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Sunday, October 25, 2015

Week 11

Good afternoon! We have another exciting week ahead: the Book Fair is taking place all week, and Read-a-thon is on Friday! Parents are allowed to come check out the Book Fair at the following times: 7:30 - 8 am, 11 - 12:30 (lunch), and 2:30 - 4 pm each day. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Book Fair is supposed to be open an extra hour (until 5 pm). There will be a raffle for students to enter who have purchased at least 4 books. The prizes are really great! They are giving away 5 book baskets (one a day) that are filled with lots of books!

For Read-a-thon, I still need some helpers to come read to our class! You can sign up here to read!

If you have not submitted your costume proposal yet, please do so in the next couple of days or email me who your child will be dressing up as.

Here is what we have coming up this week:

Literature: Boxcar Children - chapter 3 and 4 in literature groups. We will also be acting out chapter 2 from last week and writing an essay on courage.

Spalding: Spelling Test on Friday! 30 words:
1. third        16. letters
2. push        17. orange
3. point       18. pocket
4. written    19. shoes
5. body        20. shoe
6. field         21. stairs
7. belongs    22. stream
8. cheese      23. talks
9. earn          24. tiny
10. edge       25. words
11. feather    26. trust
12. fence      27. extra
13. funny     28. dress
14. going     29. beside
15. honey    30. teach

Grammar: Q&A flows, mover and shaker sentences, learning about adjectives and comparing them to adverbs!

Writing: narration, copy work, and dictation exercises from Pippi Longstocking

Math: We are starting a new unit (hooray!) on measurement! We will be learning about length this week and practicing with both nonstandard and standard units of measurement (cm, inches, yards, meters). Chapter 1 and 2 tests on length will be on Wednesday and Thursday (respectively)!

History: Ancient India Test on Wednesday! We will review on Monday and send home the India packet to study, in addition to the study guide that went home last Friday. We will start our next unit, Ancient China, on Wednesday.

Science: We our conducting an experiment on Tuesday: germination versus termination. We will continue to discuss the life cycle of a plant this week and have a pumpkin craft on Thursday in the spirit of fall. :)

Poem: Merry Autumn Days by Dickens - practice stanza 3

Idiom/Proverb: Cold feet - loss of nerve or confidence

Looking forward to a great week!

Monday, October 19, 2015

Week 10

Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying their Monday off! I enjoyed speaking with each of you at conferences last week. We are off to a great start!

Here's what's on the agenda for our four day week:

Literature: We are beginning Literature groups TOMORROW with Boxcar Children! I cannot wait to begin this new book!

Spalding: 19 words this week (Test on Friday!)
Words:
1. dead
2. leave
3. early
4. close
5. close
6. flower
7. flour
8. nothing
9. ground
10. lead
11. led
12. lead
13. such
14. morning
15. however
16. mind
17. shall
18. alone
19. order

Grammar: We will be reviewing the Q&A flow, and then learning the blueprint of a sentence.

Touch Pebbles: "The Lion and the Mouse" - Question to ponder: What is more important - listening or speaking?

Math: We are finishing up subtraction with renaming this week by means of review. We will take our Unit 2 Chapter 5 test on Wednesday and the Unit 1-2 Cumulative test on Friday. Our next unit will be measurement!

History: We are reading some stories from India this week - "A Jataka Tale" and "King Asoka".

Science: Students will learn the life cycle of a plant and be introduced to photosynthesis. We will set up a lima bean experiment tomorrow and do an experiment on germination versus termination on Thursday!

Idiom: "Where there's a will there's a way."

Poem: Merry Autumn Days by Dickens - work on stanza 2

Miscellaneous:
Read-a-Thon
Mark your calendars for our second annual Read-a-thon! This special day will be on Friday, October 30th, and will occur alongside our first on-site book fair! Students may come to school dressed as their favorite classical literary characters, scientists, or historical figures. The goal of this event is to stir a continuous love for reading and an opportunity for lifelong learning. Costumes need not come directly from the grade level curriculum, though they must be classically on-mission. We kindly ask that you send costume ideas to your classroom teacher for approval by Friday, October 23rd. Be sure that costumes allow students to engage in regular school day activities like recess, lunch, and some curricular instruction. The headmasters, teachers, fellow scholars, and students' family members will read to students throughout the day. The Read-a-thon will be a huge celebration of reading for our entire school community!

Book Fair
The Archway Arete book fair will run from Monday, October 26th - Friday, October 30th in the resource room. We look forward to providing this exciting opportunity for students and parents to purchase books for their personal and classroom libraries. The class that purchases the most books from the week-long book fair will be awarded a pizza party. Profits from the book fair will go directly to children's books for the Arete library. The book fair will be open for parents at specific times during the school day, so please plan to attend! There are prizes to be won for participating!



Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Literature Groups

Good morning!

We are in the midst of conferences, and I am looking forward to meeting with you all. :) Several of you have expressed interest in volunteering, and there are now some more opportunities! Literature groups will begin next week, as we begin reading Boxcar Children. Please use this link to sign up if you are interested! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4eaaac23a3fd0-literature

We still have plenty of room to help with math groups as well! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4eaaac23a3fd0-math

Thank you for all you do! Have a wonderful day. :)

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Week 9

Good evening!

I hope everyone had a fun, restful Fall Break! I am looking forward to meeting with each of you this week! Since they are half days this week, please remember that there is no lunch scheduled, so try to pack a hearty snack that will stick with your child.

A couple other quick notes: There will be no math centers on Wednesday since it is a short day. Also, please start bringing in Boxcar Children, as we will begin reading it a week from Tuesday! :)

Here's what we are learning this week!

Spalding: Spelling Test on Friday! (There are only 29 words this week!)
1. indeed       10. meet          20. once
2. four           11. meat          21. one
3. herself       12. another      22. own
4. power        13. tripped      23. before
5. wish           14. trip            24. know
6. because      15. list            25. no
7. cause          16. people      26. were
8. world          17. ever         27. where
9. country       18. held         28. there
                       19. church      29. here

**Please notice the small change to the spelling homework - it asks for two sentences using spelling words (each night)!**

Grammar: Review jingles!

Math: We will be continuing subtraction with renaming (borrowing), and we will be learning what to do when we encounter a problem that involves renaming twice.

History: We are powering full steam ahead in our India unit, and we will learn a little bit about India everyday this week. We will be studying the Indus Valley people, Hinduism, Festival of Lights, and Buddhism.

Idiom/Proverb: "Where there's a will, there's a way" - This fits in nicely with the virtue of perseverance!

Poem: Merry Autumn Days by Charles Dickens (Practice stanza 1 - poetry recitations the week of November 9th)

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

1st Quarter Grades

Good afternoon!

I have submitted grades for the quarter, and they should be available on Saturday. K-2 uses a checklist, so they are not the typical “grades” that you will later see. (Starting next year it will be on an A, B, C scale.) We look for specific skills, which you will see on the checklist. For the first quarter don’t be alarmed if you see a lot of 2’s. This means that the skill is in development and is being guided by the teacher. (A 3 means that little to no direction is needed, and 4 means that the skill is completely mastered.) We should all be at the 2 level since school has just started and teacher guidance is needed. Embrace the 2’s! If you have any questions, please jot them down and bring them to your conference. I look forward to discussing your child’s progress with you! I hope you are having a wonderful break. J


A quick note: If you have not done so yet, our next book to bring to school is Boxcar Children! Thanks!

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Conferences

Good morning,

Thank you so much to everyone who helped out at our Charlotte's Web Festival on Thursday! I hope your child had fun! I got several cute pictures and will be posting them soon! Here's a fun picture of the pie eating contest:


Many of you have already signed up for conferences via my link in the email last week, but I will re-post it here!

I also have links for specials conferences should you be interested. These are completely optional, but it is a way to get to know your child's French, P.E, and music teacher. :)

P.E.- http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4dafad29a6f49-quarter2
French - http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0c4bafa72aa2f85-quarter
Music - http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4ea8a92aa7fe3-quarter1

There is not one for Art, as our new art teacher will begin with the second quarter.

Have a wonderful Fall Break, and I look forward to seeing you soon! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I will be at school working on Monday and Tuesday, but after that I will check my email periodically. :)