It's late...but it's still Friday!!

Hello, all...sorry for the late post, but it was a crazy busy day (I say that everyday, for the record!!) :-) We had another great four day week...and get ready...next week will be even crazier!! Here's how this week went down...

Language Arts...we have jumped head first into fairy tales...and I don't know who is having more fun...the kids or ME! We started on Monday with Cinderella, with lots of groans from the boys...but I have to tell you...I think I have some converts!! It was probably the story "Dinorella" that helped them begin to like the "Cinderella tales." We enjoyed how the author used alliteration to write this wonderful fairy tale about a dinosaur. We focused on the "turning point" in a fairy tale, otherwise known as the climax. We used a graphic organizer to retell Dinorella and identify the climax. Today the students chose their own letter of the alphabet to brainstorm nouns, adjectives, and verbs, and then began using the same graphic organizer to write their own "Cinderella tale" using alliteration. You can look forward to Stinkyrella, Fisherella, Pinkerella, and many, many more!!

Math...I divided the kids into two groups this week...based on the pretest results. We have students who have subtraction of large numbers down pat and we have others that needed some work wtih manipulatives and review of regrouping...especially with zeroes...and they have all done a great job! Since we have such a crazy week next week, we will be finishing this unit and moving on the following week. There are a few kids who do not have their subtraction and addition facts committed to memory…they need to work on acquiring these facts! So, if you notice your child still using their fingers…please encourage him/her to practice their facts so that the adding and subtracting of larger numbers will be a lot easier.

Science...If you haven't heard by now...we've started our first Science unit...Chemical Tests!! We have some aspiring scientists in our classroom and this is such a fun unit. We have been working as scientists answering questions, making a hypothesis, and then experimenting to answer our questions. Next week we begin testing 5 mystery powders (common chemicals found in our homes) and the students will be making observations of the physical properties of the powders, recording their data, and eventually making conclusions. It promises to be a very fun few weeks of science!!

Social Studies...We ended our SS unit with the completion of our state brochures...these final products can be seen on the bulletin board inside our classroom. As you wait for the parent/teacher conference to begin, take time to look at the work your children put into these documents...they are WONDERFUL!!

Speaking of conferences...and the reason our week next week is so crazy...the conferences are scheduled back to back every 15 minutes next week...and I have certain things I want to cover during this time...but if you have something in particular that you want me to cover at your child's conference, please email me this weekend or Monday so that I can be prepared to answer your question...and make sure it is covered in the very quick 15 minutes! I will also have a calendar handy at the conference in case we run out of time...we can schedule another meeting to make sure all of your questions are answered.

I feel so fortunate to be your kids' teacher...they are a wonderful bunch and we are covering so much every day...ask them to show you some of their sign language...we've only covered a few things..."thank you, you're welcome, I want you to sit down" :-) that's one of my favorites! My sister is taking a sign language course, and my daughter is learning sign language at her preschool, so I've decided we're going to learn it too!! Nothing like adding more to my own plate!! :-)

I hope you have a great weekend...I will be outside attending more games than I did last weekend...if you can believe that!! Plus, my son has a fairy tale project due Monday...ugh! :-)
As always...email me or call me with your questions or concerns.