Week of 10/19/2015

Ahoy!

This has been a great week already! The students are working so hard.

Reading:
We are working on finding the main idea of non fiction texts. On Thursday and Friday we are taking our Unit 1 assessment. Today we learned all about Little Free Libraries where children and adults can take a book or give a book.

Writing:
We are working on adding sensory details to our writing. We will be going on a fall walk around school on Thursday, recording our 5 senses, then turning our observations into a paragraph next week.

Math:
This week is the beginning of Unit 2. We are working on the beginning concepts of multiplication. Students need to know that multiplication is repeated addition. Please start working on multiplication facts with your students, they will need to have those concrete by the end of the year!

Science:
We are currently learning about sound waves. We did an experiment yesterday where they observed how sound waves transfer through water.

Spelling:
large
form
land
from
side
its
feet
without
home
different
boys
their
around
too
could
been

Challenge Words:
neither
furniture
subject
inside
you've

Mystery Questions:
1) How does a wind instrument (like a flute or clarinet) make sound?
2) What are the three bones in the ear called?
3) How do string instruments (like a violin) make sound?
4) How fast is the speed of sound?

Other Reminders:
10/24 4:00-6:00 Harvest Carnival
10/26-10/30: Early Release Half Days for Conferences
10/27- Book orders due.

Thanks,
Miss Irwin

Week of 10/12/15

Ahoy!
Things are off to a great start this week! It has been a blast getting to know your kids and see them grow! They have already learned a lot! Here are some of the things that will be happening this week in 204...

Reading: This week we are starting our informational reading and work on main idea. We are learning about how student around the world gain access to books. The book we are reading is called "My Librarian is a Camel".

Writing: This week we are finishing our final drafts of our personal narratives.These are due on THURSDAY! We have asked that anyone with a paper longer than 5 pages takes it home to finish it. Remember we are looking for:
Focus: Topic clearly stated and the whole story stays on topic.
Organization: The story is organized with sequence words and transitions.
Elaboration: Supporting the main topic with details and explanation.
Language and Vocab: Expresses ideas with interesting & diverse vocabulary.
Convention: Correct punctuation, capitalization, spells most high frequency words correctly, & sentences are complete.

Math: Tuesday and Wednesday will be the last two day's of our Unit 1 for math. Starting next week our students will be working on Unit 2! Unit 2 focuses on the beginning concepts of multiplication.

Social Studies: We are continuing to work on learning all about maps.

Spelling Words:
what
asked
always
want
world
help
school
each
going
show
right
important
around
there
write
another

Mystery Questions:
Where does sound come from?
What is the scientific study of sound called?
Can sound travel underwater?
Is there sound on the moon?
How is sound measured?

Here are some fun pictures from the Human Car Wash last week!

Dates to remember: 

October 24: Harvest Carnival

October 27: Book Orders Due

Thanks, 

Miss Irwin 

Week of 10/5/15

Special guest: A librarian from Camas library came to visit to talk about books and literacy. Your children asked super intelligent questions. We were proud of them! We're hoping everyone scurries off to get a library card.


Spelling Please ask your child to study spelling words this week and  for our test on Thursday:they, what, their, said, many, over, our, think, also, those, large, often, together, asked, house, don't


Math: Homework coming home tonight– due Thursday (b/c no school Friday). Double digit addition is all this week…going well!

Social Studies: Thank you for making the "Continent Song" a great success! Your children did great. We learned our cardinal directions today. I told them to ask you which way was north in your home. Check it with a compass on your phone (that's what I always do!) 


Reading: We're continuing to work on the message of a story. This involves determining what's important in the text. I used my purse as an analogy—we pulled out only the items I would need to go on a hypothetical walk outside. They did so well! I believe they understood the comparison with reading (and only highlighting text that is important). We venture into the land of nonfiction next week and learn how to find the main idea and supporting details.


Writing: We began the initial process of using "Mrs. Blair's amazing, awesome final draft paper" for their published pieces.The four categories we use for grading writing are:

Focus:              Topic clearly stated and the whole story stays on this topic.

Organization:   The story is organized with   sequence words and transitions.

Elaboration:     Supporting the main topic with details and explanation.

Language & Vocab:           Expresses ideas with interesting & diverse vocabulary.

Convention:     Correct punctuation, capitalization,spells most high frequency words correctly, & sentences are complete.

Extra reminders:
Title Reading night is Wednesday if your student is involved with Mrs. Woodson's amazing program.
Mystery Question:

1) What state is south of Indiana?

2) What state is north of Colorado?

3) Which ocean is west of California?

4) Name the 7 continents!

Have a great night!

Miss Irwin 

Week of 9/28/2015

Ahoy All!

Hope you are enjoying this wonderful sunshine! We are off to a great start here in 204-205! Here is what we are doing....

Reading: This week we are beginning the second source in our unit on Literacy Around the World. Students are working on finding the main message of fictional stories. They have learned that the main message is what the author is teaching us through the story.

Writing: This week we are learning how to edit our writing. Today Mrs. Blair introduced the students to rainbow editing and using our editing marks. We will continue to work on our personal narratives.

Math: This week is all about vocabulary review, and review of our addition facts. Today we started to work on double digit addition.

Social Studies: Our learning of maps is continuing with learning were the 7 continents and 4 oceans are. They learned a song today that will be worth 50 Blair-win bucks if they have it memorized by Friday. The link is below.

Spelling Words:
always
know
large
few
show
very
because
too
there
those
their
read
out
about
might
found

Challenge Words:
thirty
twenty
process
eighty
present

Important Events:

10/1- Fall Family Night @5:30
10/2- Book Fair Ends

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

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