ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 14, 2O15

Ho! Ho! Ho! There is NO HOMEwork this week! Students still need to study their spelling words. Here are the lists:  

List 2 - misread, misuse, mistrust, mistreat, mislead, mistake, precut, preplan, prepay, preheat, discount, discover, distrust, disagree, dismount

List 3 - misprint, misread, mistreat, miscount, misspell, precut, preheat, preplan, preview, dishonest, dismounted, discover, disconnect, distrust

Reminder: We are making gingerbread houses on Friday. Please send in a can of frosting, a plastic bag, and candy to share by Friday so that I can see how much extra we need. Thank you for all of the donations! You are the best!

Cursive update:  Friday's spelling test will be in print. We ARE practicing our spelling words in cursive and today we wrote the words in class in cursive. I know the students are very excited about getting their cursive learner's permit and love writing in cursive now. The test will be counted in print as we get accustomed to writing words in cursive more frequently.

HOLIDAY CONCERT

CONGRATULATIONS TO MIA AND MADISON FOR A GREAT JOB IN THE HOLIDAY CONCERT AT JA THIS WEEK!

SAD NEWS.......

Today one of our lovely little hermit crabs passed away. Hampton was almost two years old, which is a long time for a hermit crab! He was very well cared for in our classroom, and enjoyed drinking water from the petri dish and scampering about in the cage. Hampton came from the boardwalk at Hampton Beach, and was well loved by everyone. He will be sorely missed!

HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 7

MONDAY - Write your spelling words four times each.
                   - Math: Page 329 - 330 odds

TUESDAY - Math: Page 335 - 336 evens  & REFLEX MATH

WEDNESDAY - Math: Page 341 - 342 odds & REFLEX MATH

THURSDAY - Study your spelling words for Friday's test!
                        Math test on Topic 6 on Friday

THERE IS NO RAH SHEET THIS WEEK. INSTEAD, A BOOKS AND BEYOND SHEET IS DUE ON FRIDAY. IT IS A BONUS WEEK. STUDENTS ONLY HAVE TO COMPLETE ONE HALF OF A SHEET!

Spelling Lists - r-controlled vowels
List 2 - hard, yard, sharks, card, storm, sport, porch, story, chore, store, sore, more, roar, soar, your
List 3 - sharp, carve, artist, orchard, porch, storm, tortilla, order, sore, shore, ignore, soaring, uproar, your, pour

Our Trip to the Nutcracker Ballet

    Here are some pictures from our field trip today to Monty Tech in Fitchburg. We had a fantastic time! The ballet, performed by Paula Meola's School of Dance and Performing Arts, was a beautiful and mesmerizing show. The dancers were amazing and the costumes were lovely. Our students showed a lot of "class" at the performance and were extremely well behaved!!!! Tomorrow we are going to write a review of the performance, since we are studying opinion writing in language arts.

GETTING TO THE ROOT OF MATH WORD PROBLEMS

     Tackling math word problems can be very tricky indeed! In class we are using several strategies, but the most thing to keep in mind is we want students to be able to tell us what the problem is asking for.  To help them along, try using the CUBES strategy: C: Circle important numbers; U: Underline the question (it's not always the last sentence); B: Box important words; E: Cross out extra information; S: Solve the problem.  It's OK to let kids "struggle" a little bit with problem solving! We want kids to try to think out the word problem, and once they understand what the problem is asking, they can decide what operation they will use and what plan they will take. Some plans include drawing a picture or an array, skip counting, and making a table. Whatever plan a child uses, it's important for him or her to verbalize how they came to their answer. Using key vocabulary words is also important. Last week we made a vocabulary book in class filled with lots of terms we are using. Have that nearby so that students can refer to it when they need to. It's also important to note that the stronger a student is with basic facts, the less of a struggle he or she will have with problem solving. Reflex Math is a great tool because it's fun while at the same time helps students improve their math fluency. We will be continuing to work on word problems throughout the year. Utilizing the pearson realize website is also recommended. The goal is for students to be more confident and independent learners.

Spelling Lists for the Week of November 30th - r-Controlled Vowels

List 2 - whirl, third, firm, birds, herds, fern, serve, her, nurse, burn, curve, burst, earn, pearl, word

List 3 - third, whirl, firm, stern, serve, herder, emerge, preserve, suffered, Thursday, nurse, worms, word, worth, learn

Homework for the Week of November 30 - December 4

RAH - Students need to turn in a Books and Beyond sheet by the end of the week.

Math - Monday: Worksheet 6-2 odd numbers
 
            Tuesday: Worksheet 6-3 (evens) and Reflex Math (until you hit the green light)
           
            Wednesday: Worksheet 6-4 (odds)

            Thursday: Reflex Math (until you hit the green light)

Books reports are due on Monday, December 14.

     Our November Pilgrim Simulation unit was a huge success! The students not only learned a lot of information about the pilgrims in 1620, but they also learned a lot about cooperation and immersion as pilgrims in a new land! By the end of the unit, students had formed a peace treaty with the Native Americans, planted "crops", built a colony, and formed rules in a Mayflower Compact.

There is no spelling or math homework this week. For RAH, please complete the Books and Beyond Sheet sent home and return it to school by December 4th. 

HOMEWORK FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 16

Monday, Nov. 16 - Write your spelling words 4 times each; RAH/MAH; Math - workbook page 277-278 evens

Tuesday, Nov. 17 - RAH/MAH; Reflex Math - play until you hit the green button; Math - workbook page 283-284 odds

Wednesday, Nov. 18 - RAH/MAH; Math - page 286 vocabulary review

Thursday, Nov. 19 - RAH/MAH; review your words  for the spelling test; Reflex Math - play until you hit the green button

Spelling Lists for the week of 11/16 - digraphs

List 2 - chick, teacher, chair, shown, sixth, much, cheese, chin, thick, wheel, pitch, bench, fish, truth, whales

List 3 - pitch, crunch, teach, shadow, thick, teacher, stretch, chuckled, pathway, whales, cheese, search, seashells, weather, what

        Please help us fill our turkey with feathers!

Our school is holding its annual Thanksgiving food drive to help families in need.  Students are being asked to donate canned goods or non-perishable items. For every item a student donates, he or she will get a feather to decorate to put on our turkey.  

Spelling Lists for the week of November 9, 20l5

This week we are reviewing the consonant digraphs kn, gn, and wr. Students who received less than 80 percent on last week's test received their lists again yesterday to study and will be retested on Friday. Students who scored 80 percent or above will not have a spelling list this week.

         Homework for the week of November 9, 2015

Monday, 11/9: RAH/MAH; Math - Worksheet #5-4 both sides evens; Reflex Math (until you hit the green light)

Tuesday, 11/10: RAH, MAH; Math - Worksheet #5-5 both sides evens

Wednesday, 11/11:   RAH/MAH and Reflex Math (until you hit the green light)

Thursday, 11/12:  RAH/MAH; Math - Worksheet #5-6 both sides odds

 

                                     BOOKS AND BEYOND HAS BEGUN

Books and Beyond has officially kicked off at Johnny Appleseed School! If you are not familiar with the program, it is a wonderful opportunity for students to improve their reading skills and win prizes. This year's theme is Climb to the Top with Books and Beyond.  Students need to turn in their sheets by Thursday of each week. Prizes will be distributed on Friday. There are eight stations students need to get to before they earn their gold medal. Please know that the last day to pass in sheets is April 28, 2016.  Congratulations to the following students in 3F who have already passed in sheets: Cassidy and Michael!  Remember, if you need a sheet please get one from me.

Our hermit crab can't seem to make up his mind! Hampton, one of our two hermit crabs, decided to change shells today. He ended up changing out of the red shell into the white shell with jewels. Once he was there, he didn't like it so he spent much of the afternoon trying to get back into the red shell. I also put out a yellow shell which seemed like a good option but he refused. Why do hermit crabs change shells? They change shells when their old ones get too small! We will keep you posted on what eventually happens!

This week we started our Pilgrim simulation unit! The purpose of this unit is to give students a closer look at the struggle that was part of everyday life in Plymouth Colony. Students are making decisions and facing consequences just as the Pilgrims did nearly 400 years ago. Today students had to cross the Atlantic Ocean, and they had to work with their team to answer true/false questions, perform tasks, and write in their daily log.

This group's task was to tie three pieces of yarn together in less than a minute. This helped them cross the Atlantic Ocean faster.

Check out this group working together to decide who would have to perform a task of doing 10 push ups in order to save a passenger on the ship!  By the end of this simulation we hope the students will have a deeper, richer understanding of why the Pilgrims are honored at Thanksgiving each year. The students had a wonderful time and were very engaged during today's lesson!

Spelling Lists for the week of November 2, 2015 - Spelling test will be on Friday, Nov. 6 . Please remember to study your words!

wr, kn, gn - consonant digraphs

List 2 - wrap, wrists, wrote, wring, write, wrong, wren, knit, knock, know, knot, knee, gnat, gnaws, sign

List 3 - wrists, wrote, wreck, wring, writing, wrench, wristwatch, wrinkle, knitted, knapsack, knead, knight, knock, gnaws, gnome

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Fair

The students had a fantastic time Friday afternoon at the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Fair held in the gymnasium and outside on the back field. Students were able to play games, slide down an inflatable chute, and create crafts associated with the book. The entire school read the book throughout the month of October, learned 25 vocabulary words, and created posters about the history of chocolate.  Students also had an opportunity to attend a bubble-mania performance, which was a huge hit!