Thank you!!!!

Thank you so much for my gift this holiday season.  I know how tricky the holidays can be and it's truly touching that you thought of me.  May your break be filled with warm family moments and relaxing days.

Pink Eye in Class

There has  been some cases of pink eye in the classroom.  I'm reminding all students to wash their hands and not put their hands near their face.  Thanks for helping out with the same message at home!

Newsletter Dec.19 - Dec. 23rd

Reminders:

Jackdaw box project due 1/3/12

Holiday Break Dec. 24^th – Jan 2^nd – Students return Jan. 3^rd

Martin Luther King Jr. Choral Poem presentation Jan 12^th – more info to follow

Students are responsible for bringing library books back to school one week after they are checked out to renew or return

In ELA we’ll focus on reviewing what we’ve learned about comprehension, fluency and writing during the month.  We’ll continue to write using paragraph form and apply the CAFÉ strategies of various fluency levels, using dictionaries and thesaurus and re-telling stories.

                This week’s topics:

·         Writing – write about tolerance in our lives

·         Café  –  review week  

·         Vocabulary – electricity, conductor, insulator, repel, attract, battery, bulb, filament, current

·         Spelling – NO SPELLING THIS WEEK

·          Grammar – common and proper nouns

 In math we’ll continue to work throughout the division process (DMSCB).  Every student has been given a reminder of the steps to glue on the outside of their math journal. I’ve also encouraged students to write the acronym on each math sheet.  This helpful hint will remind them of the steps.  This is a very hard concept and pulls in almost everything we’ve learned so far.  Practice in the steps and math fact understanding is key for success.

                This week’s topics:

·         Division in word problems

·         Review division and study key vocabulary – quiz Wednesday

·         Test Thursday

In science we’ll continue learning about the basics of electricity.  We’ve done lots of exploring in wires, conductors, bulbs, and batteries.  We’ve labeled diagrams and conducted experiments making bulbs light when all terminals are touching with the aid of a wire.  We will be having a quiz on Thursday highlighting the parts of bulbs and batteries, and how to make these materials work together properly.  Study pages, 2, 5, and 6 especially in science packet.

Nov. 28 - Dec. 2

Reminders:

Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences – 12/8 & 12/9

Return conference reminder – 12/1

Return Homework for Parents – 12/2

 This week we’ll read How to Babysit and Orangutan.  In this non-fiction story, Camp Leakey, the island of Borneo, provides a home for orphaned baby orangutans.  Human caretakers raise the young orangs, teach them survival skills and eventually return them to the forest.

                This week’s topics:

·         Writing – write a letter to a Marine in deployed in Afghanistan

·         Café  –  expand vocabulary – use dictionaries and thesaurus in reading and writing

·         Vocabulary – displeasure, jealous, endangered, smuggled, facial, coordination

·         Spelling – /ou/ as in frown and bounce

·         Grammar – complex sentences

 This week we’ll continue learning basic algebra.  We’ve read stories that helped explain variables or “mystery numbers”.  Please continue to work on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts as they are needed to find variables.   We’ll depend a lot on fact families to find solutions mentally.  This is so much easier when facts are memorized.

                This week’s topics:

·         Identify, describe and extend patters  ( numbers and symbols)

·         Function Tables  (finding rules and operations – addition or subtraction)

·         Multiplication and division expressions – using variables and fact families to find mystery numbers

·         Function Tables  (finding rules and operations – multiplication and division)

This week we’ll learn about the Algonquian language group.  We’ll focus on their tribes, natural resources and roles.  It is important to see the Iroquois and Algonquians as separate tribes, but also realize they have many things in common.  I’ll be sending home a study packet during the week and asking students to review definitions, names and facts about our entire study.  Please help your student by looking through the packet each night.    The test will be Friday 12/2.

Nov. 21 - Nov. 23

Reminders:

11/23 – Cotton Ball Jar Party

11/24 & 11/25 – No School Thanksgiving

12/8 & 12/9 – Student, Parent, Teacher Conferences

This short week we’ll finish up writing our friendly letters.  Make sure to send in a stamped envelope by 11/22 so all letters can go out in time.  We’ll also be reading many stories and non-fiction texts about Thanksgiving. 

 This week we’ll begin chapter 5 focusing on algebraic expressions.  It’s important that students understand the idea of variables standing for a value.  Make sure to help students at home while they are practicing homework.

This week’s topic:

·         Addition and subtraction equations

·         Learning definitions of equation, variable and solved equations

Our tribal sign projects are finished and look great!  Your students also got a chance to work closely with rubrics and being responsible for their own work.  I asked each student to grade him/her self before I will grade their work.  The effort was noted and all did a great job working on their first small group project.  This week we’ll learn about the Algonquin Tribes.  There will be homework over the break in social studies!!

Our Student, Parent, Teacher conferences are coming up quick!  Please make sure to review the time you have signed up for or asked to come.  Let me know if there are any conflicts and I’ll do what it takes to meet with every parent.  The students are really looking forward to being reflective and showing off their hard work!!  Keep an eye out for your parent homework in preparation for the conference. 

** We have filled up our cotton ball jar of good behavior!  Students may bring in ONE small blanket or towel Wednesday for our tent party!

Newsletter for November 14th

 We listened to The Garden of Happiness.  The main character, Marisol, pants a sunflower seed in a new neighborhood garden. When autumn comes and her flower dies, Marisol gets discouraged. Her happiness returns, however, when she discovers that a group of teenagers has painted a mural of sunflowers on a brick wall nearby.

                This week’s topics:

·         Writing – Review friendly letter – Send in a stamped envelope!!!!

·         Fluency – discuss the rates of fluency that are applied to different stories for different reasons

·         Vocabulary –inhaled, lavender, mural, skidded, haze

·         Spelling – /ur/ as in turtle and learn

This week we’ll continue practicing the 6 steps of multiplication.  The sequence has been glued onto our math journals.  We’ll also review factors and multiples.

                This week’s topics:

·         Estimate products of two-digit numbers

·         Multiply two-digit numbers

·         Review factors vs. multiples

·         Review and test (Friday)

We have begun our Tribal Sign Project!  Each student was randomly placed in one on the five Iroquois nations.  The teams have assigned roles within their groups.  They’ll be researching for information on clans, alternate names, food, map, and gustoweh (arrangement of eagle feathers on hat).   Each group will create a poster that highlights the new information learned in each area (independently) and group poster that showcases their tribe.  They are very excited!

Pumpkin Jack Decay Project

Last week we read a story called Pumpkin Jack.  The main character has a jack-o-lantern named Jack which begins to rot.  His mother makes him put Jack in the compost heap. The pumpkin begins to decay but not without leaving behind some seeds.  These seeds are replanted and the life cycle continues!  We were so inspired we began our own experiment. Today we created a control to watch the process of decay in once living things.  We created a lab report, documented the experiment with photos and took notes in our science journal.  This should be so fun!



November 7 - November 10

We’ll listen to Nights of the Pufflings.  This text  will let us dive deeper into how to read non-fiction.  On Heimaey Island, near Iceland, a community works together to help young birds called pufflings return safely to sea.

                This week’s topics:

·         Writing – Write a satisfying paragraph about the most serious problem our town is facing (character education – citizenship)

·         Comprehension – re-tell the story using a re-tell rope

·         Vocabulary –uninhabited, burrows, stranded, venture, instinctively, nestles

·         Spelling – /ar/ as in cared, airplane, everywhere

 I was very impressed with the math scores for chapter 4.  Our students are doing much better on word problems and it’s clear many have been practicing their facts!  Chapter 6 will focus on how to apply those new strategies and concepts about multiplying.  We’ll apply each concept to word problems to make the math relevant to us.  

                This week’s topics:

·         Rounding to estimate products  using mental math

·         Multiply two digit numbers

This week we’ll relate upcoming Election Day (Nov. 8^th) with democracy in the Native American culture.  Our nation’s confederacy was based loosely on those cultural traditions of the Native Americans. We will also begin a Tribal Sign Project which will be completed in small groups at school.  Each group will focus closely on one particular tribe and share out the interesting information learned.

Thank you!

Thank you parents for your help and support with our first project!  ALL students handed in their book project and are extremely proud of their effort.  We'll be presenting our work in the library Monday morning.  Look for pictures!

Fin Friday

Where green tomorrow for Fin Friday - Support Shen!!

Halloween Week Newsletter

Oct 31 - Nov 4

Reminders:

11/ 8 – Picture retake day

11/11 – No School Veterans Day

11/24 & 11/25 – No School Thanksgiving

ELA - This week we’ll focus on a folk-tale called The Emperor and the Kite. Djeow Seow is so tiny that her father, the Emperor, hardly knows she exists. His attitude changes when she saves his life!

                This week’s topics:

·         Writing – Finishing a personal narrative and creating satisfying paragraphs.

·         Comprehension – monitor reading and fix up when needed

·         Vocabulary – insignificant, steely, unyielding, twined, neglected, loyal, plotting, encircling

·         Spelling – /or/ as in pour and orbit

Math -  This week we’ll finish up chapter 4 and skip ahead to chapter 6 multiply by one-digit numbers.  It has become clear to most students they must memorize their facts.  Using strategies like arrays and fingers can help but students should know their multiplication facts to 9 within 3 seconds.  Here is a link to print out flashcards http://www.mathfactcafe.com/view/view.aspx?t=F&g=4 . There are many great ways to study facts online such as http://cte.jhu.edu/techacademy/web/2000/heal/mathsites.htm .

                This week’s topics:

·         Review multiplication and division properties, factors, multiples and three digit multiplication

·         Chapter 4 test (Wednesday)

·         Begin chapter 6 multiples of 10, 100, and 1,000

·         Problem solving:  Is that a reasonable answer

Social Studies - This week we’ll have our first quiz on Native Americans, specifically the Iroquois (Friday).  Watch out for homework and review sheets aimed at helping studying become easier.  I’ve encouraged students to re-read for understanding as well as search for alternate sources for material.  This is a great way to use the database on Shatekon’s library website.  

Collaborative Poem

Our students worked with Ms. Sweeney this week and created the MOST BEAUTIFUL POEM! I had to share it with you!

Our Quiet Poem

The lonely tiger sits

under a peaceful

rainforest tree breathing

slowly,

The silent Redwood

softly soothes the ocean

of sparkling water,

The mysterious playground

protects its ghost children.

All we can see are

faintly

fading

footprints...





October 17-21

Reminders:

It’s bully prevention week! Check agenda for what color to wear each day.

10/19 PTA meeting at 6:30 in the library

10/21 Monster Mash – If you haven’t yet, please send in 2 bags of candy

 The Daily 5 is up in full swing and the students are doing wonderful!  They have so much time to practice their skills.  Our focus story this week is Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride. This historical fiction book is based on an actual event; first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and aviator Amelia Earhart share an adventure in a plane after dinner at the White House.

                This week’s topics:

·         Writing – personal narrative, Thank you letters to Officer Morabito

·         Comprehension – using the text to find information

·         Vocabulary – outspoken, practical, elegant, elevations, brisk, starstruck, miniatures, marveled

·         Spelling – oo as in room

 This week we’ll apply our study of organizing, displaying and interpreting data.  We will continue to practice scale, intervals, and interpreting data as this proved very difficult for most students on the test.  This week’s homework in math will focus mainly and creating various graphs.

                This week’s topics:

·         Collecting and organizing data

·         Making tables

·         Bar graphs

·         Line graphs

We had the opportunity to have a visit from fire fighters and police officers this week.  We’ve talked a lot about personal safety and the responsibilities of community helpers. Check out my blog for pictures.

                We will begin using our social studies text to continue our study of Native Americans. We’ll tie in our comprehension strategy of using the text to find information by taking notes on what we learned.  Also, students will begin using the glossary to look up the meanings of key words and phrases.   

New Pictures

Our field trip was wonderful! The day was perfect.  We learned so much about Iroquois shelter, crops and gaming.  Make sure to look at the pictures!

New Pictures

There are new class pictures up from our first trip to the media center.

Early Release Drill

Tomorrow (10/7) will be an early release drill from school.  Student's will be leaving 15 minutes early from Shatekon. 

10-3 School Fund Raiser begins

10-4 Picture Day

10-7 Assembly “Bubble-Mania”

10-7 Early Release (15 minutes early)

ELA - Last week we mastered “Read to Someone”!  This is the most difficult workshop and the students have done a great job! This week we’ll begin “Word Work” which will focus on spelling patterns and vocabulary building.  This workshop is very interactive and students usually enjoy it!

                This week’s topics:

·         Writing – Creating a picture book focusing on the 4 narrative elements (setting, character, plot, theme) **We didn’t get to this last week

·         Comprehension – applying reading comprehension to non-fiction crayfish articles

·         Vocabulary – continue using “Wondrous Words” journal – we’ll tune into interesting words during read-a-louds

·         Spelling – long and short o and u  (oa, vowel-consonant-e, ew)

Math -  This week we’ll begin our study of organizing, displaying and interpreting data.  We’ll use our own experiences to create classroom graphs.  Students will focus on the vocabulary of survey, data, tally chart, frequency table, bar graph, line graph

                This week’s topics:

·         Collecting and organizing data

·         Making tables

·         Bar graphs

·         Line graphs

Science - W e will be wrapping up our study of crayfish this week.  They will be released into a fresh water home nearby. This week we’ll work on wrapping up the ideas and concepts that must be understood.  I’ll be sending home a study packet to work on at home.  The test will be Friday. 

Library Books

Tomorrow we will have our first chance to borrow library books.  Students will be going to the library in groups of 6 to check out books. Please minimize time out of the class, if possible, by looking on the E-catalog and choosing books at home. Here is a link the Shatekon's E-catalong.

Book Order

Please remember that the Scholastic book order is due September 30th.  You can send in a check made payable to Scholastic or order on-line.