Week of November 26

Upcoming Events:

J Dec. 12 Early Out (2 hr.)

JDec. 18 K-1 Music Concert at 7pm at Emmetsburg High School auditorium.  Students need to arrive by 6:30.  (More information to come.)

J Dec. 21 Early Out (1 hr.)

Notes:

JWhen you pick up your child from school please pick them up at the south doors in the parking lot.  This will prevent students from walking across in front of the buses and other cars.

JThis week our word work choices were: newsy words, memory game, boggle, write-stamp-decorate, and write spelling words across and down. 

JLast week we started picking our own daily 5 choices and students are really enjoying this responsibility.  I am pleased with how well they are staying on task and working.

JOur testing strategy that we worked on this week was:

          -Listen to the sentence.  Think before you make your choice.

Things to Work on:

JPlace Value: Say two digit numbers and have your child tell you how many tens and how many ones.

What we have been up to:

Reading: This week we read the story If You Take a Mouse to School.  We worked on sequencing this story with first, next, then, and finally.  We also talked about how important it is to visualize while you are reading a story to help retell the story later.  This week we worked on cl, fl, and bl blends. 

Math: We have continued our study on place value.  We talked about two-digit numbers and how many tens and how many ones each number has.  This week we completed some story problems by adding tens. 

Science: We have finished our unit on animal classifications and taken our test.  We started talking about the habitat of animals.  We started the week by drawing habitats and making a forest with construction paper.  We also compared a lake habitat to an ocean habitat.  

Spelling Words Week of Nov. 26

1. clip
2. clock
3. flag
4. flip
5. black
6. block
7. fun
8. nut
9. school
10. today

Week of Nov. 19

Upcoming Events:

J November 22 and 23: No School, Thanksgiving Break

J Dec. 12 Early Out (2 hr.)

JK-1 Music Concert at 7pm at Emmetsburg High School auditorium.  Students need to arrive by 6:30.  (More information to come.)

J Dec. 21 Early Out (1 hr.)

Notes:

JThis week we used our word work time to finish up some of our bellwork.  Students that got finished were able to choose from play-dough, whiteboards, and newsy words.

JOur testing strategy that we worked on this week was:

          -The correct answer says the most about the picture.

Things to Work on:

JSequencing (First, Next, Then, Last)

What we have been up to:

Reading: We did not have a spelling test this week due to a short week.  This week we read some books about Thanksgiving and made some booklets on the first Thanksgiving.  On Tuesday a third grade class came to our room and we read poems about Thanksgiving to them.  They also read some things to us.  Students really enjoyed their reading buddies. 

Math: We have continued our study on place value.  We talked about two-digit numbers and how many tens and how many ones each number has.  We have talked about grouping things into groups of ten to help us count more efficiently.

Science: This week we have talked about ways/ things that animals eat.  We tasted carrots, raisins, and popcorn to see which teeth we use to chew food with.  We talked about how our molars are shaped differently than our front teeth.  We then related this to food that animals eat: herbivore and carnivore.  Students cut pictures of animals and sorted them into groups of plant eating and meat eating.  We have just started our research project on our animal.  We will continue working on that after break. 

Palo County Conservation Board, Mrs. Patton

We have finished talking about about the different groups of animals: mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, birds, and insects.  Mrs. Patton from the Palo County County Conservation Board came in and showed us some feathers, wings, furs, beaks, talons, and scales.  The most exciting part of her presentation was the live salamander and snake.

Week of Nov. 12

Upcoming Events:

J November 21: 1 hr. Early Out

J November 22 and 23: No School, Thanksgiving Break

Notes:

JOur new word work activities this week include: play-dough, making the words with construction paper, memory, magnetic letters, and a magazine search for specified letters.

JOur testing strategy that we worked on this week was

          -Remember, the correct answer is the opposite of the underlined part.

          -When you think you hear the correct answer, put your finger next to it.  Listen

to all the choices.

Things to Work on:

JPlace value (How many groups of tens and how many leftover?)

What we have been up to:

Reading: Our theme this week was about various cultures.  We worked with words with the short /u/ sound.  We also spent the week working on visualizing the story in our head so that we can easily retell the story. 

Math: This week we talked about place value, how many tens and how many leftover.  We worked on adding two digit numbers by tens and then ones. 

Science: This week we finished learning about animal classifications.  On Monday we talked about insects and its characteristics.  We have begun learning what makes up a herbivore and a carnivore.  The most exciting thing that we started was that students got to pick a nonfiction book from the other side of the library for a research project.  Students are picking an animal that they like and making a poster about what they learn about it: herbivore/ carnivore, life cycle, how does it move, and what covers the body (fur, scales, shells, etc.).  On Friday the Palo Alto County Conservation Board brought in animal coverings for us to see and touch.

Spelling Words Week of Nov. 12

1. run
2. fun
3. nut
4. cut
5. bug
6. rug
7. thin
8. shop
9. under
10. put

Week of Nov. 5

Upcoming Events:

J November 14: 2 hr. Early Out

J November 16: If the E’Hawks win on Saturday they will play on Nov. 16.  There will be no school so you can go cheer on the E’Hawks in Cedar Falls at the UNIDome.  Please watch/ listen to the game on Saturday. Go E’Hawks!!!

J November 21: 1 hr. Early Out

J November 22 and 23: No School, Thanksgiving Break

Notes:

JOur new word work activities this week include: typing our spelling words, finding our words in a word search and making our own word search, as well as making our words with magnets.  I am so pleased to see how good of our keyboard skills are!!! J

JOur testing strategy that we worked on this week was

          -Listen carefully.  Think about what you her while you look at each picture.

          -Listen to all answer choices before you choose.

          -Be sure about your answer.

          -Think about what the sentence means.

Things to Work on:

JAddition problems with sums that are more than ten.

What we have been up to:

Reading: Our theme this week was about animal homes.  We read about animals in the Everglades and talked about key details in our reading.  This week we had some time to read some Thanksgiving poems.  We will practice and add to these poems up until Thanksgiving week as we will be reading to some third graders before Thanksgiving break.  Having students read things more than once helps build fluency.

Math: In math we did some story problems with three addends.  Students amazed me at how well they did with this.  They are great problem solvers.  This week students were able to explore patterns with calculators.  We have finished Unit 3 and will start Unit 4 on Monday.

Science: We have continued our study about animal classifications.  This week we learned about reptiles, fish, and insects.  Students are really enjoying looking at library books on each of these classifications.  

Week of Oct. 29

Upcoming Events:

J November 4: Daylight Savings Time (Fall Back 1 hr.)
J November 14: 2 hr. Early Out
J November 21: 1 hr. Early Out
J November 22 and 23: No School, Thanksgiving Break
Notes:
J Thank you to the parents that attended their child’s conference.  Your involvement is important to your child. 
JOur new word work activities this week include making words with pipe cleaners, scrabble, and some literacy games.
JOur testing strategy that we worked on this week was
-Listen carefully each time your teacher reads directions.  The directions may change.
Things to Work on:
JSequencing a book by beginning, middle, and end.
What we have been up to:
Reading: Our theme this week was helping out.  We read The Little Red Hen and talked about the main idea, no one wanted to help Hen.  We spent time working with our word families: -eg,-en, and –et. 
Math: In math we have started talking about subtracting with nickels and pennies.  We have learned to complete a story problem in steps.  First, figure out how much money.  Second, subtract the coins. 
Science: We have started our new unit in science about animals.  We have talked about mammals and their characteristics.  We were also able to do a book search and list characteristics of birds.