Gingerbread Houses

The class did a great job on the gingerbread houses! Thank you to all of the helpers. It was a lot of fun. Happy Holidays!

December 15, 2013

I hope everyone enjoyed the snowy weekend! We have a fun week planned. We will be making gingerbread houses on Wednesday and Thursday. Please send in supplies by Tuesday. Thanks to all the volunteers! We will also have our annual holiday sing a long on Friday! Please remember to send snow pants, hats, gloves and boots for recess and also for sledding in PE.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season with your families. Enjoy the break!

This week...

Reading
We will start a new read aloud this week, Trumpet of the Swans by E.B. White. We will continue to work on non-fiction in reading groups and will be reading a variety of winter/holiday poems and reader's theaters this week to practice fluency.

Writing
We are starting to read informational books in preparation for the informational writing unit that we will start after the break. Students will also do a self evaluation of their writer's notebooks and I will collect them to assess them after that.

Math
We will finish the 7s, 8s and 9s this week. Please continue to have your child practice these facts each night. They can use the flash cards and go on any of the websites I have listed on this blog.

Social Studies
We will finish the Celebrations of Light unit this week. Students have learned about Hanukkah, Divali, St. Nicholas Day and St. Lucia Day. This week, we will study Christmas in Mexico and the Philippines.

Homework:
Reading-read and record each night
Math-practice times tables; practice sheets throughout the week
Spelling-Look, Say, Name, Cover, Write, Check each night; practice test on Thursday

December 8, 2013

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Next week, we will be making gingerbread houses and your child came home with one ingredient to bring in for decorating. The class voted on the types of candy and the supplies will be set up by table groups so your item needs to cover 6 kids, not the whole class. Please have these in to school by next Monday, December 16th. If you cannot get the item listed, please just let me know.

This week...

Reading 
We are continuing to read independently and look at characters. In my guided reading groups, we have been reading non-fiction articles and practicing multiple choice questions. We are also reading winter poems. For read aloud, we are reading holiday books. We read Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins, which the class loved and right now we are reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and the class is getting a big kick out of it!

Writing
We finished the personal narrative unit! The students finished their final drafts of the second personal narrative and completed a post assessment. It is amazing to see how much they have grown as writers! We will celebrate the end of the unit by reading each other's work and giving positive feedback. We will start gathering facts for our informational writing on Tuesday.

Math
We will continue learning the multiplication facts. I will send home flash cards for the kids to make as we learn each set. These need to come back to school the next day so we can practice. Then, they will come back home so kids can practice at home each night. The key to getting fluent at these facts is practice, so please have your child practice flash cards each night.

Science/Social Studies
In science, we will finish up the plant unit this week. In social studies, we are working on a unit called Celebrations Around the World. We will learn about holidays celebrated around the world and do a craft to go along with each.

Homework:
Reading-Read 20 minutes each night and record on calendar
Math-Practice multiplication facts each night
Writing-One entry in writer's notebook by Friday
Spelling-Look, Say, Name, Cover, Write Check each night; practice test on Thursday

December 1, 2013

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. It's hard to believe, but we only have three weeks until the winter break! Have a great week!

This week...

Reading
We will continue working on character development and will focus on non-fiction reading. November calendars are due Monday, 12/2. We will be reading a variety of holiday themed books for read-aloud this month.

Writing
We will finish personal narrative this week. Our next unit is informational writing. We will start researching topics next week.

Math
We will continue the multiplication unit. We have been working on the 2s, 5s and 10s and will work on 4s and 3s next. Students will be making flashcards for the facts as we go. At this point, they should be practicing 2s, 5s, and 10s each night. They can practice by using flashcards or even using one of the math websites I recommend here on my website. The goal is for students to start becoming fluent in these facts.

Science/Social Studies
We will finish up the plant unit in science. In social studies, we will be starting a unit called "Celebrations Around the World". Students will be learning about celebrations/holidays in different parts of the world, as well as here in our own country. It will be a really fun unit!

Homework
Reading-** November reading calendar due Monday. Read 20 minutes each night and record on December log.
Math-Practice 2, 5 and 10 times tables each night; Monday-Thursday:one math sheet per night
Spelling-Look, Say, Name, Cover, Write, Check each night; practice test Thursday
Writing-One writer's notebook entry by Friday