**Please return all field trip permission slips ASAP. If your child is getting a library card, please read the info on filling out the application. The student must write their first and last name themselves. If you are interested in volunteering your time...join in the fun!
**Our Traveling Poets time was last Wednesday. Ms. Noonan supervised the students as they traveled from room to room spreading poetry joy! A poetic time was had by all.
**The 4th Annual Poetry Slam, under the direction of Mr Williams, was a smashing success!! Let's hear it for our little slammers, Ethan, Ariadne, McKenna, Hannah, Gabriela and Sammy, Niko and Henry! They were marvelous. Great poetry original, read and recited. We heard poetry in Chinese, French, couplets, limericks and haiku. Kids and grown ups alike joined in.
**Our end of the year Tech Project (Memory Book) is going well under the direction of Mrs. Appleby. We have another session on Wednesday, May 25th from 8:30-9:30 am. B. Metric, T. Zurawski and M. Chapman-Rienstra are slated to help. If you have that hour to spare...come join us!
**Our All School Olympic Day is Friday, May 27th. See the homework packet for info on events. We will perform our Olympic feats from 8:30-10:45 am. You are welcome to come.
Following Olympic morning, we will be walking to Barrie Park to have lunch to celebrate our 120 Eagle Wings. Permission slips for that will go out on Monday from Ms. Creehan. Feel like taking a walk and having lunch with us....just let me know.
**Our last Friendship Club with Ms. Bell-Bey was Friday. The students choose to have a free choice time to demonstrate their interpersonal skills.
**The ULTIMATE VOCABULARY CHALLENGE has come to an end. All the students received frisbees (which we used on Thursday afternoon). By far, the word REPUGNANT was our most favorite and widely used new word!!!!
**Reading Grandma's final time with us will be Friday, June 3rd. We will miss our Fridays with her.
**Don't forget Sibling Hour is Friday, May 27th from 2:00-2:55 pm. All siblings 4 and under are invited to attend. Our "almost first graders" will show them around!
**The last day of of school is Tuesday, June 7th from 8:00-9:00 am. I am already getting teary eyed! It is a family hour. We will have a mini breakfast (granola bars and fruit), sign our autograph books and get report cards/summer tips. First Grade, here we come!!!!!
**Last book order of the year is on line only.--click on the book at the top of the blog--activation code is under it.
**Spelling City is updated.
**Please let me know if you need your xtramath code number for the summer.
This week: It was all about seed sponges, seed bags and WORMS! We have much to observe in our classroom. The students are studying what occurs when seeds are spread on super wet sponges and in plastic bags that contain very wet paper towels. Jack brought us some super great red wiggler compost to observe and feed. We took some of the wigglers out to see them under the magnifier. Wow, they really wiggle and move effortlessly through the soil. Jack was very mindful that they needed to be put back into the compost to keep doing their work. We studied information about the earthworm and read one of our favorites, "Diary of a Worm."
Reading: This week, we have concluded Unit 7-Teamwork, our final unit in our Open Court series. We continue to review all phonemic awareness and phonics skills. We are reading for meaning. We continue to discuss the main idea of our decodable and literature stories as well as story elements. We are using written form to express what we think, to sequence events, retell, infer, to tell what will happen next and to practice our sentence writing. We are using our oral language skills to discuss, pick out details, predict and build fluency. We will continue to use this format until the end of school.
Math: We are continuing to review money-- coins and values and ways to use coins to make a
dollar. The students learned to play the "Digit" and "Double Digit" games. Students use special number cubes. They take turns rolling the cubes and recording the lowest number made and the highest number made. The students also reviewed pattern block shapes and geometric solids. We will dismantle our MULTI-DIMENSIONAL SHAPE MUSEUM next week. The students partnered up to create a page for our Story Problem Book. The partners created a story problem, wrote is out, illustrated it and wrote the number sentence to go with it, We have some pretty creative stories. It will be on display for you to check out next week. We are still having a ball with "What's My Rule." The students are getting quite adept at it.
Writing: We studied Worms and Worms became the focus of our 4 sentence paragraphs. We started by brainstorming what we learned about earthworms(pre-writing). We then formulated 4 questions that our paragraph would answer. The students wrote the answers to the questions on their draft. They re read their draft. They checked for capital letters, lowercase letters, use of punctuation. (beginning proof reading) Their inventive or phonetic spelling remains acceptable. Next week, we will write our final copy.
Science: We are observation central this week. The students continue to observe and reflect on their home plant. Many student's drawings reflect secondary leaves and new growth. The students continue to observe and measure the height of their table plant. They are now going around to the other tables to discuss and compare leaf shapes, stem size, which plant is the tallest so far, which plants stems are not straight etc. It has been pretty fun! The students are also observing what is taking place on their seed sponges and seed bags and recording and reflecting on that information. We continue to observe our indoor class garden which contains the cucumber plants we will plant very soon in our outside bed. We are feeding and observing our compost bin with the red wigglers. (What happened to that mango piece and strawberry
slice?) Everyday, something new to observe and reflect on. Next week--water vs. no water.
Literature: "Tools for a Garden," "Growing a Garden," "All Kinds of Gardens," "What Lives in a Garden," "Diary of a Worm," "Earl the Earthworm Digs for His Life," "Animals in the Garden," "I Can't Said the Ant," "The Life and Times of the Ant," Poetry from "Hip Hop Speaks to Children," "Poetry for the Young by Langston Hughes."
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
UPDATES for 5/9-5/13 2011
**Traveling Poets (Kindergarten students) will begin their room travel this week-5/16. The students are so excited. They have been practicing their poems at their library time and in the room.
**There was certainly something for everyone at the Irving Garage Sale on Saturday. Tons of toys, clothes, kitchen stuff, books, furniture.....you name it ......we had it. It was great to see everyone come out to check it out and buy. We had a nice showing of high school students (so fun to hear what they are up to--prom!!!) I enjoyed working the early shift for admission. Thanks to all who supported our School Yard Project by coming out!
**The 4th Annual Poetry Slam is Thursday, May 19th from 6:30-8:00 pm in the Irving Auditorium. We have got some great slammers signed up. We even have some original poems that will be performed. There is still time to sign up! You can even use your Traveling Poets poem. Adults are certainly welcome to slam too! You can read, say, rap or sing it. It can be original or from a book. Group or solo! Mr. Williams will be on the playground at lunch with a microphone so students can practice with the full effect!!!!! Come on and join in the fun!
**Our end of the year tech project will begin this week---8:30-9:30 on Wednesday, May 18th and again same time on Wednesday, May 25th in the lab. I have B. Metric volunteering but could use 1 or 2 more volunteers. Email me if you can help.
**We have 3 WALKING FIELD TRIPS coming up--Oak Park Conservatory, Tuesday, May 31st from 1:00-2:30 pm. --Pizza and Play End of the Year Family Picnic, Wednesday, June 1st from 11:00-1:00 pm at Rehm Park. --Maze Branch Library, Monday, June 6th, time to be determined. Next Friday, you will be receiving information and permission slips for all 3 events. We will be needing lots of volunteers, especially for Pizza and Play. Pizza and Play is a family event. All families are welcomed!
**Our end of the year Sibling Hour is Friday, May 27th from 2:00-2:55. It's a great way for our "almost First Graders" to show what they know. Any sibs 4 and under are welcome.
**All School Olympic Day is Friday, May 27th from 8:30-11:00 am. All parents are welcome to check out the events going on both inside and outside of the school.
**Last Friendship Club with Ms. Bell Bey is Friday, May 20th.
**Reading Grandma's time with us will also be ending soon. Grandma Mary has been an inspiration to me! Her level of commitment to our class is incredible. We absolutely love her!
We look forward to Fridays when she comes to spend the morning with us. Each student gets individual time with her to read, build fluency and comprehension and have a little "me" time.
**The last of school is Tuesday, June 7th. It is a 1 hour session. (8-9 am) It is a family hour. We will have a mini breakfast (granola bars and fruit), sign autograph books and get report cards/summer tips. I almost cannot believe it!!!! These students are more than ready to become first graders!
**The ULTIMATE VOCABULARY CHALLENGE continues--We have had REPUGNANT, EXEMPLARY, OPTIMISTIC, INTEGRITY and this week, PERPLEXED (confused or puzzled.)
We are perplexed by this crazy weather!
**Last book order of the year is on line only---click on the book--activation code in under it.
**Last Spelling City update (but you can certainly use it and the previous words all summer.)
**I have all the codes for summer Xtramath if you have lost yours.
**I am checking to see if LEXIA is available this summer.
**Please feel free to check out wikispaces on line parent resources created by Ms. Homann.
This week: It was all about the Traveling Seeds Activities from the Oak Park Conservatory. The students learned about the way seeds travel in a very hands on way, depending upon their shapes and sizes. They can be blown in the wind--helicopter seeds, dandelion seeds, float in water--coconut seed, cacao seed, pop from a pod--baptista seeds, and stick or hitch hike on animals fur--tickseeds, buried by animals--acorns, be left by animal droppings--avocado pit, cacao seeds. (oh yes!) The students got to experiment with floating, blowing, burying and popping seed types. It was great fun. The students reflected on their experiences in their science journal. Thanks to Gabriela for bringing a cracked open coconut. The student really wanted to see what was inside!
Reading: We continue to work in Unit 7--Teamwork. The students read the Lois Lenski poem, "Cleaning up the Block." They focused on 2 questions--Why is this a team? How is the team working together? We used our decodable book, "Puff," for a written retelling assignment. We read the story aloud. The students discussed the story elements. They then sequenced the parts of the story. We continue to work finding the beginning, middle and ending of the story. Also, what is the main idea? The students went back to their seats and re read the story and filled out the balloon retelling sheet. We reviewed long and shot vowels, digraphs and blends, blending and segmenting 5-8 phoneme words and quotation marks and speech balloons or bubbles. The students used their workshop time for reading games relating to our studies. We worked on our Word Play activity.
Math: We are getting quicker at recognizing when we add or subtract. We are using our math journals to record, illustrate and work out our story problem. The students learned a new game this week called, "Take Away." They use their number line, pennies and dice to play. They rolled the dice--record on their recording sheet how many pennies to take away from their number line and then record how many are left. Some of the students are beginning to see the relationship be addition and subtraction and number families. Pretty cool! We looked at the dollar. We experimented with ways to use coins to make a dollar--4 quarters, 100 pennies, 10 dimes etc. We also continue to work on writing 3 digit numbers. Students are working on place value--100's place, 10's place and 1's place.
We are having a blast trying to figure out "What's My Rule." I am using ones from the kid's homework. We will continue to do this.
Writing: We continue to work on all things that make a good sentence. I have been using the "sentence lifting " technique where I choose a sentence from someones' journal and write it on the overheard. The students see if any changes need to be made. They tell me where to make the changes. We talked about expanding our sentences and using adjectives.
Science: Along with our Traveling Seeds Activities, the students continued to record growth and design from their particular plant that is now at their home. They reflected on the care they are giving each plant. Their drawings reflected the development of leaves and stems and now some secondary leaf growth. The students are also responsible for a table plant. Each table is growing one of our flower types. They students discuss, draw, label and make predictions on what they going to see next. Once again, teamwork is involved in the care and watering of the plant. We checked out the root systems of a marigold, potato, onion, tulip bulb, dandelion. The students labeled the plant parts. Our class garden is really starting to grow. I believe we have decided on tomatoes and cucumbers to grow in our garden bed outside. Stay tuned for more info on that. Next week, we will be taking a look at creatures who are very helpful to our soil. Jack's family has graciously offered us some of their worm compost to study and write about. We will also experiment with seed sponges and sprouting seeds without soil. (Can you say hydroponics?)
We saw a strawberry seed under the microscope!
Literature: "How Many are Left," "Puff," "The Mystery of the Missing Sock "(Quotation Marks), "Roots," "Leaves," "Life in the Meadow," Seeds to Plants-Chapter 3, "How Seeds Travel," "I am a Seed," "Cool Dogs Love School," "What Lives in the Garden," Poems from the following books----"Hip Hop Speaks to Children," "Anna Banana Jump Rope Rhymes," "Random House Poetry for Children," "A Bad Case of the Giggles," "Hopscotch Love--Family Poems."
**There was certainly something for everyone at the Irving Garage Sale on Saturday. Tons of toys, clothes, kitchen stuff, books, furniture.....you name it ......we had it. It was great to see everyone come out to check it out and buy. We had a nice showing of high school students (so fun to hear what they are up to--prom!!!) I enjoyed working the early shift for admission. Thanks to all who supported our School Yard Project by coming out!
**The 4th Annual Poetry Slam is Thursday, May 19th from 6:30-8:00 pm in the Irving Auditorium. We have got some great slammers signed up. We even have some original poems that will be performed. There is still time to sign up! You can even use your Traveling Poets poem. Adults are certainly welcome to slam too! You can read, say, rap or sing it. It can be original or from a book. Group or solo! Mr. Williams will be on the playground at lunch with a microphone so students can practice with the full effect!!!!! Come on and join in the fun!
**Our end of the year tech project will begin this week---8:30-9:30 on Wednesday, May 18th and again same time on Wednesday, May 25th in the lab. I have B. Metric volunteering but could use 1 or 2 more volunteers. Email me if you can help.
**We have 3 WALKING FIELD TRIPS coming up--Oak Park Conservatory, Tuesday, May 31st from 1:00-2:30 pm. --Pizza and Play End of the Year Family Picnic, Wednesday, June 1st from 11:00-1:00 pm at Rehm Park. --Maze Branch Library, Monday, June 6th, time to be determined. Next Friday, you will be receiving information and permission slips for all 3 events. We will be needing lots of volunteers, especially for Pizza and Play. Pizza and Play is a family event. All families are welcomed!
**Our end of the year Sibling Hour is Friday, May 27th from 2:00-2:55. It's a great way for our "almost First Graders" to show what they know. Any sibs 4 and under are welcome.
**All School Olympic Day is Friday, May 27th from 8:30-11:00 am. All parents are welcome to check out the events going on both inside and outside of the school.
**Last Friendship Club with Ms. Bell Bey is Friday, May 20th.
**Reading Grandma's time with us will also be ending soon. Grandma Mary has been an inspiration to me! Her level of commitment to our class is incredible. We absolutely love her!
We look forward to Fridays when she comes to spend the morning with us. Each student gets individual time with her to read, build fluency and comprehension and have a little "me" time.
**The last of school is Tuesday, June 7th. It is a 1 hour session. (8-9 am) It is a family hour. We will have a mini breakfast (granola bars and fruit), sign autograph books and get report cards/summer tips. I almost cannot believe it!!!! These students are more than ready to become first graders!
**The ULTIMATE VOCABULARY CHALLENGE continues--We have had REPUGNANT, EXEMPLARY, OPTIMISTIC, INTEGRITY and this week, PERPLEXED (confused or puzzled.)
We are perplexed by this crazy weather!
**Last book order of the year is on line only---click on the book--activation code in under it.
**Last Spelling City update (but you can certainly use it and the previous words all summer.)
**I have all the codes for summer Xtramath if you have lost yours.
**I am checking to see if LEXIA is available this summer.
**Please feel free to check out wikispaces on line parent resources created by Ms. Homann.
This week: It was all about the Traveling Seeds Activities from the Oak Park Conservatory. The students learned about the way seeds travel in a very hands on way, depending upon their shapes and sizes. They can be blown in the wind--helicopter seeds, dandelion seeds, float in water--coconut seed, cacao seed, pop from a pod--baptista seeds, and stick or hitch hike on animals fur--tickseeds, buried by animals--acorns, be left by animal droppings--avocado pit, cacao seeds. (oh yes!) The students got to experiment with floating, blowing, burying and popping seed types. It was great fun. The students reflected on their experiences in their science journal. Thanks to Gabriela for bringing a cracked open coconut. The student really wanted to see what was inside!
Reading: We continue to work in Unit 7--Teamwork. The students read the Lois Lenski poem, "Cleaning up the Block." They focused on 2 questions--Why is this a team? How is the team working together? We used our decodable book, "Puff," for a written retelling assignment. We read the story aloud. The students discussed the story elements. They then sequenced the parts of the story. We continue to work finding the beginning, middle and ending of the story. Also, what is the main idea? The students went back to their seats and re read the story and filled out the balloon retelling sheet. We reviewed long and shot vowels, digraphs and blends, blending and segmenting 5-8 phoneme words and quotation marks and speech balloons or bubbles. The students used their workshop time for reading games relating to our studies. We worked on our Word Play activity.
Math: We are getting quicker at recognizing when we add or subtract. We are using our math journals to record, illustrate and work out our story problem. The students learned a new game this week called, "Take Away." They use their number line, pennies and dice to play. They rolled the dice--record on their recording sheet how many pennies to take away from their number line and then record how many are left. Some of the students are beginning to see the relationship be addition and subtraction and number families. Pretty cool! We looked at the dollar. We experimented with ways to use coins to make a dollar--4 quarters, 100 pennies, 10 dimes etc. We also continue to work on writing 3 digit numbers. Students are working on place value--100's place, 10's place and 1's place.
We are having a blast trying to figure out "What's My Rule." I am using ones from the kid's homework. We will continue to do this.
Writing: We continue to work on all things that make a good sentence. I have been using the "sentence lifting " technique where I choose a sentence from someones' journal and write it on the overheard. The students see if any changes need to be made. They tell me where to make the changes. We talked about expanding our sentences and using adjectives.
Science: Along with our Traveling Seeds Activities, the students continued to record growth and design from their particular plant that is now at their home. They reflected on the care they are giving each plant. Their drawings reflected the development of leaves and stems and now some secondary leaf growth. The students are also responsible for a table plant. Each table is growing one of our flower types. They students discuss, draw, label and make predictions on what they going to see next. Once again, teamwork is involved in the care and watering of the plant. We checked out the root systems of a marigold, potato, onion, tulip bulb, dandelion. The students labeled the plant parts. Our class garden is really starting to grow. I believe we have decided on tomatoes and cucumbers to grow in our garden bed outside. Stay tuned for more info on that. Next week, we will be taking a look at creatures who are very helpful to our soil. Jack's family has graciously offered us some of their worm compost to study and write about. We will also experiment with seed sponges and sprouting seeds without soil. (Can you say hydroponics?)
We saw a strawberry seed under the microscope!
Literature: "How Many are Left," "Puff," "The Mystery of the Missing Sock "(Quotation Marks), "Roots," "Leaves," "Life in the Meadow," Seeds to Plants-Chapter 3, "How Seeds Travel," "I am a Seed," "Cool Dogs Love School," "What Lives in the Garden," Poems from the following books----"Hip Hop Speaks to Children," "Anna Banana Jump Rope Rhymes," "Random House Poetry for Children," "A Bad Case of the Giggles," "Hopscotch Love--Family Poems."
Sunday, May 8, 2011
UPDATES for 5/2-5/6 2011
**Our Sports and Fitness Week was great! Team hats, healthy snacks, school colors, group yoga culminating with the Fun Run on Saturday made it a fun time. It was a misty Saturday morning for the run, but everyone participating did their personal best. Let's give a shout out to Henry, Evan, McKenna, Ceci and Peter who ran with me!
**It turned out to be a great day for the Ethnic Festival. I was unable to attend but hope some of you had the chance.
**By now everyone has the information about the Traveling Poets under the direction of Ms. Noonan. All students have their poems with exception of Ethan, Eliyah and Jack. Don't worry--I will get them to you on Monday. This activity is a nice lead in to the 4th Annual Poetry Slam, to be held on Thursday, May 19th at 6:30m pm in the Irving Auditorium. Sign up to join in. Students can use their traveling poets poems or write their own or find a new poem. They can work alone, partner up or in a group. They can say, read it, rap it or even sing it! Please fill out the slam permission sheet so Mr. Williams knows who the participants are. Mr. Williams will be on the playground at lunch time with his microphone so the students can practice it they choose. Fun! Fun! fun!
**We will begin work on an end of the year tech project, beginning May 18th. I will need some parent helpers to assist in the computer lab. Please see me if interested.
**Future field trip--Oak Park Conservatory-Tuesday, May 31st-1-2:30 pm. Permission slips will be sent out next Friday.
**SAVE THE DATE!!! Wednesday, June 1st from 11:00-1:00 pm-Pizza and Play End of the Year Family Picnic at Rehm Park. More info is forthcoming.
**We are also working on planning a field trip to our local Maze Library for a tour and to obtain library cards for students who do not have their own. Stay tuned.
**We are also working on planning a Sibling Hour. It is tentatively scheduled for Friday, afternoon, May 27th. Stay tuned.
**Irving Garage Sale is this Saturday, May 14th from 8-1 pm. Come out and help or donate to help our School Yard Project.
**Oak Park Conservatory's Traveling Seeds will be in our classroom next week. The students will experience seed types, plant types, how seed travel and types and functions of leaves in this traveling hands on curriculum.
**The ULTIMATE VOCABULARY CHALLENGE continues---We have had REPUGNANT, EXEMPLARY, OPTIMISTIC and this week, INTEGRITY (being moral and honest.) This class shows a lot of integrity when it comes to working with others.
** Our last Friendship Club session will be May 20th.
This week: It was all about SEEDS! The students observed their seeds. They carefully watered and nurtured them and placed them in a sunny window. The students reflected in their science journal, charted daily any changes if any and recorded and drew sketches about what they observed. Many of the students thought it would take weeks for seeds to sprout. Some students couldn't believe they didn't have a full plant in 3 days. We did learn that the Morning Glory seeds were the first to sprout. Some of the Marigold seeds and Sunflower seeds came next. Finally, the Nasturtium seeds sprouted. We were all a bit disappointed that some of our Marigold seeds had not sprouted in time for Mother's Day. Keep nurturing your plants at home. Check to see if they need water and place them in a sunny window. Don't transplant them in your outside garden yet. The students observed the different leaf structures emerging on the plants. Each table will now observe one variety of the 4 flower types planted. "Grassy G" is growing slowly. Our inside class garden still has room for more seed types. Bring them in!
Reading: We continue work in Unit 7--Teamwork. We read the big book story, "Swimmy" by Leo Lioni. We discussed how Swimmy was different from all of his brothers and sisters and how traveling in a school might be helpful to fish. The students used the comprehension strategies of visualizing and predicting in talking about the story. They were able to answer questions about how Swimmy was different and how the fish work together as a team at the end. We discussed the use of quotation marks to indicate who is speaking in the story. The students retold the story verbally and then tried their hand at retelling the story in written form. The students continue to work on segmenting and blending 4-5 phoneme words and adding and deleting word parts. We even had some 6-7 phoneme words this week!
Math: We continue to work on solving addition and subtraction story problems in our math journal. We continue to work on recognizing key words in the story to help us identify the process we are going to use. All students are working hard on this! We reviewed digital and analog time by the hour and are beginning to focus on the 5 minute increments when looking at an analog clock. We reviewed recognition of penny, nickel , dime and quarter and their values. Next week, we will look at a dollar. We are continuing to play. "What's my rule?" Check out the function machine in this weeks homework. What's your rule????
Writing: We continue work on refining our upper and lowercase letters. Keep practicing the formation. We have started thinking about expanding our sentences with adjectives. The students continue to practice building sentences using the games, Silly Sentences and Silly Rhymes. It can get pretty silly!!
Science: We took a look at the inside of a seed. (seed dissection) We soaked pinto and pea seeds overnight. We examined seeds not soaked and soaked seeds. The students engaged in lively discussion about the texture, color and size of the seeds. We then split the soaked seed. Why could we do this? Yes! The students recalled that perhaps water had "climbed" up into the tiny spaces in the seed. (We learned this from our water unit.) The students examined the seed parts--Coat-Food-Baby Plant and labeled their drawings. They used their magnifiers to see the details and them we put them under the microscope. Way cool!!! Next week, we will continue looking at sprouts, shoots and root systems.
Literature: "Of Thee I Sing," (great story by Barack Obama to his daughters) "Growing Vegetables," "Counting the Garden," "Cinco de Mouse-o," Eyewitness-"Plants," "Seeds to Plants"-Chapter 2, "Big Bug Surprise," "Sometimes Things Change," "Splat the Cat Sings Flat," "Yes-Day," "Hot Rod Hamster," "Swimmy."
**It turned out to be a great day for the Ethnic Festival. I was unable to attend but hope some of you had the chance.
**By now everyone has the information about the Traveling Poets under the direction of Ms. Noonan. All students have their poems with exception of Ethan, Eliyah and Jack. Don't worry--I will get them to you on Monday. This activity is a nice lead in to the 4th Annual Poetry Slam, to be held on Thursday, May 19th at 6:30m pm in the Irving Auditorium. Sign up to join in. Students can use their traveling poets poems or write their own or find a new poem. They can work alone, partner up or in a group. They can say, read it, rap it or even sing it! Please fill out the slam permission sheet so Mr. Williams knows who the participants are. Mr. Williams will be on the playground at lunch time with his microphone so the students can practice it they choose. Fun! Fun! fun!
**We will begin work on an end of the year tech project, beginning May 18th. I will need some parent helpers to assist in the computer lab. Please see me if interested.
**Future field trip--Oak Park Conservatory-Tuesday, May 31st-1-2:30 pm. Permission slips will be sent out next Friday.
**SAVE THE DATE!!! Wednesday, June 1st from 11:00-1:00 pm-Pizza and Play End of the Year Family Picnic at Rehm Park. More info is forthcoming.
**We are also working on planning a field trip to our local Maze Library for a tour and to obtain library cards for students who do not have their own. Stay tuned.
**We are also working on planning a Sibling Hour. It is tentatively scheduled for Friday, afternoon, May 27th. Stay tuned.
**Irving Garage Sale is this Saturday, May 14th from 8-1 pm. Come out and help or donate to help our School Yard Project.
**Oak Park Conservatory's Traveling Seeds will be in our classroom next week. The students will experience seed types, plant types, how seed travel and types and functions of leaves in this traveling hands on curriculum.
**The ULTIMATE VOCABULARY CHALLENGE continues---We have had REPUGNANT, EXEMPLARY, OPTIMISTIC and this week, INTEGRITY (being moral and honest.) This class shows a lot of integrity when it comes to working with others.
** Our last Friendship Club session will be May 20th.
This week: It was all about SEEDS! The students observed their seeds. They carefully watered and nurtured them and placed them in a sunny window. The students reflected in their science journal, charted daily any changes if any and recorded and drew sketches about what they observed. Many of the students thought it would take weeks for seeds to sprout. Some students couldn't believe they didn't have a full plant in 3 days. We did learn that the Morning Glory seeds were the first to sprout. Some of the Marigold seeds and Sunflower seeds came next. Finally, the Nasturtium seeds sprouted. We were all a bit disappointed that some of our Marigold seeds had not sprouted in time for Mother's Day. Keep nurturing your plants at home. Check to see if they need water and place them in a sunny window. Don't transplant them in your outside garden yet. The students observed the different leaf structures emerging on the plants. Each table will now observe one variety of the 4 flower types planted. "Grassy G" is growing slowly. Our inside class garden still has room for more seed types. Bring them in!
Reading: We continue work in Unit 7--Teamwork. We read the big book story, "Swimmy" by Leo Lioni. We discussed how Swimmy was different from all of his brothers and sisters and how traveling in a school might be helpful to fish. The students used the comprehension strategies of visualizing and predicting in talking about the story. They were able to answer questions about how Swimmy was different and how the fish work together as a team at the end. We discussed the use of quotation marks to indicate who is speaking in the story. The students retold the story verbally and then tried their hand at retelling the story in written form. The students continue to work on segmenting and blending 4-5 phoneme words and adding and deleting word parts. We even had some 6-7 phoneme words this week!
Math: We continue to work on solving addition and subtraction story problems in our math journal. We continue to work on recognizing key words in the story to help us identify the process we are going to use. All students are working hard on this! We reviewed digital and analog time by the hour and are beginning to focus on the 5 minute increments when looking at an analog clock. We reviewed recognition of penny, nickel , dime and quarter and their values. Next week, we will look at a dollar. We are continuing to play. "What's my rule?" Check out the function machine in this weeks homework. What's your rule????
Writing: We continue work on refining our upper and lowercase letters. Keep practicing the formation. We have started thinking about expanding our sentences with adjectives. The students continue to practice building sentences using the games, Silly Sentences and Silly Rhymes. It can get pretty silly!!
Science: We took a look at the inside of a seed. (seed dissection) We soaked pinto and pea seeds overnight. We examined seeds not soaked and soaked seeds. The students engaged in lively discussion about the texture, color and size of the seeds. We then split the soaked seed. Why could we do this? Yes! The students recalled that perhaps water had "climbed" up into the tiny spaces in the seed. (We learned this from our water unit.) The students examined the seed parts--Coat-Food-Baby Plant and labeled their drawings. They used their magnifiers to see the details and them we put them under the microscope. Way cool!!! Next week, we will continue looking at sprouts, shoots and root systems.
Literature: "Of Thee I Sing," (great story by Barack Obama to his daughters) "Growing Vegetables," "Counting the Garden," "Cinco de Mouse-o," Eyewitness-"Plants," "Seeds to Plants"-Chapter 2, "Big Bug Surprise," "Sometimes Things Change," "Splat the Cat Sings Flat," "Yes-Day," "Hot Rod Hamster," "Swimmy."
Saturday, April 30, 2011
UPDATES for 4/25-4/29 2011
**The Academic Fair was amazing!!! Projects for all grade levels were informative and fun. My personal fav was the Beatles vs. Stones project. (Beatles rule!) I am particularly proud of our kindergarten students. They have inspired their classmates to think about next years fair. Let's give a shout out to Jack, Ariadne, McKenna, Aida, Rylee, Sammy, Hannah and Niko for their spectacular effort!
**It was damp and dreary but the Egg Drop Contest went on as planned. We saw some pretty interesting, creative and out of the ordinary vehicles. Future engineering students.....There were over 130 vehicles and we saw everyone of them dropped out of the third floor window. Once again, our kindergarten students, some along with a brother or sister, created their vehicles. We had parachutes, balloons, rocket structures, boxes, tubes, doll rods, plastic bags and more as the participating students showed and explained the design of their vehicle. Hats off to Ethan, Ariadne, Gabriela, Jack, Henry, Cole, Maggie, Evan, Peter, Neilo, Danny, Ceci and Niko for a job well done!
**I was unable to attend Family Math Night, but I heard that a good time was had by all. Thanks to those who participated.
**Our Eagle Wing Costume/Dance Party was a big hit! The students rocked out to the tunes of Kids Bop 19, Phantom of the Opera Soundtrack, Justin Beiber, Fresh Versions of Retro Pop for Kids, Hallelujah Hop, Jeff Kagan--Songs from the Trail and A T-Rex Named Sue. I learned some smooth moves from these enthusiastic dancers!
**Next week is Fitness Week (See info sheet in homework packet.) Monday--Ball and Rope Day. Please make sure anything you bring to school has your name on it. All events will culminate with the District 97 FUN RUN on Saturday, May 7th at 8:00 am at Lindberg Park. RUN WITH ME!!! K-2 will run at 8:00 am.
**Read this!!! The 4th Annual Irving Poetry Slam will be held on Thursday, May 19th at 6:30 pm in the Irving Auditorium. Join us for a night of music, self-expression, laughter and creativity. Read a poem or write your own. Rap, sing or say it! I have been a part of the slam since its beginning and I can tell you --it is really fun! I will be talking it up to the students. We will have a poetry unit this month. I have many poetry books, so I can help guide students to an appropriate poem that they can read or memorize. Students can work solo, partner or group. Parents can slam too!!! I have had students in the past write their own rap. Think about it and join in the fun.
**Future Field Trip--Oak Park Conservatory, Tuesday, May 31st--1-2:30 pm. More info later.
**Our final DIBELS testing will take place next week.
**Route to Reading skills groups have concluded for this school year. I will continue to present skills material and evaluate students as part of our classroom workshop activities. The students have done an awesome job!
**The ULTIMATE VOCABULARY CHALLENGE continues----We have had REPUGNANT, EXEMPLARY and now OPTIMISTIC (having a positive outlook.) I am optimistic that I will learn more about break dancing from my students.
**Our SPACE STATIONS are completed! They are truly a collaborative effort. I will photograph the students next week in and around their projects. Stop by and see them before or after school! Check out the detailing.
**Irving Garage Sale--Saturday, May 14th from 8-1 pm. Come on out and help or donate to help our School Yard Project.
This week: Space stations are completed. We have concluded our science unit on Sunshine, Shadows and the Moon. We are diving right into our next and final unit--Seeds to Plants. We are monitoring growth of our grassy "G" from Earth Day. Nothing to report yet. Stay tuned. Peter, Ceci and Jack's potatoes are beginning to show root growth. We finally got to use our star gazers on a sunny Friday afternoon. The students planted their own flower seed.
Reading: We have finished Unit 6, Red, White and Blue. We started Unit 7, Teamwork. This unit explores ways to work together toward a common goal. The unit includes stories about conflict resolution, overcoming discrimination, working as part of a team and sharing and compromise. This week, the students worked on using a graphic organizer to sequence story events. We continue to work on oral and written comprehension skills, reading fluency, decoding, revisiting short vowel sounds, silent e, and blending 6-7 phoneme words. Don't forget WORD PLAY once a day!! Reading Grandma is delighted with students progress in reading. Since she began hearing readers in January, their growth in decoding, comprehension and fluency is wonderful. Keep reading at home!
Math: We continue to work on addition and subtraction story problems. The students played a dice game called Lilly Pad Hoppers where they worked with partners rolling the dice, recording the numbers and adding the sums. We continue listening for key words in our story problems that clue us in on the operation. We are working on our number grids writing to 100. Next week, we will be writing to 125. The students continue to refine number forms. We are working on counting by 5's to 100. We have begun playing, "What's My Rule," where the students identify a function (ie-plus 1) and generate numbers that go with that rule. I will send home a function machine next week.
**Writing: We continue to work on reflecting in our journals on stories we have read. (written recall) The students continue to work on refining upper and lowercase letters, spacing of words in a sentence and position of words on a given line. The students are writing 3-5 sentences!
Science: We began our final science unit with our inquiry question--what are seeds? Each table of students examined a tray full of small objects. They talked about and sorted them into groups. They then divided them into 2 groups---seeds---not seeds. They had some lively discussions about some of the objects. " Is cotton a seed?" "I think it comes from a seed." We then looked at a variety of true seeds. The students were amazed at the shape and color of a marigold seed and the bumpy texture of the nasturtium seed. We used our magnifiers to check it out. The students selected flower seeds to plant. The choices were marigold, morning glory, sunflower and nasturtium. The students learned about soil content and how to start their seed in a cup of dirt. They wondered how much to water it. Where to put it so it will get sun. Does it need a lot of sun? They will find out. The students will observe their seed and take care to water it. In their science journal, they drew their seed and how it looks in their cups. They estimated how long it might take to grow. They will keep a growth chart. We planted our class garden. The students can continue to bring in seeds to place in our class garden. Next week, we will talk about what to plant in the planting bed outside. Calling all gardeners!!!!! We will need your help when we decide.
Literature: "Oh Say Can You Seed?" "Seed to Plant" Chapter 1, "Waiting for Wings," "A Seed is a Promise," "I'm Not sleepy," "Best Book of Spaceships," "I am a Seed," "Fix It."
Just a note---We will not be in the lab for LEXIA for 2 weeks due to MAP testing of older students. Feel free to keep working on it at home!
**It was damp and dreary but the Egg Drop Contest went on as planned. We saw some pretty interesting, creative and out of the ordinary vehicles. Future engineering students.....There were over 130 vehicles and we saw everyone of them dropped out of the third floor window. Once again, our kindergarten students, some along with a brother or sister, created their vehicles. We had parachutes, balloons, rocket structures, boxes, tubes, doll rods, plastic bags and more as the participating students showed and explained the design of their vehicle. Hats off to Ethan, Ariadne, Gabriela, Jack, Henry, Cole, Maggie, Evan, Peter, Neilo, Danny, Ceci and Niko for a job well done!
**I was unable to attend Family Math Night, but I heard that a good time was had by all. Thanks to those who participated.
**Our Eagle Wing Costume/Dance Party was a big hit! The students rocked out to the tunes of Kids Bop 19, Phantom of the Opera Soundtrack, Justin Beiber, Fresh Versions of Retro Pop for Kids, Hallelujah Hop, Jeff Kagan--Songs from the Trail and A T-Rex Named Sue. I learned some smooth moves from these enthusiastic dancers!
**Next week is Fitness Week (See info sheet in homework packet.) Monday--Ball and Rope Day. Please make sure anything you bring to school has your name on it. All events will culminate with the District 97 FUN RUN on Saturday, May 7th at 8:00 am at Lindberg Park. RUN WITH ME!!! K-2 will run at 8:00 am.
**Read this!!! The 4th Annual Irving Poetry Slam will be held on Thursday, May 19th at 6:30 pm in the Irving Auditorium. Join us for a night of music, self-expression, laughter and creativity. Read a poem or write your own. Rap, sing or say it! I have been a part of the slam since its beginning and I can tell you --it is really fun! I will be talking it up to the students. We will have a poetry unit this month. I have many poetry books, so I can help guide students to an appropriate poem that they can read or memorize. Students can work solo, partner or group. Parents can slam too!!! I have had students in the past write their own rap. Think about it and join in the fun.
**Future Field Trip--Oak Park Conservatory, Tuesday, May 31st--1-2:30 pm. More info later.
**Our final DIBELS testing will take place next week.
**Route to Reading skills groups have concluded for this school year. I will continue to present skills material and evaluate students as part of our classroom workshop activities. The students have done an awesome job!
**The ULTIMATE VOCABULARY CHALLENGE continues----We have had REPUGNANT, EXEMPLARY and now OPTIMISTIC (having a positive outlook.) I am optimistic that I will learn more about break dancing from my students.
**Our SPACE STATIONS are completed! They are truly a collaborative effort. I will photograph the students next week in and around their projects. Stop by and see them before or after school! Check out the detailing.
**Irving Garage Sale--Saturday, May 14th from 8-1 pm. Come on out and help or donate to help our School Yard Project.
This week: Space stations are completed. We have concluded our science unit on Sunshine, Shadows and the Moon. We are diving right into our next and final unit--Seeds to Plants. We are monitoring growth of our grassy "G" from Earth Day. Nothing to report yet. Stay tuned. Peter, Ceci and Jack's potatoes are beginning to show root growth. We finally got to use our star gazers on a sunny Friday afternoon. The students planted their own flower seed.
Reading: We have finished Unit 6, Red, White and Blue. We started Unit 7, Teamwork. This unit explores ways to work together toward a common goal. The unit includes stories about conflict resolution, overcoming discrimination, working as part of a team and sharing and compromise. This week, the students worked on using a graphic organizer to sequence story events. We continue to work on oral and written comprehension skills, reading fluency, decoding, revisiting short vowel sounds, silent e, and blending 6-7 phoneme words. Don't forget WORD PLAY once a day!! Reading Grandma is delighted with students progress in reading. Since she began hearing readers in January, their growth in decoding, comprehension and fluency is wonderful. Keep reading at home!
Math: We continue to work on addition and subtraction story problems. The students played a dice game called Lilly Pad Hoppers where they worked with partners rolling the dice, recording the numbers and adding the sums. We continue listening for key words in our story problems that clue us in on the operation. We are working on our number grids writing to 100. Next week, we will be writing to 125. The students continue to refine number forms. We are working on counting by 5's to 100. We have begun playing, "What's My Rule," where the students identify a function (ie-plus 1) and generate numbers that go with that rule. I will send home a function machine next week.
**Writing: We continue to work on reflecting in our journals on stories we have read. (written recall) The students continue to work on refining upper and lowercase letters, spacing of words in a sentence and position of words on a given line. The students are writing 3-5 sentences!
Science: We began our final science unit with our inquiry question--what are seeds? Each table of students examined a tray full of small objects. They talked about and sorted them into groups. They then divided them into 2 groups---seeds---not seeds. They had some lively discussions about some of the objects. " Is cotton a seed?" "I think it comes from a seed." We then looked at a variety of true seeds. The students were amazed at the shape and color of a marigold seed and the bumpy texture of the nasturtium seed. We used our magnifiers to check it out. The students selected flower seeds to plant. The choices were marigold, morning glory, sunflower and nasturtium. The students learned about soil content and how to start their seed in a cup of dirt. They wondered how much to water it. Where to put it so it will get sun. Does it need a lot of sun? They will find out. The students will observe their seed and take care to water it. In their science journal, they drew their seed and how it looks in their cups. They estimated how long it might take to grow. They will keep a growth chart. We planted our class garden. The students can continue to bring in seeds to place in our class garden. Next week, we will talk about what to plant in the planting bed outside. Calling all gardeners!!!!! We will need your help when we decide.
Literature: "Oh Say Can You Seed?" "Seed to Plant" Chapter 1, "Waiting for Wings," "A Seed is a Promise," "I'm Not sleepy," "Best Book of Spaceships," "I am a Seed," "Fix It."
Just a note---We will not be in the lab for LEXIA for 2 weeks due to MAP testing of older students. Feel free to keep working on it at home!
Friday, April 22, 2011
UPDATES for 4/18-4/20 2011
**Can't wait to see all the projects for our Academic Fair and all the vehicles for the Egg Drop. Wednesday, April 27th is the day!!! Come join us out on the blacktop for the Egg Drop beginning at 12:15 pm. Join us once again to see our students present and talk about their Academic Fair projects from 6:30-8:00 that evening.
**Family Math Night is Thursday, April 28th from 6:30-8:00 pm. This years theme is "Who done it?" Let's collect, decipher and solve the math mystery!
**RUN WITH ME on Saturday, May 7th at 8:00 am in Lindberg Park at District 97's Annual Fun Run. See me for information sheet.
**The 31st Annual Ethnic Festival Saturday, May 7th from 10-3 pm at Julian Middle School.
**GOOD NEWS! Our class has earned 90 eagle wings and qualifies for another celebration. Last time, you remember, the students chose a game afternoon where they brought the games. This time, they have decided on a Costume/Dance Party (costumes are optional) on Tuesday, April 26th from 2-2:55pm. Students can bring their costumes in a bag to change into. Students may also bring appropriate cd's to play. We will have carrots, apples, popcorn and grapes (their choices) for snack.
**This weeks Ultimate Vocabulary Challenge word was EXEMPLARY--to use as a model.
(That student's work was exemplary!) The word was submitted by our own classmate, Hannah.
Congratulations, Hannah! We used the word 6 times (short week).
**In this short week, we talked about Earth Day. We discussed how we, as individuals, could help save the earth. We brainstormed a list of ideas of things we already do to to help out. We planted grass seed in the form of a G for GREEN and GULLO's class. We will watch it grow.
**We will begin prep for our 3rd and final science unit, From Seed to Plant. The students will be choosing a flower to grow from seed. We will also be starting a class garden and choosing a plant for our outside planting bed. It will be very exciting!
**No homework this weekend. Keep reading!! Enjoy the time with family.
This week: It was all about the SPACE STATIONS. The students formed groups and a group leader was chosen. We discussed the art of working with a group, the importance of communication, participation and compromise. The groups sketched various prototype drawings. On Monday, they selected their boxes and began the process of construction. Boxes were cut, taped and prepared for painting. Currently, the groups are working on painting their space stations. We should be finished with painting and on to detailing by early next week. I am pleased with each groups interactions and their commitment to the task. Stay tuned!
Reading: We continue to work on Unit 6. We are nearing its completion. In the story,"Hat's Off to the Fourth of July," the students listened to the story of a parade taking place on the 4th of July. They sequenced the order of events taking place in the parade, as well as looked for and orally labeled nouns, verbs and adjectives. We reviewed the use of comas. The students continue to work on building fluency, blending 4-5 phoneme words, adding and deleting word parts and reviewing blends and digraphs. No WORD PLAY this week.
Math: We continue to work on both addition and subtraction processes. Next week, the students will decide if the story problem for their math journal involves addition or subtraction . We will mix it up!
Writing: We continue to work on reflecting in our journal, refining upper and lowercase letters, spacing between words in a sentence and position of words on a given line.
Science: We read about and discussed the dwarf planet, Pluto and beyond. We took a look a maps and drawings of our current solar system. We also studied about the dwarf planets, Eres and Ceres. The students got to sample some freeze dried ice cream sandwiches and strawberries. Some real space food! Most thought it tasted crunchy and dry but good! Our main work centered around working on our space stations.
Literature: "First Graders from Mars" Episodes 1 and 2, "Beyond Pluto," "The Story of Passover," "This is the Matzoh," "Bad, Bad, Bunny Trouble," "The Statue of Liberty," "It's Spring," "Mars Needs Moms," "It's Easter."
**Family Math Night is Thursday, April 28th from 6:30-8:00 pm. This years theme is "Who done it?" Let's collect, decipher and solve the math mystery!
**RUN WITH ME on Saturday, May 7th at 8:00 am in Lindberg Park at District 97's Annual Fun Run. See me for information sheet.
**The 31st Annual Ethnic Festival Saturday, May 7th from 10-3 pm at Julian Middle School.
**GOOD NEWS! Our class has earned 90 eagle wings and qualifies for another celebration. Last time, you remember, the students chose a game afternoon where they brought the games. This time, they have decided on a Costume/Dance Party (costumes are optional) on Tuesday, April 26th from 2-2:55pm. Students can bring their costumes in a bag to change into. Students may also bring appropriate cd's to play. We will have carrots, apples, popcorn and grapes (their choices) for snack.
**This weeks Ultimate Vocabulary Challenge word was EXEMPLARY--to use as a model.
(That student's work was exemplary!) The word was submitted by our own classmate, Hannah.
Congratulations, Hannah! We used the word 6 times (short week).
**In this short week, we talked about Earth Day. We discussed how we, as individuals, could help save the earth. We brainstormed a list of ideas of things we already do to to help out. We planted grass seed in the form of a G for GREEN and GULLO's class. We will watch it grow.
**We will begin prep for our 3rd and final science unit, From Seed to Plant. The students will be choosing a flower to grow from seed. We will also be starting a class garden and choosing a plant for our outside planting bed. It will be very exciting!
**No homework this weekend. Keep reading!! Enjoy the time with family.
This week: It was all about the SPACE STATIONS. The students formed groups and a group leader was chosen. We discussed the art of working with a group, the importance of communication, participation and compromise. The groups sketched various prototype drawings. On Monday, they selected their boxes and began the process of construction. Boxes were cut, taped and prepared for painting. Currently, the groups are working on painting their space stations. We should be finished with painting and on to detailing by early next week. I am pleased with each groups interactions and their commitment to the task. Stay tuned!
Reading: We continue to work on Unit 6. We are nearing its completion. In the story,"Hat's Off to the Fourth of July," the students listened to the story of a parade taking place on the 4th of July. They sequenced the order of events taking place in the parade, as well as looked for and orally labeled nouns, verbs and adjectives. We reviewed the use of comas. The students continue to work on building fluency, blending 4-5 phoneme words, adding and deleting word parts and reviewing blends and digraphs. No WORD PLAY this week.
Math: We continue to work on both addition and subtraction processes. Next week, the students will decide if the story problem for their math journal involves addition or subtraction . We will mix it up!
Writing: We continue to work on reflecting in our journal, refining upper and lowercase letters, spacing between words in a sentence and position of words on a given line.
Science: We read about and discussed the dwarf planet, Pluto and beyond. We took a look a maps and drawings of our current solar system. We also studied about the dwarf planets, Eres and Ceres. The students got to sample some freeze dried ice cream sandwiches and strawberries. Some real space food! Most thought it tasted crunchy and dry but good! Our main work centered around working on our space stations.
Literature: "First Graders from Mars" Episodes 1 and 2, "Beyond Pluto," "The Story of Passover," "This is the Matzoh," "Bad, Bad, Bunny Trouble," "The Statue of Liberty," "It's Spring," "Mars Needs Moms," "It's Easter."
Friday, April 15, 2011
UPDATES for 4/11-4/15 2011
**The Centennial Celebration/Taste of Irving was loads of fun!! I learned so much more about Irving School from the alumi who came. It was so great talking with them. They shared many stories with me about the building, teachers, curriculum and antics of the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's. They were very sad that we no longer have our loft and fish pond. I was thrilled to see many former students and especially elated to chat with a former student and his family. That student is now 27 years old!! What a great evening for all. Please stop by to see our NOW and THEN thoughts and read our If I Lived 100 Years ago sentences.
**NO SCHOOL--Thursday, April 21st, Teacher's Institute and Friday, April 22nd.
**RUN WITH ME on Saturday, May 7th at 8:00 am. See information in homework packet.
**THANK YOU to S. Oufkir, D. Donaldson, T. Zurawski and A. Baker for volunteering to help on our Planetarium field trip. We had an awesome experience and a great day.
**We have our boxes for our Space Station projects. Our groups are set and our prototypes are drawn. We will be working on construction, painting and detailing all next week and some of the following week. Any cool things for details, send in on Monday. It can get messy, so have your child wear clothing that is not special.
**CHANGE IN DATE: Please note that the Academic Fair and Egg Drop has been moved to the following week--Wednesday, April 27th. More time for ideas and research!
**SPELLING BEE NEWS--Congratulations to Rylee and Alistair!!!! They were the last kindergarten participants standing at the Spelling Bee!!! 2nd grader, Bodie, first grader, Andrew and 2nd grader, Robin received 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively. It was exciting to watch!!
**Author, Marc Brown was a smash hit at Irving on Wednesday. We learned about his life and how he comes up with ideas for his books. We learned how "Arthur" came to be. Marc read his newest "Arthur" story to the group. We had a very cool photo taken of Marc Brown with our class.
**The 31st Annual Ethnic Festival is Saturday, May 7th from 10-3 pm at Julian Middle School.
**Keep reading those Busy Readers and keeping your log. Our classroom goal is to have every child complete 1 log.
**Family Math Night is Thursday, April 28th from 6:30-8:00 pm. This years focus is called, "Who done It?" Let's collect, decipher and solve the mystery.
**We have started a school wide Ultimate Vocabulary Challenge. This weeks word was REPUGNANT--offensive, disgusting, awful. Our class used the word in sentences 20 times this week! (That smell was repugnant.) Wonder what next weeks word will be? If you have an interesting word--write it down and bring it in. I will submit it to Ms. Chinn.
**Homework packet is in their backpacks.
This week: It was about 2 things--Our field trip to the Planetarium and Preparation for the Centennial Celebration. We had a beautiful day for our trip. We saw a cool movie called, "One World, One Sky." Our friends, Big Bird and Elmo showed us the night sky, stars and constellations and pointed out how even across the world in China, what we see in the sky is the same. We enjoyed looking at the exhibits in the Solar System Room. The students loved making a crater and checking out the Mars and Adler Rovers. We looked at the chart with all the planets and learned that most of the planets had more that one moon and the moons were named. We saw part of a meteorite from the the Meteor Crater in Arizona. The Planet Explorers interactive
room was blast! The students tried on space gear, worked on the rocket, blasted off in a simulator, went to planet x and crawled through tunnels, drove a lunar rover and played with space rocks. We had a lovely lunch outside near the beach. We prepared for the Centennial. The students looked on the internet at the history of South Oak Park. A representative from the Oak Park Historical Society came to speak to classes about what it was like in Oak Park in 1910 and what Irving School looked liked. What, no playground! Look how small our school was. We did not see very many trees. What did kids do back then? What, no Nintendo!!! It was an eye opener for many. I photographed what our school looks like now. We all were amazed at the growth and size of the our building throughout the years.
Reading: We continue to work on Unit 6. We took our sequencing frames a step further. The students did not preview their decodable story this time. They did take it back to their seats and read it on their own and filled out the sequencing frame. All Independently!! We are really moving into the first grade mode. We continue to work on pointing out the beginning, middle and ending of a story as well as the main idea. We reviewed all of our sight vocabulary and used them in sentences. We worked on our fluency. We worked on blending 4-5 phoneme words, adding and deleting word parts, WORD PLAY activities and blends and digraphs.
Math: We continue to work on the process of subtraction. The students are really beginning to recognize the specific words in our story problems that indicate you are going to subtract. We continue to work on reading and writing 2-3 digit numbers, counting to 120 and reviewing geometric solids. The students brought in some really creative multi dimentional projects. Stop by and check our Structural Museum. We played the plus or minus game with pennies. It was interesting to observe students' counting strategies (one by one, grouping by 2's and 5's, visually performing the process.)
Writing: We continue to work on reflecting in our journals, refining our upper and lowercase letters, spacing between words in a sentence and position of words on a given line.
Science: We reflected on our field trip. We continue to discuss the phases of the moon. The students continue their fascination with the stories behind constellation names. We are loving those ancient Greeks and Romans! We made star gazers on station day and are waiting for a very sunny day to use them. The students read about and discussed the land planets and gas planets with accompanying facts about their moons and geography. The students have now formed their groups for their space station projects. They worked Friday morning discussing and sketching their space station prototype. Work will begin on Monday.
Literature: "D. W.'s Guide to Perfect Manners," "Billy Bean's Dream," "Asteroids, Comets and Meteors," "Sleepy time Olie," "Jupiter and Saturn," "Planets--True or False," "I Want to be an Astronaut," "Once Upon a Starry Night," "The Book of Planet Earth," "First on the Moon," "Stories of the Stars," " Uranus and Neptune."
**NO SCHOOL--Thursday, April 21st, Teacher's Institute and Friday, April 22nd.
**RUN WITH ME on Saturday, May 7th at 8:00 am. See information in homework packet.
**THANK YOU to S. Oufkir, D. Donaldson, T. Zurawski and A. Baker for volunteering to help on our Planetarium field trip. We had an awesome experience and a great day.
**We have our boxes for our Space Station projects. Our groups are set and our prototypes are drawn. We will be working on construction, painting and detailing all next week and some of the following week. Any cool things for details, send in on Monday. It can get messy, so have your child wear clothing that is not special.
**CHANGE IN DATE: Please note that the Academic Fair and Egg Drop has been moved to the following week--Wednesday, April 27th. More time for ideas and research!
**SPELLING BEE NEWS--Congratulations to Rylee and Alistair!!!! They were the last kindergarten participants standing at the Spelling Bee!!! 2nd grader, Bodie, first grader, Andrew and 2nd grader, Robin received 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively. It was exciting to watch!!
**Author, Marc Brown was a smash hit at Irving on Wednesday. We learned about his life and how he comes up with ideas for his books. We learned how "Arthur" came to be. Marc read his newest "Arthur" story to the group. We had a very cool photo taken of Marc Brown with our class.
**The 31st Annual Ethnic Festival is Saturday, May 7th from 10-3 pm at Julian Middle School.
**Keep reading those Busy Readers and keeping your log. Our classroom goal is to have every child complete 1 log.
**Family Math Night is Thursday, April 28th from 6:30-8:00 pm. This years focus is called, "Who done It?" Let's collect, decipher and solve the mystery.
**We have started a school wide Ultimate Vocabulary Challenge. This weeks word was REPUGNANT--offensive, disgusting, awful. Our class used the word in sentences 20 times this week! (That smell was repugnant.) Wonder what next weeks word will be? If you have an interesting word--write it down and bring it in. I will submit it to Ms. Chinn.
**Homework packet is in their backpacks.
This week: It was about 2 things--Our field trip to the Planetarium and Preparation for the Centennial Celebration. We had a beautiful day for our trip. We saw a cool movie called, "One World, One Sky." Our friends, Big Bird and Elmo showed us the night sky, stars and constellations and pointed out how even across the world in China, what we see in the sky is the same. We enjoyed looking at the exhibits in the Solar System Room. The students loved making a crater and checking out the Mars and Adler Rovers. We looked at the chart with all the planets and learned that most of the planets had more that one moon and the moons were named. We saw part of a meteorite from the the Meteor Crater in Arizona. The Planet Explorers interactive
room was blast! The students tried on space gear, worked on the rocket, blasted off in a simulator, went to planet x and crawled through tunnels, drove a lunar rover and played with space rocks. We had a lovely lunch outside near the beach. We prepared for the Centennial. The students looked on the internet at the history of South Oak Park. A representative from the Oak Park Historical Society came to speak to classes about what it was like in Oak Park in 1910 and what Irving School looked liked. What, no playground! Look how small our school was. We did not see very many trees. What did kids do back then? What, no Nintendo!!! It was an eye opener for many. I photographed what our school looks like now. We all were amazed at the growth and size of the our building throughout the years.
Reading: We continue to work on Unit 6. We took our sequencing frames a step further. The students did not preview their decodable story this time. They did take it back to their seats and read it on their own and filled out the sequencing frame. All Independently!! We are really moving into the first grade mode. We continue to work on pointing out the beginning, middle and ending of a story as well as the main idea. We reviewed all of our sight vocabulary and used them in sentences. We worked on our fluency. We worked on blending 4-5 phoneme words, adding and deleting word parts, WORD PLAY activities and blends and digraphs.
Math: We continue to work on the process of subtraction. The students are really beginning to recognize the specific words in our story problems that indicate you are going to subtract. We continue to work on reading and writing 2-3 digit numbers, counting to 120 and reviewing geometric solids. The students brought in some really creative multi dimentional projects. Stop by and check our Structural Museum. We played the plus or minus game with pennies. It was interesting to observe students' counting strategies (one by one, grouping by 2's and 5's, visually performing the process.)
Writing: We continue to work on reflecting in our journals, refining our upper and lowercase letters, spacing between words in a sentence and position of words on a given line.
Science: We reflected on our field trip. We continue to discuss the phases of the moon. The students continue their fascination with the stories behind constellation names. We are loving those ancient Greeks and Romans! We made star gazers on station day and are waiting for a very sunny day to use them. The students read about and discussed the land planets and gas planets with accompanying facts about their moons and geography. The students have now formed their groups for their space station projects. They worked Friday morning discussing and sketching their space station prototype. Work will begin on Monday.
Literature: "D. W.'s Guide to Perfect Manners," "Billy Bean's Dream," "Asteroids, Comets and Meteors," "Sleepy time Olie," "Jupiter and Saturn," "Planets--True or False," "I Want to be an Astronaut," "Once Upon a Starry Night," "The Book of Planet Earth," "First on the Moon," "Stories of the Stars," " Uranus and Neptune."
Sunday, April 10, 2011
UPDATES for 4/4-4/8 2011
**REMINDER--FIELD TRIP to the Planetarium on Tuesday, April 12th.
**Centennial Celebration/Taste of Irving--Friday, April 15th 6-8 pm. Bring a dish to serve 10-12 people. Last name beginning with A-L Bring an appetizer. Last name beginning with J-R Bring an entre. Last name beginning with S-Z Bring a dessert. Great fun for all!!!
**To start off our celebration week, a presenter from the Oak Park Historical Society will come on Monday, April 11th at 8:30 am. to speak to the students on the history behind Irving School and the south end of our village. He will bring drawings and artifacts.
**District 97 FUN RUN! May 7th t 8:00 am. at Lindberg Park RUN WITH ME!!!!
**Keep sending those giant boxes and other cool stuff for our space station construction. We will begin construction on April 18th.
**What a great response to Irving's Annual Academic Fair and Egg Drop Contest. Our class has 8 participants in the academic fair and 10 participants in the egg drop. Stop by the afternoon of Wednesday, April 20th to see it all! Students will also be in the gym on Wednesday night to speak about their projects.
**The Irving Annual Spelling Bee is THIS Wednesday, April 13th at 11:00 am in the auditorium. Come cheer on our class representatives, Alistair, Rylee and alternate, McKenna. The schedule is as follows: The bee will begin at 11:00 am. K -2 students may come to watch the bee. At 11:25 am., those students will go to eat their lunch. The bee will continue. As student representatives finish their part of the bee, they will eat their lunches in the auditorium. It will be exciting!!!!!
**Children's author, Marc Brown, of "Arthur" fame will be here on Wednesday, April 13th from 12:45 until 1:30 pm. to read/draw to our K-2 students. Thanks to Ms. Noonan for arranging this.
**Check out the new Irving Parent Resource wiki (under great resources on this blog). This is a tremendous resource containing many helpful sites for parents and kids. Our esteemed 3rd grade teacher, Ms Homann, researched sites and put this together. A giant THANK YOU to her for all her hard work! Enjoy.
**Check out Book Order info.
**Spelling City has been updated. Try Xtramath if you haven't or work on Lexia.
This week:
It was all about constellations! We took a much closer look at our night sky and looked for the star patterns or pictures we call constellations. We study what a star is and how they are not all the same size or intensity. We learned that all stars are not a white color but can be blue, red yellow and orange. The students were fascinated by the constellation names and the stories behind them that are rooted in Greek Mythology. One of our station day activities was to create our own constellation and name. Check them out in the hall outside of our room. Very cosmic!!!
Reading: We continued in our unit called, " Red, White and Blue." The students used sequencing frames. They independently read a decodable story and wrote what happened first, in the middle and at the end. We continued working on our questions and concepts for the word, patriotism. We investigated the use of proper nouns, abbreviations and continued our discussion on what an adjective is. We worked on our weekly WORD PLAY activity (see homework), oral and written comprehension skills, blends, digraphs and working with silent e. The students were introduced to a game called, "Silly Rhymes," where they have to construct a sentence using rhyming words, verb, adjectives and articles. It can get pretty silly!!!
Math: What is subtraction? was the question of the week. We worked on the subtraction process in our math journals and began to listen for specific words in our story problem that would tell us if we needed to subtract, take away or "minus" something. We worked on counting down from random numbers, wrote our numbers from 0-50 on our number grid, played the plus or minus game, the disappearing train game, and continued our work with place value. We revisited the world of 3 dimensional structures. This time we used marshmallows and toothpicks to create our dimensional structures. Can't wait to see what they create for their homework project. We will set up a multi-dimensional museum in our classroom.
Writing: We continue to respond to literature we have read in class. The students are working hard at refining their upper and lowercase letters, spacing and placement of letters and punctuation. We are composing 3-4 sentences.
Science: We worked with a shadow clock or sundial. We read about the history behind unsing the sun to mark time. Each table group observed their sun dial at different parts of the day and reflected their observations in their science journals. We experimented with solar paper. Each student placed an object on their solar paper and placed it outside in a sunny spot. They checked it after an hour and recorded what they observed and why they thought happened. We checked out the different pictures of the moon's phases. We made a topographical moon with packing peanuts and aluminum foil.
Literature: "The Heavenly Zoo," "Seeing Stars," "Children's Atlas of the Universe," "Space Race," "Shooting Stars," "Mercury and Venus," "The Solar System," "Stars, Stars, Stars," "The Story of Betsy Ross," "The American Wei," "To Root, To Toot to Parachute--What is a verb?" "If You Were a Minus Sign."
**Centennial Celebration/Taste of Irving--Friday, April 15th 6-8 pm. Bring a dish to serve 10-12 people. Last name beginning with A-L Bring an appetizer. Last name beginning with J-R Bring an entre. Last name beginning with S-Z Bring a dessert. Great fun for all!!!
**To start off our celebration week, a presenter from the Oak Park Historical Society will come on Monday, April 11th at 8:30 am. to speak to the students on the history behind Irving School and the south end of our village. He will bring drawings and artifacts.
**District 97 FUN RUN! May 7th t 8:00 am. at Lindberg Park RUN WITH ME!!!!
**Keep sending those giant boxes and other cool stuff for our space station construction. We will begin construction on April 18th.
**What a great response to Irving's Annual Academic Fair and Egg Drop Contest. Our class has 8 participants in the academic fair and 10 participants in the egg drop. Stop by the afternoon of Wednesday, April 20th to see it all! Students will also be in the gym on Wednesday night to speak about their projects.
**The Irving Annual Spelling Bee is THIS Wednesday, April 13th at 11:00 am in the auditorium. Come cheer on our class representatives, Alistair, Rylee and alternate, McKenna. The schedule is as follows: The bee will begin at 11:00 am. K -2 students may come to watch the bee. At 11:25 am., those students will go to eat their lunch. The bee will continue. As student representatives finish their part of the bee, they will eat their lunches in the auditorium. It will be exciting!!!!!
**Children's author, Marc Brown, of "Arthur" fame will be here on Wednesday, April 13th from 12:45 until 1:30 pm. to read/draw to our K-2 students. Thanks to Ms. Noonan for arranging this.
**Check out the new Irving Parent Resource wiki (under great resources on this blog). This is a tremendous resource containing many helpful sites for parents and kids. Our esteemed 3rd grade teacher, Ms Homann, researched sites and put this together. A giant THANK YOU to her for all her hard work! Enjoy.
**Check out Book Order info.
**Spelling City has been updated. Try Xtramath if you haven't or work on Lexia.
This week:
It was all about constellations! We took a much closer look at our night sky and looked for the star patterns or pictures we call constellations. We study what a star is and how they are not all the same size or intensity. We learned that all stars are not a white color but can be blue, red yellow and orange. The students were fascinated by the constellation names and the stories behind them that are rooted in Greek Mythology. One of our station day activities was to create our own constellation and name. Check them out in the hall outside of our room. Very cosmic!!!
Reading: We continued in our unit called, " Red, White and Blue." The students used sequencing frames. They independently read a decodable story and wrote what happened first, in the middle and at the end. We continued working on our questions and concepts for the word, patriotism. We investigated the use of proper nouns, abbreviations and continued our discussion on what an adjective is. We worked on our weekly WORD PLAY activity (see homework), oral and written comprehension skills, blends, digraphs and working with silent e. The students were introduced to a game called, "Silly Rhymes," where they have to construct a sentence using rhyming words, verb, adjectives and articles. It can get pretty silly!!!
Math: What is subtraction? was the question of the week. We worked on the subtraction process in our math journals and began to listen for specific words in our story problem that would tell us if we needed to subtract, take away or "minus" something. We worked on counting down from random numbers, wrote our numbers from 0-50 on our number grid, played the plus or minus game, the disappearing train game, and continued our work with place value. We revisited the world of 3 dimensional structures. This time we used marshmallows and toothpicks to create our dimensional structures. Can't wait to see what they create for their homework project. We will set up a multi-dimensional museum in our classroom.
Writing: We continue to respond to literature we have read in class. The students are working hard at refining their upper and lowercase letters, spacing and placement of letters and punctuation. We are composing 3-4 sentences.
Science: We worked with a shadow clock or sundial. We read about the history behind unsing the sun to mark time. Each table group observed their sun dial at different parts of the day and reflected their observations in their science journals. We experimented with solar paper. Each student placed an object on their solar paper and placed it outside in a sunny spot. They checked it after an hour and recorded what they observed and why they thought happened. We checked out the different pictures of the moon's phases. We made a topographical moon with packing peanuts and aluminum foil.
Literature: "The Heavenly Zoo," "Seeing Stars," "Children's Atlas of the Universe," "Space Race," "Shooting Stars," "Mercury and Venus," "The Solar System," "Stars, Stars, Stars," "The Story of Betsy Ross," "The American Wei," "To Root, To Toot to Parachute--What is a verb?" "If You Were a Minus Sign."
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