Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed!

     In honor of John Chapman's birthday we made applesauce with an apple peeler/corer/slicer.  Each student got to peel an apple then we cooked them all day in the crock pot with cinnamon and a little sugar.  Almost everyone loved it!
     Keep working on those doubles facts- we will have a test on them tomorrow.  Spending 10-15 minutes a night learning math facts will really pay off in the coming years.  
     

The students worked together to create their poster, The Golden Rule Kids.  We have all agreed to follow the Golden Rule: Treat others as you want to be treated.

It was wonderful seeing all of the parents at Open House last night.  I hope I gave you all of the information you wanted (maybe TOO much!) but if you have questions please don't hesitate to communicate with me.  The children were so excited to read your notes.  Those of you who could not make it, don't worry, I wrote notes for those students so they wouldn't feel left out.

We had a busy week getting in to our reading series.  As a class we did very well on our first test.  Keep studying those spelling words, vocab, and grammar sheets each week.  We have also worked on writing a personal narrative, learning doubles facts and we have started working on our play, "The Pyramid Cafe".  It's about the 5 food groups and the "Other" group (fats, oils, and sweets).

Centers this Friday included a food pyramid, "Stare" ( a memory game), a math facts game, the listening center, a Weekly Reader about manners, and a phonics center.  Fun Friday!!

Fun Friday!

This was a fun and busy week!  We enjoyed a visit from our 5th grade reading buddies on Thursday.  There is nothing like watching a whole classroom of students reading together with total concentration.  Some of the buddies went down to Miss Barmasse's room and I took photos of the ones that stayed with me (see below).  Next month we will switch it up.

We've spent a lot of time this week getting comfortable with our new Daily Five program.  I wrote about it in our September newsletter.  Ask your child how we are building up our stamina!

.Most Fridays we enjoy working on group centers.  Today we started making a scarecrow, listened to a book on tape, put together puzzles of the United States, practiced spelling with Boggle, and practiced our math facts that have a sum of 10 using the mathlines website (see our links list).  

We are also spending time learning to be a team.  The students decided to call our class The Golden Rule Kids and we are working on treating each other with kindness and respect.  Please continue to talk to your child about treating others as they want to be treated. and ask them if they have done any acts of kindness this week.  Enjoy the weekend together!

Great Beginnings!

We had a great start to our school year!  Though it was only half a week we managed to get a lot done and started learning how to work together as a class.  Thank you for entrusting me with your wonderful children.                                                                       We started reading books by our Author of the Month, Marc Brown.  He writes the "Arthur" series.   We will be learning author facts and comparing Brown's style to other authors.   Check out the website link from our list.                                                       This year is a Jubilee year for the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur.  They came to Lockport 150 years ago and established Catholic education here.  The children are being challenged to perform 150 acts of kindness this year to honor the Jubilee celebration.                                                                                   We have started our new math series that closely aligns with the new Common Core standards.  There is a big emphasis on memorizing math facts and mastering addition and subtraction.  The student edition is available online and you will be receiving a user name and password for your student so that you can access it.  I will have more information and a demonstration at Open House.                                                                                                Have a great weekend!

 

Today we learned a little more about each other by using a survey to find classmates who had certain attributes or experiences.  For instance they had to find a classmate who had blue eyes or who had been out of the country and have him/her write his/her name.  I think I'm the only one who signed next to "likes spinach". :-)