Snow!

A few things, check your email and our Facebook page for late start times!
Please make sure you really look at the temperature and encourage your child to dress appropriately, we will be going outside this week even if for a short time. We all need fresh air and a chance to get out of the building. I hope you enjoyed the snow, I sure did!

1/25/16

Reading: We are half way through the book, Wringer by, Jerry Spinelli. We have had several excellent discussions regarding the characters and events, and the feelings and situations that we have read about and felt throughout this first half. Ask your child about it, they have some very strong opinions!

5th Writing: We are currently working on pulling facts and opinions from two different  pieces of text that both cover the same topic. We first defined fact and opinion, then evaluated the first piece of text for both of those elements. Now we are evaluating a second, longer piece for the same. We will then compare both pieces of writing and determine which has the most facts while showing evidence to back up our claim.

4th writing: We are currently working on our descriptive writing through strong word choice and meaningful revisions. Our students are designing their perfect room and they are VERY into it. Our focus for this piece is on description but also on strong introductions and conclusions.

Projects: Don't forget to come see our projects Thursday afternoon 2:15-3:15, we hope to see you there!

This is such a fun and motivated group of children to work with, thank you so,much for sharing them with me!

Wrapping it up!

We would like to invite you to view our latest project, this coming Thursday, February 28th from 2:15 to 3:15. Each child will have their own presentations that will be fairly short. You will be able to roam from one student to the next at your own pace. The students learned how to use a Google tool that most of them hadn't used before and we are excited to show off our products. We hope to see you all there!

Going strong!

Reading: We are reading the book titled, Wringer, by Jerry Spinelli. We are all reading the same book, but this time we are reading by ourselves. We will read two chapters a day and answer reflection questions the same day...the next morning we will discuss the questions from the day before, prior to reading the new chapters. There are 40 chapters so this will take us 20 days. Please ask them about the "tone" of this book. They should have a lot of evidence to back up their opinions!

Writing: This week we are working on comma usage, idioms and adages. Commas are difficult in some situations and we have spent the last two days learning how they affect our reading and speaking fluency.

4th grade Writing: We are working this week on prepositions and prepositional phrases. We have practiced whole class, on ixl, and individually. I think they have a pretty good grasp already!

Science: We will be studying ecosystems the next few weeks. We have a little zip up greenhouse to store our plants in and we will be starting our seeds today! It will be a lot of fun. Monday, we will put together our individual terrariums and then we will take data every day while we observe what is happening.

Music: We have Mrs. Barton this quarter! We are so blessed with our specialists and I am certain they will love her too.

Don't forget tomorrow is the last day to order your pizza card for the quarter! We need $1 for colored sock/tights folks, and please remember that it is COLD outside in the mornings!

Welcome back!

Happy 2016!! I am so excited to see your children and hear about their 2 weeks without me! We will start the new year off on a positive and proactive note, science first out of the gate!

Don't forget to collect a 2 liter bottle for your child. If you have more than one, feel free to send it in for someone else to use.  I sent an email out before break with the supplies we needed. I will re send it to make sure to remind everyone.

Report cards will be coming home this week, please feel free to contact us with any questions as there are no conferences until the end of the 3rd quarter. I am really pleased with the progress we have made so far and am confident that it will continue.

IT IS COLD OUTSIDE! A hoodie may not be enough to keep us warm at recess, especially morning recess. Remember too, that our playground is 50% shade!!

We have a lot of work to be done, and a lot of fun to be had...second semester is going to be amazing....In 5 short months, you will have a middle schooler! Woo Hoo! Can you believe it!?

Excited to see my little team tomorrow, hugs!