March 1, 2013 Update...

Dear Parents,

We had a busy and fabulous week.  The kids really enjoyed the movie, James and the Giant Peach.  Thank you, Mrs. Merchant, for donating juice boxes to the class!  Also, a HUGE thank you to Mrs. Vansant!  She spent over an hour with us today, teaching us how to make origami paper cranes! (Not to mention the hours of preparation she spent!  Origami is not an easy art form!)  I think the kids really loved this activity. We hung up the cranes in our room, just like Sadako's brother did in her hospital room.  Check out below to see what else we've done this week...

Phonics/Grammar:  We learned to read and spell new words from our chapter book.  We played an interactive game of "splat" on the smartboard to help us learn the spelling of the words. We also learned how to correctly use quotation marks when the quote is at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence.

Reading:  We began Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. We used a word splash to begin each chapter to help us read and understand unfamiliar words.  We reviewed identifying key words in a comprehension question to help us locate the answer in the text. We looked at the important character traits of Sadako and the others in the book, and we learned new and unfamiliar vocabulary words and phrases from the story by looking at context clues.  We read several short stories, but very challenging stories, and answered comprehension questions.  We celebrated Dr. Seuss week in the library with some fun center activities.  Thank you, Mrs. Huffstetler!

Writing:  We shared our Opinion pieces on James and the Giant Peach and completed the editing process.  These book recommendations are hanging in our hallway. Come by and check them out. I'm so impressed with how the students' writing has progressed this year! I've actually taken several of the papers and will be sending them to the county for examples that other teachers can look at to see what exceptional papers look like!  Way to go, room 216!

Math:  We looked at both equations and word problems that contain missing addends.  We looked specifically at how we can use an open number line to help us solve these types of problems.  This proved to be challenging for some of us!  Keep an eye on those math papers to check on your child's understanding. This week, we also looked closely at our word problem rubric that all the teachers use to grade papers and we identified what is needed to make sure we are fully showing our understanding of the problem.

Class News...

Remember to send your child a HEALTHY snack every day...think FUEL for the brain when deciding what to send!  (Sorry if this sounds like a broken record...still many children forgetting snack.)

Our red folders in our agendas have taken quite a beating this year and need to be replaced.  Is there anyone who would be willing to come in to the classroom and replace these for me?  I have the folders, I'll just need someone who is able to donate some time to punching the holes and putting the folders into the agendas.  Any day and time is fine with me. Let me know if you are available to help?

If you haven't returned the re-enrollment form, please do so on or before March 8.  Remember to follow those directions carefully.