A Week in Review

September 10 - 14, 2012

 

Another GREAT WEEK is in the books for the 2012-2013 school year! We'll start off by giving a shout-out to Katie C. for earning the first Virtues Award from our classroom! Katie received a Virtues Award for showing the virtues of ENTHUSIASM and HELPFULNESS! She is a role model in our classroom and for our school!

Here's what we were up to this week:

Reading:
"Buzzzzzing" was our focus during Reading Workshop this week. Students were given a focus during their independent reading time, following their reading, they met in groups of three to talk ("buzz") about their independent reading book in relation to the focus that was given. The students had thoughtful discussion and were hard at work to deepen their comprehension and reading skills. Students are also in the midst of DRA (Developmental Reading Assessments); we’re hoping to conclude this oral reading fluency, comprehension and inquiry assessment by the end of the month.  I plan to use this data to best address reading strengths and goal areas. 

Writing:
Ideas, ideas, ideas - that's what a writer needs in order to begin. We brainstormed ways that writers get ideas, we tried a few new techniques, too. Ask your child how an index card with a hole punched in it or a "Things I Hate" and "Things I Love" list can help generate ideas. We also read about famous authors (like Roald Dahl) and learned where they keep their ideas - in their Writer's Notebooks of course!

Math:
Our learning in Math this week continued to focus on multiplication and division word problems. We also worked on function tables and writing equations that included a variable in order to identify the "rule" of the table. We unscrambled multiplication tables and used mathematical thinking to identify and write our own word problems.

Social Studies:
Students worked in teams to answer geography questions and identify specific locations on a world map. We studied latitude and longitude, ask your child what movements did we use to help us remember which lines are which on a map/globe.

Science:
"What is the Scientific Procedure?" was a question we explored in a joint lesson with Mrs. Bethel's class. Mrs. Bethel and I co-taught a Scientific Procedure lesson that focused on reviewing the parts of a science experiment and then we conducted one as a class in order to write our own procedure and conclusion. A special thanks to Mrs. Kaminoff and Ms. Keenan for sharing the lesson with us!Ask your child to tell you if "Water or Vinegar dissolves a gummy bear faster?"

Steps to Respect:
We started our anti-bullying curriculum this week, too. Our lesson focused on "intentions" and how to find out what someone's intentions are instead of assuming the worst. We discussed how sometimes misunderstanding someone's actions, by assuming the worst of intentions, can lead to unnecessary problems in friendships.

Thank you for another great week! We are an enthusiastic and focused group, I couldn't be more pleased with how much learning is already happening in our classroom!


Important Upcoming Dates:

§  Monday, September 17^th:  Family Chess Night

§  Thursday, September 20^th:  Curriculum Night

§  Friday, September 21^st Walk-A-Thon “Kick Off” Assembly

§  Wednesday, October 10^th:  All School Walk-A-Thon

I look forward to seeing you on Thursday for Curriculum Night!

~Mrs. Hatlestad