FANTASTIC FALL FRIDAY!

WHAT A WEEK!
And what an end to that week!! Read on to find out how we spent our time this week!

Math
We are finishing up our work with area and perimeter by writing product descriptions for our candy bar creations! We have also been discussing and working with this question..."Why is area measured in SQUARE units and perimeter measured in just plain ole UNITS?!" Kids are often puzzled by this even after multiple hands-on experiences, textbook definitions, and discussions. Just today (it's Monday) we went over a homework from last week and it was mind boggling to me how many kids reverse the two!! Makes me think its more developmental than anything. During this unit we have worked with rectangular arrays and irregular shapes, too. This concept will be reinforced throughout the school year so that the kids are sure to master it if they haven't all ready! Last week we dove into multiplication...since arrays lend itself so nicely to that concept. I have really been pushing the "study the facts at home" and I'm hoping some of the kids are coming home realizing its a daily practice need...until they have them memorized. It is plain to see that your kids understand the concept of multiplication...3x3 is 3 groups of 3 or 3+3+3...and they have many different strategies for solving multiplication equations...now its time to get down to the most efficient way of solving three digit times one digit multiplication...and that is where we're headed this week!

Language Arts
We have a lot going during our Language Arts block. We are peer conferencing and editing/revising our daphnia paragraphs. We are listening to different short stories and identifying characters, setting, problem, solution, and author's message. We are continuing our twice weekly Writer's Workshop time taking many different genres of writing through the writing process. The kids' WW pieces are hanging from hooks in the classroom so that they can read each other's stories, poems, advertisements, etc. during Silent Reading. This week we will be working in groups using short stories written at the kids' instructional levels and working with author's message, 1st person, 3rd person, and many other short story indicators!

Science
We had to send our critters back...but not before we discussed food chains!! And then we read from an upper level textbook about food webs. We intertwined many different food chains to create food webs. We discussed and drew producers, consumers, and decomposers...we read about carnivores, omnivores, herbivores, and insectivores. We will continue with our Aquariums unit for another week or two delving into other life science concepts!!

THE WEINBERG and a FANTASTIC FRIDAY
This past week we went to the Weinberg Theater to enjoy the theatrical production of Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. It was well done and the kids enjoyed it for the most part! The very next day the kids had QUITE A FRIDAY! We started with seven different parents volunteering to bring pumpkins and materials so that we could have a fantastic "Pumpkin Math" activity. Thanks to the number of volunteers, we got to work in groups of four or less!! The kids had SO much fun working with pumpkins and measuring circumference and diameter, predicting and verifying weight, height, and # of seeds. Right smack in the middle of our morning, we joined the entire school population and walked to benefit the homeless of Frederick County. It was a very powerful experience seeing the entire student body, all paired up with their "junior pals" walking together for a cause. Mrs. Moats kindergarten friends are our pals and we enjoyed chatting with them as we walked. As if that wasn't enough for one day...we ended the day with a FABULOUS fall festival party. Thanks again to the many volunteers...all of you...because even if you weren't here with us, I know so many of you donated money so that the room parents could plan and purchase everything needed for the event! Thanks to Mrs. Beers-Arthur and Mrs. Sweeney for their planning and execution of a great party! I'm pretty sure we may have broken records for parents on hand for the party...so thank you for that as well!

ELECTRONICS DAY!!
And in case you haven't heard (or been reminded a MILLION times)...tomorrow, Tuesday the 1st, we will celebrate reaching our "Soaring With Pride" goal for the SECOND time with ELECTRONICS DAY!!

Have a great week...I'll try to get the pictures up tonight...in between trick-or-treating and everything else going on!! I can't believe TOMORROW IS NOVEMBER!!