Weekly Update: February 18th-22nd

Lemme

Leopards

Hi Parents,

I hope everyone was able to enjoy their snow day. The boys ventured outside yesterday to play in the snow. They lasted about 20 minutes. Cooper (almost 2) enjoyed eating the snow more than anything else. I have heard mention of more snow, hopefully it will miss us.

Language Arts:

This past week students read the informational text, The Journey: Stories of Migration by Cynthia Rylant. Students practiced the comprehension skill of using compare and contrast to help them understand the text. Students used a Venn Diagram to help them identify the ways a locust's migration compares/contrasts to that of a grey whale's migration. We also focused on visualizing as we were reading, using the details to picture what is happening in the text.

Spelling:

This week was a review of some of our previous spelling patterns:  adding -s, -es, -ed, -ing

Math:

We started Unit 8: Fractions on Tuesday, February 19th. Unit 8 has six main area of focus:

• To explore fractional and spatial relationships
• To introduce the number line for fractions
• To find equivalent fractions
• To compare fractions using region models
• To name quantities greater than 1 with fractions and mixed numbers
• To solve number stories involving fractions

Science:
We have done more hands-on investigations with our friends, the Bess Beetles. We(including myself) also practiced picking up the crayfish. Here are a few more pictures of some of the students with the Bess beetles.

Weekly Update: February 11th-15th

Lemme

Leopards

Hi Parents,

      We had a busy and exciting week! We enjoyed Mesa Pizza on Thursday, the kids couldn't believe the size of the slices. Macaroni pizza was a new experience for me and was it DELICIOUS!! The students impress me each day with their positive behavior, I have received many compliments on what a great class we have. I truly enjoy them, I always refer to them as my fabulous 3rd graders!!!

      Our Valentine's party was a success, the students enjoyed fruit kabobs, raspberry sherbet with Sprite, and opening their Valentines from their friends. A BIG thank you to Mrs. Kucera and Mrs. Greving for all of your help with the party. Thank you also to those of parents that donated items for the party. Mrs. Michaeli your hard work was appreciated, the kabobs were great!

     Enjoy the pictures below of our pizza and Valentine's party!

MMMMMMMMMM! Mesa Pizza!

 Valentine's Day Party

Check out Mrs. Martinez' Valentine's Day mailbox. The kids loved going inside and dropping off their Valentines!!

Language Arts:

This past week students read the fantasy text, Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg. Students practiced the comprehension skill of using story structure to help them better understand text.  Students identified the setting, characters, and plot. We focused on clarifying the main problem and solution within our text, identifying main events throughout the story.

Spelling:

Our spelling pattern focused on adding -ed and -ing to base words. We discussed doubling the consonant and dropping silent e before adding -ed or  -ing.

Math: We have been taking some time to review concepts/skills taught previously this school year. We will beginning Unit 8:Fractions on Tuesday, February 19th. Unit 8 has two primary objectives:

• To review the use of fractions and fraction notation
• To help students develop a solid understanding of equivalent fractions, or fractions that have the same value

Science: We are continuing to grow our bean plants and will measure it's growth each week.
We have some new visitors in our classroom as you can tell from the picture below. The students had the chance to touch and observe the Bess beetles and the features they possess. Some students were more excited than others. I will encourage the students to touch/handle the beetles, but they will not be forced. The crayfish also arrived today, I will post more pictures next week. The students have been wanting a class pet, I told them these are our temporary class pets:)

Weekly Update: February 4th-8th

Lemme

Leopards

Important Events

On Monday, February 11th, we will have a new face joining our classroom , Sally Gessner, a practicum student from the University of Iowa. We are excited to have Miss Gessner in our classroom!

Thursday, February 14th: Valentine's Day Party from 1:05-2:00

I attached a class list to a previous email for students to use to help fill out their Valentine's cards. Students will decorate a bag here at school, they are welcome to bring in special items to help them decorate their bag. We will plan to decorate on Wednesday.

Friday, February 15th: The Optimist Good Reader Program is due this Friday! Please check in with your child to see how they are progressing to complete all nine books. I have a checklist within the classroom that Miss Karen is helping me with, feel free to contact me if you would like to know how your child is doing with their summaries and reading.

Friday, February 15th: Indoor Movie Night at Lemme! Enjoy watching the Lorax from 6:30pm to 8:30pm in the Lemme Gym.

Wednesday, February 20th: Lemme Library Fund Night at Short's Burgers. Short's Burgers will donate 15% of the evening meals to the Lemme Library!

No school on the following days:

Monday, February 18th, Monday, February 25th, and Tuesday, February 26th.

Parent Teacher Conferences:

Thursday, February 21st, Tuesday, February 26th, and Thursday, February 28th

I will send home a conference reminder confirming your date/time. Please sign these and return these as soon as possible. I will also send home a Parent survey to gain feedback from you.

Pennies for Patients Drive ends February 22nd. Please continue to bring in your change. The class that raises the most money gets a pizza party!

Box Tops for Education: Student council is collecting Box Tops for education. If we reach our goal of 1,000 or more, Mrs. Martinez will let a student feed her messy foods while she is blind folded:)

Weekly Update: January 28th-February 1st

Lemme

Leopards

Hi Parents,

I hope you have been staying warm this last week and were able to enjoy the snow day. It has been a crazy week with me out on Monday and Tuesday, no school on Wednesday, and late starts on Thursday and Friday. The boys and I took time to make Valentine's sugar cookies on our snow day together. There was definitely a lot of sprinkles used, many on the cookie and the plate underneath:) Cooper (my youngest) was our taste tester and they were a success! Now, that is all he is asking for..more cookies!

Language Arts:

This past week students read the fantasy story, Dogzilla by Dav Pikey. Students practiced the comprehension skill of identifying the cause and effect and the comprehension strategy of summarizing.

Spelling:  This past week students focused on spelling the vowel sounds heard in cook and moon.

Math:  The last part of this week we spent some time on extended multiplication facts. These are multiplication facts that involve multiples of 10, 100 and so on.

For example: We know 3x8=24 so:

                                                                       30x8=240

                                                80x3=240

                                                30x80=2,400

                                                800x3=2,400

Science: Thank you so much for your donations of fruits for us to investigate. The students were put into groups of three and were given three different fruits for their group. Each group member estimated how seeds they thought would be inside. The students were surprised to find that many fruits have a ton of seeds. Students compared the properties of seeds of all of the fruits. We investigated the pomegranate together and each student was offered the chance to try a taste test. Most students tried it, and many came back for seconds.

Reminders:

Optimist Reader Program

Students should still be working on their Optimist Good Reader Program reading and summaries, due February 15th. They are working on these in school but can also be working on these at home. The following genres are the ones that students need to be reading:

• Poetry
• Science Fiction/Fantasy
• Non-fiction (2)
• Folktale
• Historical Fiction
• Realistic Fiction
• Biography
• Award Winning

Valentine's Day

Students will be decorating a Valentine's Day bag at school (to hold their Valentine's). We have 23 students in our class, I will send out another email attaching a class list. Students can address each one individually or they can also just sign their name, either way is fine. I reminded students that if they are bringing Valentine's that they bring one for everyone in the class. I also told students if they would like to bring in items to decorate their Valentine's bags they could. Please wait to send these items until it gets closer.

Weekly Update: January 22nd-25th

Lemme

Leopards



Hi Parents,

As you might have heard from your child, the flu bug hit our home this past week, leaving me feeling quite under the weather. Carson, my oldest was sick with me. I am crossing my fingers that the rest of my family stays healthy. While I was gone, I told the subs to sanitize, sanitize, and sanitize some more!! Love those Clorox wipes!

I wanted to let you know that I will also be out this coming week on Monday and Tuesday for some professional development. I have Mrs. Galbreth and Mr. Sanders covering my room these two days. 

Language Arts:

This past week students read the informational text, A Tree is Growing by Arthur Dorros. Students practiced the comprehension skill of using text and graphic features to help them better understand text.  Our Essential Question was: How can pictures and labels give you more information? 

Spelling:

Our spelling pattern focused on words with the /k/ sound spelled with ck, k, and c. We also had words that had the /kw/ sound spelled with the letters qu.

Math:

We started Unit 7:Multiplication and Division this past week. Unit 7 extends the basic multiplication and division skills that we learned in the first half of the year. Unit 7 has four main areas of focus:

• To review multiplication and division patterns
• To extend basic multiplication facts
• To practice making estimates of costs
• To explore ratios and geometric figures

Students have fact triangles that they have cut out at school. They keep these in the zipper pocket of their Leopard Books. Students should be bringing these home to practice each night. Please help your child remember to look for patterns when memorizing facts such as; when your multiply a number by 5, it will always have a 0 or 5 in the ones place. Also, reinforce the turn-around-rule, when your child learns 6x4, then they have also learned 4x6.

Here is the Everyday Mathematics website below, I encourage your child to play Baseball Multiplication. If it seems too difficult at first, have your child use their multiplication table to help them. I will sure to print one off for them to keep at home.

https://emgames.everydaymathonline.com/demosite/demo_chooser_3.html

Science

We are beginning our next science unit this week; Structures of Life. I sent out a previous email asking your help with bringing in fruits/vegetables for our investigation on seeds, thanks so much for your quick response; we seem to have everything covered. Please remember to bring in the item you signed up for by Tuesday, January 29th.

Reminders/Events:

Donations: We would love for all of the students in our class to have a 1" binder to replace their current Leopard Books. These binders hold the planners better; as well as papers and folders. Please let me know if you are willing to donate some binders, we only need five more and then every student will have one.

Optimist Reader Program

Students should still be working on their Optimist Good Reader Program reading and summaries, due February 15th. They are working on these in school but can also be working on these at home. The following genres are the ones that students need to be reading:

• Poetry
• Science Fiction/Fantasy
• Non-fiction (2)
• Folktale
• Historical Fiction
• Realistic Fiction
• Biography
• Award Winning

Reading Logs:
Just a reminder that reading logs are due Friday, February 1st. Students should have read 300 minutes for the month of January.

Weekly Update: January 14th-18th

Lemme

Leopards

Hi Parents,

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. We took all three of the boys bowling for the first time last night. They had a blast, although Cooper(almost 2) simply wanted to kick the ball and couldn't quite grasp the concept of rolling the bowling ball. It was pretty comical, thank goodness for the bumper lanes!!! It was nice to have an enjoyable night together as a family.

Language Arts:

This past week students read the informational text, The Albertosaurus Mystery: Philip Currie's Hunt in the Badlands. Students practiced the comprehension skill of drawing conclusions.  Our Essential Question was: How can you figure out ideas the author doesn't state directly? The students really enjoyed learning about the discovery of dinosaur fossils, places they were found, what scientists found them, and what type of fossils were found. On Friday, students shared their favorite page from their small group reader with another peer. The students had good discussions and were full of questions for one another.

Grammar and Writing:

This week we focus on adjectives and articles such as a and an. We also learned about the suffix -ly. Student learned that they should add -ly when you describe the way something happens or the way someone or something looks.

Ex. Suddenly, without warning, a storm blew across the town.

How does it happen? Suddenly

In writing, we have been working on Persuasive writing. We have been working on a class letter to Mrs. Martinez, persuading her to let the students have an extra five minutes of recess in the afternoon. We made sure to start with a clear topic sentence stating our opinion, followed by three strong reasons to support our opinion. We will finish our letter with our closing this week. Students will then have an opportunity to write their own, they may even choose to write to you, trying to convince you to do something.

Spelling:  This weeks spelling words focused on words with /j/ sound with a g followed by e, i, or y and the /s/ sound with a c followed by e, i, or y. 

Math:Students will receive their Unit 6 test on Tuesday. Please sign and return this as soon as possible. This week students have been reviewing past concepts from this year, in particular we have focused on the addition algorithms. We have focused on the partial sums algorithm and the traditional (standard) algorithm. I have encourage students to choose the method that works best for them and stick with it. We will review subtraction next week as well. The following link is helpful resource to help gain a better understanding of the algorithms.

https://www.everydaymathonline.com/free_resources_main.html?frnologin=1&PHPSESSID=3b949d56ee050c496e9518d5df8a9194#

Social Studies

We began Chapter 4: Communities and Beyond of our book titled Social Studies Alive!  Students have learned about the reasons why immigrates came to America long ago and the difficult journey that they endured. We have had the chance to explore some interactive websites like the one listed below. I told students I would include it in my blog if they wanted a chance to visit it again with you.

http://www.tenement.org/immigrate/

Reminders:

Parent/Teacher Conferences: Please sign up for a spring conference time if you have not had a chance to do so. Also, for those of you that have signed up for a time, double check to make sure that time still works for you. If the times that are available do not work for you, please let me know so we can rearrange another date/time. Thanks!

Donations: We would love for all of the students in our class to have a 1" binder to replace their current Leopard Books. These binders hold the planners better as well as papers and folders. Please let me know if you are willing to donate some binders, we only need five more at then every student will have them. Thanks so much to Mrs. Cheatum and Mrs. Greving for your donations.

Also, if you have some books that your child has read and you would like to find a new home for them, our classroom would love them. Students are always excited to get new books!

Optimist Good Reader Program: This week I took time to check in with most students to see how they were coming with their reading and summaries. In the classroom, each student has a hanging file in a crate that holds their Optimist Reading Packets, bookmarks they have created, and the summaries that they have written. I am taking time to read through their summaries and ask them questions about their reading. I am then signing off in their packet. Please feel free to check in with your child about their reading and their summaries.

Weekly Update: January 7th-11th

Lemme

Leopards

Hi Parents,

I finally have internet at my house and am able to get back to updating my blog. Thank you for being patient with me:)

On our short (2 day week) back, we spent some time sharing what we did (or a gift we got) over break. The students were excited to share with their class. I loved listening to all the exciting happenings that took place over the break. Sharing always seems to help up build our community and help us transition back into our learning a little bit easier. I shared with them about my move and how not much seemed to go right:) They had a lot of questions and were curious about what my boys thought about their new home.

We also made an academic goal for 2013, we spent time discussing goals that are challenging, but also attainable. We listed some examples together on the SmartBoard to help us brainstorm. I was impressed with their goal setting, choosing goals that were appropriate for them. They are posted in our classroom if you would like to take a peek.

Language Arts:

This past week students read the humorous fiction, A Mr. Rubbish Mood which is an excerpt from a chapter book by Megan McDonald titled Judy Moody Saves the World! . Students practiced the comprehension skill of determining author's purpose. We discussed the four main reasons authors write; to entertain, to persuade, to express feelings/thoughts, and to inform. Students spent time discussing the impact we have on our environment and what we can do to make our world a better place to live.

Grammar and Writing:

This week we continued our focus on adjectives. We have talked about adjectives that tell what kind, how many, and which one.

Adjectives that tell what kind: brave, tight, large, small, etc.
Adjectives that tell how many: many, two, several, etc.
Adjectives that tell which one: this and that
                      Ex. You should recycle that can.

Spelling:  This weeks spelling words focused on the /âr/ sound as in the words air and bear. Students also recognized that ear makes the /îr/ sound as well like in the word year. Students focused on the following spelling patterns; ear, air, and are. 

Math: Students will be taking their Unit 6 Math Progress Check on Tuesday, January 15th. Students should have brought home a review packet on this past Friday. Please help to remind your child to bring it back on Monday so we can go over the review together. Student should bring it back home again on Monday night. Thanks so much! 

Water: Students have completed their unit of study on Water. They should be bringing home their scored science test on Monday. Please sign their test and your child return these to me by Wednesday, January 16th.

 

Lots of Reminders:

Parent/Teacher Conferences: Please sign up for a spring conference time if you have not had a chance to do so. Also, for those of you that have signed up for a time, double check to make sure that time still works for you. If the times that are available do not work for you, please let me know so we can rearrange another date/time. Thanks!

 

Scholastic Book Orders: Scholastic book orders are due Wednesday, January 15th. I tried to change the order date online, but it was not cooperating. Feel free to order online using the website: www.scholastic.com/bookclubs

Our class activation code is: GP2R9

When ordering online, you get a $5 FREE Book Pick Coupon to use on your next online order! Feel free also to send in your book order making one check out to Scholastic Books.

 

Donations: We would love for all of the students in our class to have a 1" binder to replace their current Leopard Books. These binders hold the planners better as well as papers and folders. Please let me know if you are willing to donate some binders, we have eleven students that need them. Thanks so much!

 

Optimist Good Reader Program: Please encourage your child to read for the Optimist Good Reader Program. Your should have received a note describing the program. We teachers especially love this program because it asks for students to read different genres and step outside of their comfort zone.

 

Lemme Hat Day Fundraiser: Lemme Student Council is hosting the annual Hat Day Fundraiser on Friday, January 25th. They are raising money for the University of Iowa Children's Hospital. It's easy! Make a monetary donation and get to wear a hat in school. Your student will also get their name on a green star to be displayed in the hallway.