March 25-29

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS!

If your conference was rescheduled because of the snow day, your conference will be tomorrow at the same time it was last week!  I sent home a paper reminder with your child today.  If there are any questions, please let me know!  I'm so excited to see you all again!

Homework packets are due tomorrow!

We still need t-shirts!  We will be making our team jerseys (as our classroom reward) next Friday, April 5th!  Please send in a plain white t-shirt for your child ASAP!  I'm hoping to have all of the t-shirts here by the end of the week.  If you have any questions or are unable to send in a t-shirt, don't hesitate to contact me! 

This Thursday, students will be attending a "Kids of the Block" presentation.  Some very fun puppets with great stories will be coming to visit us!  The Kids on the Block program provides
a chance to breakdown barriers and promote healthy attitudes about individual differences.
The three topics that will be addressed are Cerebral Palsy, Vision Impairment and Downs
Syndrome.

Next Thursday, April 4th, will be our Biography Day!  On this day, students are asked to come to school, dressed as the person they have been researching.   When I say dressed, I mean very SIMPLY!  This could be as simple as just wearing a hat.  Please do not feel like you need to go out and buy a costume.  If you are unsure of what you could do to help your child "dress" like the person they have been researching, please let me know!  I would be happy to send some ideas your way!  There will be a paper reminder sent home next week to remind you as well.

IXL:

I can solve word problems within 100 using  a hundreds chart, number line, drawings of base ten blocks, or the tens and ones strategy with unknowns in all positions.

F. 12

 G.  6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14

H. 6, 9, 10, 11, 12

 L.  3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12,

 S.  3, 8

This week in...

Phonics:  We're studying the /ou/ sound with the spelling patterns "ou" and "ow".  Our phonics words are:  clown, growl, howl, brown, crown, round, loud, cloud, house, and sound.  We sounded out, sorted, and spelled this words together.  We'll continue to work with them throughout the week.

Vocabulary:  Our new vocabulary words are:  lenthy, burrow, ranger, warning, distant, and beyond.  We'll figure out what these words mean and build connections to them.  Then, we'll search for them in the short story called The Coatis of the Sonora Desert by Nya Taylor.  We'll also review them in our comprehension story of the week.

Comprehension:  We'll be talking about two skills this week:  summarizing and evaluating author's purpose.  When we summarize, we are retelling only the most important ideas about the story.  When we are evaluating an author's purpose, we are trying to figure out if they were writing to persuade, inform, or entertain us.  We'll be looking for some clues in books that will help us figure this out.  We'll be practicing these skills while we read Dig, Wait, Listen:  A Desert Toad's Tale by April Pulley Sayre.

Writing:  This week, students will be introduced to the idea of organizing information on a poster.  Most students are finished with their rough drafts of their biography projects.  Now, we'll be talking about how to organize all of their research onto a poster board.  We'll also be talking about ways to make our posters colorful and detailed but not distracting.

Grammar:  We'll be working with personal pronouns:  A personal pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun or nouns.  For example, I, he, she, it, and you can replace a singular noun.  Here are some sentence examples:  Bobby saw a lizard.  We can replace Bobby with he.  Another example would be:  The desert is a dry area where hardly any plants grow.  We can replace the desert with it.

Math:  We are continuing to work through word problems.  This week's whole group lessons will revolve around reviewing the tools we can use to solve word problems (100 chart, number line, or drawings) and also solving word problems using tens and ones.  For a more detailed description of tens and ones, please refer to last week's post.  

Remember, when your child is on IXL, have them solve the problems using these strategies!  Many students have the ability to manipulate the numbers in their heads but we are really focusing on being able to explain their thinking (by showing their work) and also having the ability to solve word problems using any tool, not just their favorite.

Science:  Our brassica plants continue to grow and we are continuing to observe and log our observations in our plant journals!

I think that's it for now!  If you have any questions, please let me know!  I hope you have a wonderful week!  

March 18-22

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Conferences are this week!  You AND your child will come into the classroom at your scheduled time for the student-led part of the conference and then head over to my table for the teacher-led part of the conference.  If you need a reminder of when your conference is scheduled, please let me know!  If there happens to be a snow day tomorrow, any conferences scheduled will be re-scheduled to the following Tuesday at the same time.  If there any any scheduling conflicts please let me know!

We are going to Hannaford for our healthy choices field trip this Friday!  Please remember to send back a permission slip for your child ASAP.  There will be a second notice in your child's backpack today if I have not received it from you yet!

Homework packets are due tomorrow!

It is still very chilly outside!  Please remember to send your child to school with all of their outdoor gear!  We also have a lot of students coming in wet and muddy so we ask that you please send an extra pair of clothes with them to school, just in case they need them.  The nurse's office does not have a supply big enough to accommodate everyone.

We're still collecting Hop-A-Thon money!  Send in your donations!  The highest fundraising class gets to go to the Special Olympics and cheer on our GNG athletes!

IXL:  Please refer to previous posts to see what to practice on IXL

This week in...

Phonics:  We're working with the variant vowel /o/ with the spelling pattern au and aw.  Here are our words:  pause, draw, launch, law, fault, jaw, fawn, hawk, raw, and crawl.  We'll sound out, spell, and sort each of the these words.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are noble:  promised, gleamed, wiggled, beloved, and glanced.  We'll figure out what these words mean and build connections to them.  Then, we'll search for them in the story My Home in Alaska.  

Comprehension:  We'll be working on making inferences.  An inference is when we use our schema and the evidence from the book, to make a decision about the book.  We'll practice this skill while reading Nutik, the Wolf Pup by Jean Craighead George

Writing:  We're still working on gathering and organizing our research for our biographies.  Students will be looking for when the person was born and died, what they were most famous for, three important events from their life, and a fact that they find really interesting.

Grammar:  We'll be working with contractions.  Contractions are short forms of two words.  For example, can't or didn't.  An apostrophe replaces the letters that are left out when the two words are connected.  We'll be joining words like are not and is not to make aren't and isn't.

Math:  We'll be continuing to work on solving word problems with tools like the 100 chart, number line, and drawings.  Many students are able to use these tools but the challenge is to be able to show their thinking!  My hope is that we'll be starting to introduce the next strategy for solving word problems this week as well.  The next strategy is using tens and ones.  See the example below:

Joe has 34 stickers.  Zoe has 25 stickers.  How many stickers do they have all together?

    If you are solving this word problem with tens and ones, you need to go through the steps on your check list.

Step 1:  Is this problem asking you to add or subtract?  (add)
Step 2:  Will you have more or less at the end of the story?  (more)
Step 3:  What is the number sentence that represents this problem?  (34+25=_ )
Step 4:  Use tens and ones to solve the problem.

First thing you do is take out the tens from each number and then add them together.

30 + 20 = ____  (I got 30 from 34 and 20 from 25)  The sum is 50.

Then, you take out the ones and add them together.

4 + 5 = ____ (I got 4 from 34, and 5 from 25)  The sum is 9.

Then you add the sum of the tens to the sum of the ones.

50 + 9 = 59.

Your answer is 59 stickers.

Science:  Our plant observations continue as we watch our brassica seeds grow!  Our focus is still on being able to use science words and write about only what we see!

Conferences:  Today, students have been hard at work preparing for their student-led part of the conference!  They are very excited to show you how much they have progressed and also very excited to show you some of their work!

Technology:  Students have been heading down to work on the computers to practice their typing skills.  Recently, your child practiced their typing skills and made a word cloud!  Our typing practice will continue this week as well!

Book Buddies:  We will have book buddies this week!  Since it is the first day of spring, we'll be reading a spring time story and help our buddies make some spring time crowns!

Weather:  It is Team Blowey's job to update the weather board that is in the cafeteria for the first graders and kindergarteners to check out.  The board will tell them the season, what kind of weather it is today, the temperature, whether it is indoor or outdoor recess, and also what kinds of clothes they will need to wear. 

I think that's all!  If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!  Have a wonderful week!

March 11th-March 15th

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Thank you so much to all of you who came out to support Team Thornblowdo at Dancing with the Staff!  To be completely honest, I was a nervous wreck leading up to the show!  But the second I walked out on stage and heard your cheers and saw your posters, I was completely at ease!  I know that there were many more of you who wanted to be there and, let me tell you, I definitely felt your spirits there!  It was definitely a close finish but congratulations to the ladies from the middle school!  Your dance across the decades was spectacular!

Last week in totes I sent out information about spring conferences.  On the back of that sheet, you are able to pick your top three times for your conference.  Please fill those out and return them as soon as possible!  Conferences will be set up on a first come, first serve basis!  Please let me know if you have any questions at all!

Homework packets are due tomorrow!

A request is being sent home today with students.  All students will be asked to bring in a plain white t-shirt to be decorated as our team jersey.  This is our next classroom reward!  We will be making jerseys on Friday, April 5th.  We'll need your help to do it!  If you are able to donate any puffy dimensional tape, extra t-shirts, or your time, please let me know by writing your name on the request and sending it back to school.  You are also welcome to email me if that is easier for you!

We are collecting money for the MDA Hop-A-Thon!  Students are asked to donate a dollar.  The top fundraising classrooms from each grade will be going to the Special Olympics to cheer on our very own GNG athletes.

For IXL, please refer to last week's post.

This week in...

Phonics:  We will be working with the spelling patterns /oo/, /ui/, /ew/, /ue/, and /oe/.  We find these patterns in the following words:  root, boot, suit, fruit, clue, glue, flew, new, shoe, and canoe.   Together we will sound out these words, spell them, and sort them into their appropriate categories.  We'll continue to work with them throughout the week.

Vocabulary:  Our new words are:  violent, beware, prevent, uprooted, destroy, and grasslands.  We will work together to figure out what these words mean and build connections to them.  Then we will search for them in the short story called Wild Weather Hits Florida by Lisa O'Neil.  

Comprehension:  This week, we will be reviewing what it means to check for understanding while we are reading.  Another way to say this is that we will be self-monitoring.  If we are monitoring ourselves while we read, and we realize that we are not understanding what we are reading, then that is our cue to go back and reread.  We'll also be working on making and confirming our predictions.  This means we'll use the text and our schema to make a good guess about what will happen next.  When confirming a prediction, we will read on to see if what we guessed is what actually happens in the story.  We'll practice these skills while reading the story called  Super Storms by Seymour Simon.

Writing:  We are continuing to work on our biography projects.  Students have already identified the person they will be researching.  They have been actively reading and gathering information about the person's life.  By the end of this week, the goal is to have all of the research complete so that students may begin working on their rough draft.

This week I am also hoping that I can begin to introduce one of the complex reasoning tools that I learned about when I was at the workshop for two days.  Something we learned is that being able to compare and contrast is deceptively simple.  It is, in fact, complex in nature.  In order to really help students to do this, I will be using a comparison matrix.  The matrix is basically a rockstar version of a venn diagram.  However, students are asked to focus their thoughts and information in a more direct manner.  Instead of just brainstorming off the top of their heads, we will be deciding categories on which to compare and contrast multiple topics.  

This week, we will be comparing two types of weather.  For example, a blizzard and a heat wave.  Together we'll decide categories to compare and contrast them on.  Ideas might be precipitation, activities we do, safety rules and equipment, and temperature.  Then, we will use this information to write a comparison paragraph together.

Math:  We are continuing to solve word problems within 100 using tools.  We will be using a hundreds chart, number line, and drawings to help us solve these problems.  Although students might prefer one tool over another, it is important for students to be able to know, understand, and be able to use all of the tools.  When students are practicing this goal on IXL, they will need to tell you which tool they are using to solve the problem.  Here is the checklist students will be following:

1.  I can understand what a word problem is asking me to determine (add or subtract).

2.  I know if there will be more or less at the end of the story.

3.  I can write a number sentence that represents the problem.

4.  I can use drawings and manipulatives of base ten blocks to solve word problems.

5.  I can create a number line with equally spaced points that starts at 0 and I can use it to help me solve word problems.

6.  I can use a hundreds chart to help me solve word problems.

7.  I can show you what strategy I used and label my thoughts.

Science:  We will be observing our brassica seeds in their life cycle.  Already, we have some that have sprouted!  Team Blowey's scientists will be drawing and writing about what they see.  It will definitely be a challenge to use descriptive words and write about ONLY what we see.

Have a wonderful week!

March 4th-March 8th

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REMINDERS:

Homework packets are due tomorrow!

Dancing with the staff is on Saturday!  Tickets are selling out fast!  Pick them up at Gray Park and Rec, $10 for adults, $5 for kids.

There will be a book swap on Friday, March 8th.  Students may bring in a gently used book and "swap" it for another book!  There will be a reminder sent home on Thursday as well.

Russell School is raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association as a part of Disabilities Awareness Month.  We are collecting dollar donations.  The top fundraising class for each grade level will attend the Special Olympics Track and Field Event at Windham High School in May to cheer on our own GNG athletes!

Wishlist:  If there happens to be any extra soil out there that could be sent into school tomorrow, it would be greatly appreciated!  We'll need it for our upcoming science project.

What to Practice on IXL

I can solve word problems within 100 using  a hundreds chart, number line, drawings of base ten blocks, or the tens and ones strategy with unknowns in all positions.

F. 12

 G.  6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14

H. 6, 9, 10, 11, 12

 L.  3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12,

 S.  3, 8

This week in...

Phonics:  We are working with the variant vowel sound /u/ with the spelling patterns oo and ou.  Our phonics words are:  shook, hook, crook, soot, should, stood, brook, foot, could, would.  We sounded out, spelled and sorted our words today and will continue to work with them throughout the week.

Vocabulary:  Our new vocabulary words are:  conservation, remains, trouble, extinct, and hardest.  We will figure out what these words mean and build connections to them.  Then, we will search for them in the short stories called Prairie Problem and Be Careful!  We're Almost Gone!  We'll also come across them in our comprehension focus story.

Comprehension:  We will be focusing on generating questions before, during, and after reading to help us connect to the story.  This week, we will be reading a story called  A Way to Help Planet Earth.  Our focus question will be:  what can everyone do to help keep the Earth clean?  While we're reading, we'll generate questions that will make us think deeply about the story.  We'll also be paying close attention to how the author uses descriptions to tell us more about what something is like.  For example, we'll be looking for the author's description about recycling plastic.

Writing:  This week, we will begin our month long research project!  We will be using biographies to teach students how to read for information and organize that information to present it to an audience.  This week, students will simply be browsing through a variety of biographies to get an idea of who they might be interested in studying.  Then, they will make their top three choices for who they would like to study.  From there, I will assign them a person to study for the project.  Over the course of the next few weeks, they will be reading lots of literature about their particular person, gathering all kind of information about that person's life.  For example, when were they born, what were they famous for, what are some interesting facts about their life, etc.  Finally, we'll organize this information onto a poster board.

Grammar:  We'll be focusing on irregular verbs.  For some verbs, we can't just add -ed to form the past tense of the word.  They are irregular.  For example, the past tense of go is went and the past tense of do is did.  We'll work together to identify the correct word for the example sentences.

Math:  We'll be unpacking our next big unit... using place value to add and subtract with word problems within 100 with unknowns in all positions!

 This week, we'll unpack the standard, go over the checklist, and practice our menu choices.  We'll also begin to work through the standard.  The first part will be working on solving word problems using tools like a number line, a hundreds chart, and drawings.

Science:  We are starting our six week plant unit this week!  We'll be planting brassica seeds and observing them through their entire life cycle!  We'll work just like scientists to create observation journals with detailed notes about the life cycle.  We'll also be reminded about the parts of plants.  So tuned for updates!

Social Studies:  As a part of Disability Awareness month, the Cromwell Center for Disability Awareness in Portland will be coming to visit our classroom tomorrow.  We are very excited to see what they have to share with us!

Technology:  Beginning tomorrow, Team Blowey will be making a weekly trip to the computer lab to practice our typing skills.  Being able to use a computer and be able to identify and locate keys quickly will be an essential skill moving into third grade!  My hope is that we might be able to do a project or two in the computer lab as well!