Happy American Education Week!

We had a great week...I was gone for two of the days, but tons got done, as usual!! I had the opportunity to attend a workshop given by Kay Law, a specialist in the area of teaching gifted learners. This workshop was offered by the Bureau of Education and Research and I walked away with lots of new ideas!!

This week we had quite a few guest readers in celebration of American Education Week. Ms. Kim, Hoseok's mom, came in on Monday to share some of her favorite poetry, as a kickoff into our poetry unit. On Wednesday, Mrs. Gibbons, Zach's mom, and Mrs. Cicerone, Jacob's mom, both came into the classroom to share their love of reading. Mrs. Gibbons shared a book full of similes titled My Dog is as Smelly as Dirty Socks, and Mrs. Cicerone shared a part of the novel A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. The kids enjoyed all of the readers and I'd like to thank them for their time! Please shoot me an email if you would like to come in and share a book or part of a favorite book with the kids...we love having guest readers and it's important for our kids to see that reading is enjoyable at all ages and in all stages of life! (Grandmas and Grandpas...that means YOU, too!)


We also had a wonderful visit from John Steven Gurney, author and illustrator. Thanks to our wonderful PTA for bringing Mr. Gurney in during American Education Week...he was WONDERFUL!! He showed the kids all of the books he has illustrated and talked about his exciting career. He inspired many of our classroom authors and illustrators! It was a wonderful presentation...thank you PTA!!

Another thanks to ALL of you for the donations of envelopes and stamps last week. I am proud to say our 20 students wrote 35 letters for the Soldiers' Angels letter writing campaign!! We turned in about 150 envelopes and over 50 stamps...you all are extremely generous...thank you. We will be starting new letters next week for the "Christmas in Afghanistan" effort for the Frederick based Marines. We will also be composing poems for these men and women to enjoy over the holidays! Please review the list of needed items for these marines (previous blog post titled "Where to Begin" Nov. 6th) and send them in by Monday, November 30th if you are planning to participate! Thank you!!


Now to our academic week...


Math
We have been working with simplifying fractions, finding least common denominators in order to make equivalent fractions, adding and subtracting fractions, and creating mixed numbers from improper fractions. We have broken up into different groups in order to maximize learning during math. If you find your child struggling with an assignment, please feel free to send me a note. If they do not tell me they're having trouble, and their papers are coming back with correct answers, I will assume they are doing it with little to no help. Thanks!


Language Arts
Poetry is our new focus...we will be working on so many different types of poetry...reading it, analyzing it, writing it, breathing it...just kidding...but we will be working with poetry into December. Each child was asked to memorize a poem for next Tuesday. They can use one of the short "Fall Poems" I gave them or choose a favorite of their own. This assignment is part of the ongoing attempt to make them excellent public speakers. Please encourage your child to use a loud, clear voice, a good pace, and expression. Also, because it is memorized, their eye contact should be spectacular!! I will be scoring all of these areas while listening to your child recite their poem.


We are finishing (I HOPE!) our Ella stories. Once they are published I will be scoring them and sending them home. They are so fun to read, but they take a long time!! As well as taking this story through the entire writing process, we have been perfecting the art of writing a friendly letter, and I feel confident your child has mastered this form of writing.


Science
As science would have it...we had a failed science experiment this week. It was finally time to see what chemical reactions would occur when mixing the powders with red cabbage juice. Guess what we learned? OLD red cabbage juice causes NO chemical reaction with our powders. So, then I figured we'd scrap that and I'd show them the video of what kind of chemical reaction occurs when each powder is heated...then I couldn't find the video to SAVE MY LIFE. It was not one of my better science lessons. HOWEVER...we watched the heat video later in the week, and I'm hoping my husband is a real dear and will cook me some cabbage juice this week (he's a much more skilled cook than me!!) We will be drawing some conclusions as this month comes to an end...the kids have been doing a great job!


I'm sure I'm forgetting something...I'll send a weekend post if needed...hope you have a wonderful weekend...I plan to!