Week of Dec. 13th

Many thanks to Ms. Hesselbeak for decorating our bulletin board with traditional, handmade ornaments in the Danish tradition!

Review Week:  we will review previously introduced concepts and continue our PYP planner.

Math:  counting forward and back on both the hundred chart and the number line, patterns, skip counting, and odd/even.

Language Arts: review of Long a with a_e, /s/ with c, and /j/ with g along with  -alk, and -all.  We will use prompts to get started writing a story.

Planner: central idea is how pictures and symbols help us determine where we are in place and time.

Don't forget: Pajama Day and Class Holiday Party on Dec. 16th.  The children can bring a lovey (stuffed animal), pajamas, and slippers.  You can send a change of clothes and regular shoes if your child does not want to wear pjs all day :).  Our Holiday Party is scheduled from 12:45-1:45, I'm looking forward to seeing you all there!

Math: Ellie and Nina ordering numbers using a number line

Planner: working on Me on the Map

 Dress Rehearsal: we had the opportunity to watch the rehearsal of the 4th grade performance

Workstations: playing One More

Planner: working on the Compass Rose and writing about it

Week of Dec. 6th

Math: last week we used the hundred chart to count forward and back; this week we will use the number line.  The children will also be playing games at workstations to reinforce addition facts and odd/even.
Language Arts: sounds of the week are Long a with a_e, /s/ with c, and /j/ with g. We will continue working on sequencing activities and writing a story using a graphic organizer.

Science: weather symbols and maps will be the focus

Planner: central idea is how pictures and symbols help us determine where we are in place and time.

Pajama Day: we will have PJ day on Dec. 16th, details to follow :)

Workstations
Read to Self

 Word Work: sorting words by beginning sound

 Computer: Reading Street online activities

Week of November 15th

We had a very busy week! The students were extremely excited about their rocks.  After observing them they got to write their rock's story.  It was great to see the kids get so excited about writing, and then sharing, their stories!

Progress reports went home on Tuesday in the Brown folders.  Please sign and return and I will return a copy for your records.

On Wednesday, the kids led conferences with their parents.  If you did not get a chance to meet with your child it is not too late, just drop by a little early one morning or after dismissal.

Ms. Papp came in on Thursday and taught an Art a la carte lesson on patterns, which fit in perfectly with our patterns study in Math.

And, on Friday, our class was the audience for a rehearsal.  Ms. Morrison's second grade class invited us to watch the performance they would present to their parents later in the day.  Our class had a blast and they look forward to doing that next year when they are in second grade.

Due to the short week ahead, 2 days only, there will be no homework :)  Enjoy the holidays!

Week of Nov. 8th

Math: we will work on subtraction facts to 12, including a review of doubles.

Language Arts: sounds of the week are initial blends and short e. We will continue working on sequencing activities and writing.  The children can access our reading program online; login ids and passwords were sent home in the Tuesday folders.  The children have been using a class id during stations and should be able to to login in with little to no help!

Science: we will be discussing rocks, observing them, and sorting them by different attributes.

Planner: we will study masks from different parts of the world and continue "Looking at Art."

Student Led Conferences are scheduled for Wednesday, November 17th from 3:00-4:30 in 30 minute slots.  If you have not already signed up please do so.  This is a great opportunity for your child to demonstrate the learning...

Late October, early November in review:

Week of Nov. 1

Math: we will continue working on number stories this week.

Language Arts: sounds of the week are inflected -s and -ing.  We have also been working on sequencing activities, first, next, then, finally...

Science: we are recording the temperature twice daily while reinforcing symbols, a.m./p.m., and accuracy of data

Planner: we will discuss Pop Art this week and work on "Looking at Art."

Hallow's Eve

Week full of Thank Yous!
Thank you to all who helped at our class booth, or in any other capacity, with Spooky Spaghetti.  Our booth was definitely a popular one, there was always a line and it was definitely hard work!  A special, great big THANK YOU to Sidharth's mom Tina Hsu, her sister, and Ms. Mandel for the great job decorating the booth, it looked awesome!

Thank you to Ms. McGouldrick for the witch pumpkin decoration and Mrs. Jammar for decorating the bulletin board.

Thank you to Ms. Zweidler-McKay and Ms. Salma Farag , in advance, for co-leading this month's Art a la Carte lesson.

Math: We will work on number stories and subtraction this week.

Language Arts: sounds of the week are short o and plural -s.

Planner: we will complete our research this week and will continue looking at different styles of art.

Math Explorations: Top-It, Counting by 2s, Geometrical shapes, and estimating size

Seeing the cool animations available online through the reading program!

 Playing Penny-Dice game 

Social Studies: after learning about national symbols, the kids put together Old Glory and wrote three facts that they learned.

Upcoming Week and views from last week

Friday, Oct. 22nd, is Early Dismissal (12:30) for Parent Conferences.  If you want to meet please let me know via email or sign up on the sheet posted outside on the bulletin board.

LDC: this will be our second week in the rotation.  The kids are working on a Yes Day! class book.  Ask your child about Yes Day!

Math: Money, money, money!  Money!  We will work on pennies and nickels this week.

Language Arts: sounds of the week are short i and final x.

Planner: last week we examined a piece of art, discussed things we saw, and listed "I wonder" questions.  This week, we will consolidate some of the questions and work on finding the answers to those.  (This is part of IIM: Independent Investigation Method, 7 Easy Steps to Successful RESEARCH.)
The class finished working on their 'dreams' based on Leo Leoni's Matthew's Dream

  Station Work: Word Work, Computer, and Writing

Week of Oct. 11

LDC: we are scheduled for our two week rotation at LDC so the afternoon schedule will be slightly different.

Math: we will work on telling time to the hour and non-standard units of measurement (station)

Language Arts: short a and 'ck' words (Spelling test on Friday)

Planner, Stations, and Huckleberry Park

We learned about primary colors and how to make secondary colors by mixing two primary colors! 

 

 

 

Station work during Reading with small groups.  First, the children learned how to play the Number Grid game on the Smartboard.

Then, they played it on their own!

Writing at table and Read to Self on the carpet.

Word Work: working together on a Word Search with the Words of the Week

Ribbon cutting ceremony for Hucklerry Park grand opening on Friday morning.

Art a la Carte

Art a la Carte
Thank you to Ms. Zweidler-McKay for coming in and teaching the class an Art a la Carte lesson on Henri Matisse.  What a great way to start our new planner: How we express ourselves.  The kids really enjoyed it!

 Math
This week we worked on doubles, near-doubles, and ten-frames.

Class Party
What a great day for a party!  The weather was beautiful, the food was good, and the company was great!  Thank you to all who attended, it was difficult to close down the party since everyone was having such a good time!  Press the Play button to view a slide show.