Bulletin Boards

It sounded like a good idea when I signed up to do both main hallway bulletin boards in the same month.  Get them over with I thought.  Fall, Halloween, lots of topics we can cover I thought.  Well, now that October is here, the idea doesn't seem as great!  Either way we are preparing to hang things in the hall.  Our first project is making a "Proper Noun Pumpkin  Patch".  Today we made a list of proper nouns and our pumpkins for the patch.  Stay tuned for the finished product!

Trips #2 and #3

We made it!  Bald Eagle Rendezvous and the homecoming parade were both great trips.  We had a lot of fun and got a lot of candy (Sorry, parents!).  The Rendezvous is open tomorrow 9:00- 5:00 if you'd like to check it out for yourself.  Have a great weekend!  Next week we should be back to our regular routines.

Trip #2

Yeehaw!  We are safely home from the American Royal.  The number one response I got when I asked students what their favorite part was...lunch!  The rodeo was a very close second.  We had a lot of fun cheering on the participants at the youth rodeo.  The class had fun cheering on me during a game of "horseshoes" I was selected to play by Bob, the rodeo clown.  We also heard many interesting presentations about agriculture and its importance in our world.  Tomorrow we will visit the Bald Eagle Rendezvous in the morning and the homecoming parade in the afternoon.  Students will not need sack lunches.

Trip #1

We had a successful trip to the Smithsonian traveling Hometown Teams exhibit located in Perry.  If you are a sports fan or interested in local history, be sure to check it out.  The exhibit will only be open until Sunday. Thank you to the Perry Pride organization for their hard work getting the exhibit here and ready.  Tomorrow will be our all day trip to the American Royal (think rodeo not baseball).  Sack lunches are needed.

Practice Makes Perfect

Today we spent our Daily 5 (or small group rotation time) practicing our expected behaviors.  I emphasized a lot with the class how important it is that we use our time wisely and that we don't have any time to waste!  This is a time of day that can have a huge impact on a students learning; the hard part is it has to be done independently.  I am most often working with a small group of students.  We usually have four rotations, only one which is spent in group.  This leaves a large chunk of time for students to use or waste time.  Wasting time is not okay with me!  We will keep reviewing and practicing until we get it down.  I'd rather spend the time now working on getting it right than being partly effective all year.  It will pay off in the long run!

Real/Fantasy

We worked on realism and fantasy today.  To get the class moving, I let them develop a skit showing either a real scene or a fantasy one.  The rest of the class had to determine what the skit was showing.  It was fun to see the results.  This project also gave us a chance to work on our teamwork skills.  It took awhile for some groups to decide what the plot of their skit would be.  In the end though, each group pulled through with entertaining performances!

Homework

I was very happy with the homework completion last week.  The class told me the work was easy!  I appreciate your help in making sure the work is completed neatly and with few errors.  As I mentioned before, please let me know if you have any questions or if your child is having difficulty completing the work.

Side Note:  A permission form was sent home today for our American Royal field trip.  This is our "official" form; the one previously sent was to get a head count so that we could order tickets.  Everything has been paid for, I just need your signature saying your child my attend.  You will not need to sign a from for our Hometown Teams or Bald Eagle Rendezvous trip as they are both in district.

Fund Raisers

The PTO has sent home booklets for a fund raiser.  The sale will run between now and September 28th.  If you are able to help out, I know the PTO would appreciate your support.  They provide a lot for our students such as pay field trip fees and provide classroom supplies.  They also would love to have more PTO members.  Join them at their next meeting!

PIE and Apples

The class learned three reasons why an author might right a story... to persuade, inform, or entertain.  To make the lesson more interesting, we made "pie" to help us remember.  The pies are coming home tonight.  Ask your child to explain each piece to you!
We have been working hard learning and writing about Jonny Appleseed this week so we took some time to have some fun by painting apples.  The class could make their pictures however they chose as long as it had an apple in it.  We have quite a few artists in our room!  Below are the students painting away.  (I apologize for the sideways picture.  I can not get it to rotate!)

Science/Health

We finished up our science unit for the quarter. Your child should be bringing his/her test home today.  This along with the work completed in the workbook will make up their science grade.  We will be working on health for the next week.  Our lessons will be over getting along.  This is a always a good chapter to work on as we learn more about our classmates and how to work together.  Today we talked about getting along with our family and working together to do chores.  We decided everyone would get along better if we worked without complaining.  So, hopefully your child will be eager to help tonight!

MAP

We took our first MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) assessment today.  This is the assessment I discussed at Back to School night.  The class did a nice job for their first round.  It is a bit overwhelming and not very enjoyable for most students.  We took the reading portion today (which seems to be the least liked of the three) tomorrow we will take language arts, followed by math on Thursday.  We will retake the assessments in the winter and spring to see our improvements throughout the year.  The assessments give us a better view of strengths and areas for improvement in each child's learning.

Jackets

Although it has been hot outside, our room can get really cold when the air conditioner runs.  I do not have control of our room temperature.  I keep a jacket at school and use it often!  Several students have asked if I have extra jackets they can wear; I do not.  If your child would like, he/she may also bring a jacket to school to wear during class.  I know it can be hard to concentrate if it's freezing!


Enjoy your weekend!

Number Buzz

During math last week we played a game called, Number Buzz.  The students stand in a circle; we take turns skip counting around the circle.  If a student says the 'buzz' number they have to sit down.  We played counting by 10's with the number 100 as our 'buzz' number.  The class did a great job and loved playing!  Tuesday we played counting by 5's and it was not as pretty!  It was much more difficult for the class to identify what number would be next and we had more 'buzz' numbers, 25, 50, 75,100 (see how I'm slowing working quarters in!).  The class was getting frustrated and began asking if we could just play with 10's.  I was so proud when a little boy spoke up, "No!  If it doesn't challenge you.  It doesn't change you."  Exactly!  I agreed and we stuck with the 5's.  Today we played again and it was so much better.  Once we get it perfected, I'll throw in 2's (wish us luck!).  Ask your child to teach you to play!

Mrs. Brown is missing!

Due to an appointment, I had to be gone this morning.  Mrs. Foster was my substitute.  During writing time the class had the assignment of writing where the thought I could be.  They have great imaginations!  I was everywhere from riding tigers to being sick to taking a vacation to being put in jail!  Mrs. Foster said the morning went well and picture time went smoothly.