Grinch Day!

We started the morning by reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas and looking at character change.  After library we made Grinchs and wrote how we would make him Grin!  This afternoon we did some Grinch problem solving in math, added a new poem to our poem binders, and watched the short cartoon movie. We also enjoyed Grinch floats during the movie.  It was a fun filled day! Here are a few pictures from our day. 

Weekly News December 22nd

It’s a very activity filled week.  Grinch day is off to a fun start.  I’ll post pictures at the end of the day!  Tomorrow students may wear holiday colors.  I will also be sending home a reading challenge for over break.  It says to read 30 min a day on it...that would be great but 15 is plenty! We will also pack a few extra books to bring home. I hope that you all have a very relaxing break and holiday with family and friends. 

Upcoming Events:

Thursday, December 24-Sunday January 3rd-Winter Break

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: We shared our topic research yesterday with Ms. Zobel’s class. We learned so many things about the topics we researched!

Writers' Workshop: We are finishing up our Informational Writing Unit. We will be working on opinion writing when we return from break. This unit will focus on making judgments, writing reviews and giving reasons for our opinions.

Math Workshop: This week we are continuing our work with 10s and 1s. We will be representing 2 digit numbers with drawings (tens sticks and ones circles) and number cards, and read and write numerals and number words for numbers through 20 and the decade numbers (30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90)  We also are playing a new counting game this week. 

Science/Social Studies: We will be researching reindeer tomorrow! After break we will be starting a new social studies unit, Families: Now and Long Ago.

Let me know if you have any questions! 
-Samantha

December 16th

Hello,

Only a few days left until winter break! We are working on finishing up a few units before our days off.  Next Tuesday, December 23^rd, our class will be having our Grinch Day. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss is one of my favorite holiday books and I look forward to this day every year before break!  We will be doing some fun activities with the book and reading it.  Students may dress in green like the Grinch or like a Who from Whoville to join in on the fun!

We will be having yoga again this week Friday (thank you Mrs. McEneany), so remember to have your child wear comfy clothing.

Upcoming Events:

Thursday, December 24-Sunday January 3rd-Winter Break

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: We've started to read about topics we are interested in. After spending some time reading about our topic, we meet with our clubmates to discuss and grow our ideas. This week we will be learning how we can use our hands and fingers to stay organized when telling the main idea and details of our book, comparing books about our topic to grow ideas and make our learning more interesting, coming up with our own ideas about what we are learning, and thinking about why what we are learning is so important.

Writers' Workshop: We will be finishing up our Informational Writing Unit before break.  This week we will be learning how we can teach readers what new words mean with words and pictures, how to edit step by step, and then fancy our books up for our celebration. 

Word Study:  The words this week are: did, was, tell, said, ride. We will be assessing these words on Friday. 

Math Workshop: This week we are working seeing 10s and extra ones.  We will also be using the Make a Ten strategy to solve story problems. Example: 7 tigers play games. Then 5 more tigers join them. How many tigers are playing games now?  7 needs 3 more to make a 10 and then 2 left over or 10+2=12 which is easier for us to solve.  We will also spend some time practicing doubles of numbers 1-10 (eg. 1+1=2, 2+2=4, 4+4=8).

Science/Social Studies: This week we are finishing up our research on Weather and will be presenting our information to the class.  We will also learn about who invented the umbrella and design our own.  We will finish up the unit with a final assessment.   Here are some pictures from our research. 

Sometimes we're not so organized :)

Have a great week!  

-Samantha 

December 7th-11th

Hello!

In December we begin to celebrate half birthdays which begins with June birthdays.  A few parents have emailed about treats and thank you for checking for the days.  Also, do not feel like you have to send something in…that is just an option! 

Do you sew? Or do you know someone who does?  A few of our chair pockets are in rough shape and could be fixed up! Let me know if you know someone who could help our class out.  Thanks

Thursday is family night and we will be showing our published information books.  Students may also wear their pajamas to school.

Upcoming Events:

Thursday, December 10th-PJs, Pizza and Publishing Family Night, 5:30-7:00

 Tuesday, December 15th-11:30 Dismissal

Thursday, December 24-Sunday January 3rd-Winter Break

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop:  We are planning to think and talk by using key words we are learning in our books and using drama to bring our read alouds to life.  At the end of the week we will choose a topic we want to learn more about and read several books about that topic to grow our thinking.

Writers' Workshop: This week in our information books we will review our writing checklist and set new goals, use photographs or pictures about our topic to help us teach our readers even more, edit "as we go" to remember to add punctuation as we write, and prepare our books for our publishing night on Thursday.

Word Study:  The words are: them, here, boy, girl, little. We will be assessing these words on Friday. These are words we want students to be able to read and write automatically without having to think to sound them out.

Math Workshop: This week we are starting a new unit-Place Value Concepts. Our big goals of the unit are: read, write and represent 2-digit numbers as tens and ones, compare two 2-digit numbers, add tens and one, use strategies to add within 20, and use addition within 20 to solve story problems.

Science/Social Studies:  We finished our science centers last week.  We also did a rainy day experiment to determine what would be best to wear in the rain. This week we will pick a topic we want to research more and use books and ipads.  

Have a great week! 

Samantha

November 30th-December 4th

Happy December!  We filled our class calendar with events for the month and there is so much to look forward to. We also decided it was time to switch things up in our classroom and we got new reading partners and new table spots. This was very exciting!

Upcoming Events:

TODAY December 1st-Kaukauna Christmas Parade

We will plan to have families meet at our line up spot around 5:45/5:50.  The parade starts at 6:00, but it can be a bit of a wait to get going, so this should be plenty of time. Just a reminder: kids riding or walking in the parade MUST be accompanied by an adult.

Entry Name:  New Directions Learning Community Charter School
Parade Position: 27 *Look for a numbered stake on the side of the road
Staging Street: 809 Wisconsin

Thursday, December 10th-PJs, Pizza and Publishing Family Night, 5:30-7:00-A note came home last week. Students are invited to bring a friend to celebrate their hard work as writers. Students may wear their pajamas to school on this day too!

Tuesday, December 15th-11:30 Dismissal

Thursday, December 24-Sunday, January 3rd-Winter Break

Curriculum Updates:

Readers' Workshop: We are continuing our reading nonfiction unit. We got new reading partners this week and are excited to share our reading habits with them. We've been on the lookout for key words that are specific to the topics we are reading about to share with our partners. This week we'll be working on rereading using a teaching voice, finding interesting things to share with our partners, reading with feeling and reading like a writer.

Word Study:  The words is week are: his, her, has, you, see. We will be assessing these words on Friday.

Writers' Workshop: As we continue writing our All About Information books, we will continue to use different kinds of writing in our teaching books such as: how-to writing, persuasive writing and stories, we will also be writing introductions and conclusions to our books, and fixing up our writing using all the strategies we have learned so far.

Math Workshop: This week we will be focusing on solving mixed story problems. These problems will include both addition and subtraction stories. We've been working on using equations to set the situation up and help us solve the stories. 

Science/Social Studies:  We are continuing to learn about weather through our centers. Below are some pictures of us working hard in our weather centers. 

As always, if you have any questions please let me know! 

-Samantha