Week 11

Dear Parents,

           This week we began two digit subtraction with regrouping. This is one of the most difficult math skills for the students to learn and understand. With many small group sessions, I feel they are understanding the process. Some students still need place value blocks for a visual representation to help them. Our assessment is scheduled for next Wednesday. I will be in the school on Tuesday, but at a Leader in Me Lighthouse coaching day. There will be a sub in my room. We will review again on Wednesday before the assessment and may have to complete it on Thursday.

             In language we began planning an expository writing about why we like our favorite holiday. We used a circle map to brainstorm our favorite holidays and then used a flow map to organize our ideas about why we like our chosen holiday. We will continue to map out our story, revise it, and publish it. We can’t wait to read everyone’s reasons why they chose their holiday!

              In reading we were focused on expository books as well as main ideas and details. We combined these lessons into a Shutter Book which showed our ability to sequence the order of a story, to write details to support a main idea, and to place facts about birds and bats into a Venn diagram telling how they were alike and different.

              In social studies we are still learning about the roles we take on in our lives. We are learning to watch our actions and set goals to help us be the best we can be at the roles that are important to us. We also read a Scholastic News about Firemen and how fire horses can help them serve a community.

              In science we did several investigations, where we watched how heat, energy, sound energy, and light energy can change things. We watched as we added thermal energy  to a stick of butter causing the butter to melt into a liquid and that taking the thermal energy away allowed the butter to cool and form a solid again. We went into a book closet and tried to observe colored paper with the lights off, with just a flashlight pointed at the ceiling and then with the lights on. We noticed the the appearance of the color changed and was determined by the amount of light energy used. We also tested how sound waves make vibrations that could actually make light bounce on a wall. The louder the sound, the more the light danced.

       A special thank you goes out to Michaela’s family for bringing in their pet Macaw and three other birds. They did a presentation about  caring for these birds, and gave a talk about interesting facts about each. The children were so excited to learn and asked many questions about these interesting pets. See our blog to see a short video and some pictures. 

        Congratulations to Michaela as she is our Leader of the Week!

• Please send in your box tops! The class with the most wins a pizza party!
• Stuff the pantry starts Monday:

Stuff the Pantry, our annual food drive for families in need, is coming up on October 29^th – November 2nd! Please note -- some foods are worth more than others! Many foods are worth 1 point (and are needed as well), but the following foods are worth 2 points and are needed for Thanksgiving meals:

• Canned evaporated milk (16 oz.)
• Canned fruit (16oz)
• Instant potatoes, boxed
• Canned pie filling
• Canned yams (16 oz.)
• Boxed stuffing 
• Chicken broth
• Sugar (2 lb. bag)
• Canned cranberry sauce