Week of 9/21/2015

Class Business:

-Your children brought home math on Monday (it's due Friday). Please make sure this assignment "lives" in the purple folder as it goes back and forth to school.

-We go up to the high school on Thursday and are very excited to participate with the students in Mrs. Dean's science class.

-We appreciate any donations you'd like to give to our class auction. These items can be from your home (maybe Goodwill-bound  ). Books, games, stuffed animals, etc. are great auction items.

Reading:  We took a look at "real reading" today. They totally understood the difference between reading the words and thinking while reading the words. Your child should be reading for 20 minutes every evening at home. We preach that "readers are leaders" in here daily!

Math: Homework will be coming home weekly now. Please email if any of the Bridges curriculum needs clarification.

Writing: Our personal narratives are going great! It was so exciting to finally start our "rough, rough, rough" drafts. The students have great ideas and are on their way. It made me proud to see them get in the writing zone today.

Spelling: We have a spelling test every Friday. These are our words for this week: 

from, there, their, said, could, first, back, right, help, between, never, below, saw, something, thought, both

Challenge words: choose, choices, shelter, quickly, quietly

Social Studies: The 7 continent song is coming at ya! It's a fun one. We will be covering the cardinal directions and how to read a grid on a map.

Mystery questions.

1) What is the name of the imaginary line that runs north and south through the earth?

2) Name five countries in Africa.

3) Name five countries in Europe.

4) Name our city, county and state (you must spell them correctly) 

Thanks, 

Miss Irwin 

A.C.T.I.V.E Chant

The A.C.T.I.V.E. reading chant:

Asking questions (talking hand)

Making connections (loop index fingers together)

Telling the story over again (talking hand, go "over the hill" with your hand)

I infer to make a prediction (point to brain)

Visualizing (swirl hands around brain)

Evaluating (hands out and "do I like this?" expression on face)

Summarizing (go out big with hands to "wrap it up")

Yeah! (jazz hands )

Learn this chant by Friday and receive 25 Bla-irwin bucks.

Extra reminders:

Please sign your child's planner each evening. This is a great place for me to communicate with you about goings-on at school. This is also the spot where we write down what we do each day. If you get a "fine" response to the question "How was school today?" items written on the planner can help to get the conversation rolling! Also please remind them to bring purple folders to and from school every day.

Auction: Mrs. Blair and I will be hosting an auction for your kids right before winter break. We are so grateful when parents donate to this event. We love having bid-worthy items that our classes can go for with their Bla-irwin bucks. Our currency system works so well and the auction is a great reward for their hard work!

 

First Post for this year! 9/14-9/18

Ahoy!

Welcome to the first blog post of the year. My goal is to update my blog every Tuesday. However, if you ever have any questions about what is happening in our classroom feel free to email me!

Reading: Yesterday we took our unit 1 pre-assessment. This unit is all about literacy around the world. Students will be reading and researching how children in other countries get books delivered to them.

Writing: We are in the prewriting phase of our personal narrative. Students are learning to "show not tell" when they are writing.

Math: Our big focus in math this month is making sure that we have our addition and subtraction facts down pat!

Social Studies: Tomorrow we will begin our unit on mapping and geography. This unit is a lot of fun! We start with an activity called "Me on the Map".

Spelling Words:
there
while
small
along
with
because
would
never
been
next
sound
great
one
think
little
might

Dates to Remember:
Book orders are due on the 22nd.
Picture day is the 22nd.

Thanks for all you do to support your kiddos!
Cassie Irwin

Week of 5/25-5/29

Ahoy!

There is quite a bit going on at school these next few weeks! I will do my best to make sure I am communicating it with everyone in a timely fashion!

Reading:
We are continuing to learn all about Native American's. This week we are working on legends and revising our own legends.

Writing: Students are working on their last writing piece. They will be walking through the whole writing process independently. It is amazing to see the growth that the student are showing in these final pieces.

Math: Today was the start of our last unit! Geometry! We are working this week on classifying shapes. Keep practicing your facts!

Spelling:
cold
morning
ground
it's
really
enough large
remember
your
table
water
because
they
first
learn
until
there people
some
United States

Challenge Words:
voyage
apology
Neptune
diagram
hurricane

Important Events:
5/27 - Volunteer Luncheon
5/27- Talent Show Auditions
5/27- Kindergarten Orientation
5/28- Our last day to check out library books
5/29- Dress Up Day: Sports
5/29- JWR last day

Thanks for supporting your kiddos! They are a great bunch of 9 year olds!
Miss Irwin

Week of 5/18-5/22

Ahoy!

What a crazy time of year here at Lacamas! There are so many fun and exciting activities going on. Our SBAC testing is over and we are buckling in for the last month of school! We still have a lot to learn!

Reading: We are elbow deep in our learning around Native Americans. Currently the students are using the legends that we have read and using them as a template to write their own legend.

Writing: The students are working on the rough draft of their own choice of writing. The editing and peer editing process will begin soon.

Math: We just finished unit 5 and will begin unit 6 focusing on geometry! The students are really excited for this unit to begin.

Social Studies: We are continuing the reading that is being done and are currently making dioramas to depict the 5 different native american regions.

Spelling:
years
were
life
living
needed
order
first
gave
food
its
important
such
open
their
run
these
told
book
there
find

Challenge Words:
tragedy
tremble
communicate
committee
particular

Events to Remember:
TOMORROW!- Lalooska field trip.
5/22-PALS Skate Night 5-7
5/27- Talent Show Auditions
5/27- Kindergarten Orientation
5/29- Book Fair Starts
5/29- Last day for students to check books out of the library
5/29-Spirit Day-Sports Wear
5/29- Last day of operation for JWR

Well I think that is the majority of what is going on here in room 204!

Thanks,
Miss Irwin

Week of 5/4-5/8

Ahoy!

How is it already MAY!? Room 204 is well on their way to being 4th graders!

Reading: We are working hard on our Native American unit. This week we are learning about legends.

Math: With the math SBAC coming up next week, we are working to get prepared for it. Reviewing everything that we have learned so far! Please continue working on those multiplication facts :)

Writing: Finishing our final drafts of our informational piece and beginning our last writing piece of the year!

Social Studies: Learning about the different regions that the Native American's are from, and mapping them.

Spelling:
living
life
United States
high
black
because
hear
city
white
along
across
use
pages
eat
after
short
about
there
could
story

Challenge Words:
express
further
ancestor
straight
financial

Important Reminders:
Our Lalooska permission forms will be coming home this week!
We will be painting tomorrow, wear clothes that you are not worried about getting paint on! 


Thanks for all you do to support your children!
Miss Irwin

Week of 4/27-5/1

Ahoy!

Reading: Our Native American studies has begun! It is a blast watching the students get very excited about what we are learning and some of the connections that they have to Native Americans.

Math: With our state testing coming up soon, our class is busy preparing for our testing. We are currently working on division, area and perimeter. This will be our focus for the next few weeks until testing starts! Please keep practicing multiplication facts.

Writing: Students are finishing the first drafts and editing process for their informational writing piece.

Spelling: (working on words with silent letters)
through
since
world
they
above
there
country
its
half
true
red
picture
animals
fish
plants
their
many
would
group
own

Challenge:
symbol
activate
application
loyal
production

Calendar Events:
5/1- PALS Movie Night at 6.
5/11-5/15 SBAC Math Testing
5/21- Field Trip to Lalooska
6/1-6/5 Book Fair

I hope that this covers anything. If you have any questions feel free to contact me!

Thanks,
Miss Irwin