Halloween, Volunteers, Conferences...and School Work!

Halloween

Storm, full moon, Halloween - oh my!  We made it through the week with craziness in the air.  I was able to stir up some magic in my cauldron though; and Halloween Day was a success!  Thank you to all those who donated time and/or treats. 

Halloween BINGO (and no, Brayden, we will not play Thanksgiving BINGO!)

Something is amiss!  Great Yankee fan Mr. Dale has made a new friend!
It looks like a treat - but I think it's a trick!

Mr. Apsega came to read a couple of Halloween stories.
He held the student's attention while Mrs. Tourtillotte and I
set up for the party.

 

Volunteers Needed for At Home Work

I am looking for a volunteer or two to help me with some additional time consuming projects.  Many students in my room this year really enjoy word searches and crossword puzzles.  I would like to have a supply of these (and other) word games for use as appropriate time fillers.  If you are a Google-savvy parent who likes a good search, please see me for details.

The other job I have is for someone who likes doing "mindless tasks" while watching TV (and is looking for an excuse to ignore the unfolded laundry).  I would like the letters for the words of our Core Values traced from my stencils and cut out.  I will provide the paper and the stencils.  If you are trained to use our Cricut machine, or have other ideas, please feel free to share them with me.

 

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Don't forget to sign up for Parent/Teacher Conferences.  Remember, we are now using an online scheduling system.  If you have any questions on how to sign up, please call the office and Mrs. Gray will help you.

I look forward to seeing you all in the next couple of weeks!

 

...Oh Yeah, We Do School Work, Too!

In math we are continuing to work on Geometry, as we explore rectangles that look different, but have the same area.  We will wrap up our Geometry unit in time for the first quarter to end. 

In reading, we have begun a new theme called "Nature Walk".  We are exploring both fiction and nonfiction as we read stories about camping, park rangers, exploring nature, and owling.  One of our reading strategies that we are working on is asking questions.  This could be questions that may be answered in the reading, questions that you would ask the story characters if you could, or questions that make you wonder something that is not answered in the text.  We are also focusing on fact versus opinion.

In writing, we spent much time learning how to get ideas for what to write, we looked at mentor texts to show us examples of how to organize our writing, and now we are going to practice putting our voice into our writing.  Voice in writing is the personality of the piece.  Voice can be done through illustrations (for example: I know that when shown, our students will know the difference between a piece of art from Eric Carle vs. Jan Brett) and through words.  Voice is using your own humor, "catch phrases", strong feelings, or other words that evoke emotion in the reader.  When a student uses voice in writing, a teacher can usually tell who wrote the piece without looking at a name or the handwriting.

We wrapped up our map unit with final projects.  Students were offered three project ideas to choose from, all demonstrating the same skills but in a variety of interests.  All of the students chose the same project - creating a map!  Students were asked to create a map (of a real or made-up place), including features such as symbols, map key, compass rose, and title.  These projects were shared with the class last week, and are on display in our room. 

We will move on to a science unit next, as we explore magnets.

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