Monday, January 26, 2015

Busy Week

We are starting off our really busy week!  We have our cereal box book report due this week.  Remind your kiddos to bring a prize from home for their cereal.  They will need this on the day they present, either Wednesday or Thursday.  The boxes are looking really nice.  It will be good to hear from them as they share about books.

In writing, our research report is also due this week.  The students have been hard at work on these.  Thank you parents, for your revising and editing help!  That makes a big difference.  Your child will also present briefly about their animal.  On Tuesday, your child will find out which report he or she will present which day.  Each student will present one on Wednesday and one on Thursday.

In projects, we will share what we are learning about matter and physical and chemical changes to the younger students.  Your child may have come home with a supply list for this.  We will teach the lower grades on Feb. 3.  We are having fun learning and investigating in the classroom!


Monday, January 12, 2015

Awards, Book Report, Research Report

Today was the semester awards assembly at Oasis.  We had some wonderful students honored for their attentiveness, work ethic, cooperation and for their improvement so far this year.  We have a really great class, it is a pleasure to work with them each day!

As for the work this week, we have a book report that we will work on in class next week.  That means your student's book needs to be finished by Monday, Jan. 19.  Your child needs a cereal box for this report and the work will be done in class.

In writing, we are researching an animal and writing a report.  This is a major assignment encompassing many reading and writing standards for report cards.  Our plan is to send it home this weekend so you have the long weekend to edit it together.  We have a lot of work to do in the next three days to be ready for editing, but that is our goal!  Please allow at least 30 minutes to sit down with your child and work on this draft together.  Have your child read it to you and stop every paragraph or so to discuss the organization and the wording.  Check formatting, if there are too many line spaces, no indenting, no spaces after punctuation, all of these things need correction.   Just make the corrections on the paper and your child can make changes in the classroom.  This one on one conferencing will be very helpful.  This is not mandatory, but will really help your child improve as a researcher and writer.  And I bet you will learn something about your child's animal!  Thank you for your help and have a great week!


Monday, January 5, 2015

Research Report, Book Report, Auction Items

Hello Families and welcome to 2015!  Some important items to keep on your radar:
In writing, we will start a research report on an animal.  This will mostly be done in class.  Research is a complex skill that requires finding quality sources, reading for information, and synthesizing that information into sentences and paragraphs that can convey facts.  We will learn ways other than cutting and pasting from another source.  I will be helping students do this, but in a few weeks, I will send home a rough draft for your child to edit at home with a parent. It is optional, but I recommend it.

We also have a book report coming up.  This is a cereal box book report, so please send in an empty cereal box with your child this week if possible.  This book should be read by Jan. 19 and we will begin work in the classroom on this.     Except for the reading, the work for this will be done in class.

Because we ended the quarter, we are having auctions this week.  If you are able, please send in an item or two for our auctions.  I have quite a few little art and school supplies, but no food items, so any little treat or drink that your child enjoys would be great.

Also, we are having hot chocolate in the classroom in the mornings this week.  I am providing it and Ellie Bird is bringing in chocolate dipped spoons.  It's just a fun treat to look forward to as we write after recess on cold mornings.  It was 27 degrees today when we went out!   Also, no one spilled, so that was really good!

Thanks for your support and it's good to have your children back in the classroom!