks, adding one more to the target number, writing in how many days we have been in school. The students worked on a variety of apple themed math games in small group, individually or with a partner. They counted, grouped and classified, matched numbers. added numbers, sequenced numbers. Students continue to work on recognizing pattern block shape names and learned geometric solids--cube and cone. We continue work on visualizing number using the reckenrek. Math is fun!!!!
Writing: The students are continuing work on our Frog Jump Capitals. Letters P and B were introduced this week. In Writer's Workshop, the students are working on beginning sentence structure and spacing of words in a sentence. They are using inventive spelling---writing the letters for the sounds they hear in words and working to consistently begin their writing with an uppercase letter and use an ending mark.
Technology: The students continue to use the iPad for assignments in small group workstations for reading and math. This week, the app Reading Magic 1 was introduced and used by individuals in small group for sound blending 3 phoneme words. The same apps as last week in both reading and math continue to reinforce skills taught in the classroom. We began work on a project using Doodle Buddy in math.
Literature: "Amazing Apples," "Where in the Wild," "How Rocket Learned to Read," "The Big Apple Mystery," "How Do Apples Grow?" "Apples," "Apples, Apples, Apples," Song--"Apple Tree," "Johnny Appleseed," "Christopher Columbus,"
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