November 8, 2015

Today is Sunday!  A beautiful fall day, full of football, friends and lesson plans.  I have to say, it is one of my favorite days of the week.  I love having time to search teaching websites and follow teacher blogs to gather new and exciting ideas for the upcoming week.  Last week, I introduced the fun review game called Kahoot!  to my class.  They LOVED it!  They loved it so much, they asked to play it every second of the day for the rest of the week!  I have always have the philosophy that learning should be engaging and fun.  It is the key to helping students remember, a toot to help learning become meaningful.  We talk about how we need to file our new information into the imaginary file cabinet that we have in our brains because we will need to retrieve that information later on.


We have been super busy learning and growing these first couple of months of school.  I am excited to meet with everyone for parent/teacher conferences next week to share successes and make plans to close any gaps in learning.  This week I will be sending home a "Hopes and Dreams," form for you to fill out.  Who knows your child better than you!  Working together helps students grow at a faster rate and it is so important for children to see the teacher and parents supporting each other and showing the students that we are all on the same page.

Here is a list of upcoming events for your calendar:

11/11 - Holiday! No School
11/12 - Tooth Fairies
11/13 - Tooth Fairies
11/16 - Tooth Fairies
11/16 - Photo Retake Day
11/18 - Gr. 5 Field Trip to Gulf of Maine Research Institute
11/19 - P/T Conferences 3:30-7:00
11/23 - P/T Conferences 3:30-7:00
11/25 - Workshop Day! (No School for Staff & Students)
11/26 - Holiday! No School
11/27 - Vacation Day! No School
11/30-12/4 - Cromwell visits to Grades 1-5
12/2 - PTA Meeting
12/5 - Breakfast w/Santa
12/7-12/11 - Childrens Stage Adventure (Mahoosuc Arts)

In Math:  Students are working on division and order of operations.  We spend a great deal of time with our Number Sense unit at the beginning of the year because it is the foundation.  Students need to have a strong understanding of numbers as we move forward.  I would encourage all students who have not memorized their multiplication facts yet, to spend ten minutes every day practicing them.  I can't stress enough the importance of knowing their facts!

In ELA:   Students are reading in three different groups right now that target different skills needed.  Our groups are reading Esperanza Rising, The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil Frankenweiler, and My Father's Dragon.   During our ELA Block, students work in small groups, focusing on  some centers that include word work, writing, grammar skills, and interactive journals.

In Writing:  Students are continuing to work on the elements of persuasive writing, as we need a bit more practice with this type of writing.  We have also started gathering information for our research report writing.

In Social Studies:  We are learning about the Explorers and the impact they have had on our history.  We are also keeping up with current events through our weekly Time for Kids activities.

In Science:  We have started our unit on Ecosystems.  We have begun by learning about ocean animals in order to prepare for our field trip to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute next week.  This field trip is supported by Poland Spring Waters.

As you can see, we have lots of learning going on.  Time for soon football!