I really do have the best of intentions...but one thing led to another and last night ended and no post was made. Thanks for your flexibility...
We had a great week last week! Here's how it went down...
The kids are crazy excited about SCIENCE. We are building aquariums and studying organisms. So far our aquariums have elodea (a plant), duckweed (another plant), algae, and snails. This week we add the bigger organism...but I can't tell you what it is...it's a secret!! We've also been studying the micro-organism, daphnia. The kids have looked at it with the aid of a magnifying glass and have labeled it's body parts. Weve read articles about the daphnia and discussed the variables that effect the increase or decrease of daphnia population, AND we've been recording data about our daphnia population. We will add them to the aquariums this week. We all agree Science is interesting and SO FUN!!
Our Reading Informational Text and Social Studies units are culminating in the creation of travel brochures. The kids are working diligently to produce quality brochures that will convince any traveler that their state is THE state to visit. These brochures will be on display in the classroom and out for your viewing at parent conferences.
In MATH we are rapidly multiplying...numbers that is! Multiples of 10, 100, 1000...different strategies for solving multiplication...properties of multiplication....and the straight up algorithm have been a lot of our focus. We will be working with the distributive property this week as well as solving difficult word problems using multiplication. Some of you may be wondering, "Why does my kid have to show their thinking using strategies when solving multiplication? My child already knows the algorithm!" Thanks for asking...let me explain. Many of your children have known the algorithm since they could walk...and that's awesome! However, a lot of times it is a memorized operation and does not necessarily mean they understand the concept. Understanding the concept is exceptionally important as they work to use multiplication solving difficult word problems. Making sure they can use strategies is my job. Making sure they have the concept is my job. Once I know they do...using strategies to solve rigorous word problems is THEIR job. :-)
MISCELLANEOUS NEWS
1. The times for Pumpkin Math need to change. My apologies, but I am the teacher representative on the Feasibility Study for the renovation/modernization of UES. We have a big meeting Thursday morning the 30th at the Board of Education and I will be out of school that morning. So I would like to move Pumpkin Math to that afternoon...1:00-2:15 pm. As of right now I have three parents who have volunteered to come help. I will send a confirmation email to those parents. If you would like to join us, please send me an email. And thanks to those of you that have offered to donate the pumpkins and other supplies. It will be a very fun afternoon!!
2. Post-it Notes...we use a lot of post-it notes. If you ever see any post-it sticky notes on sale and would like to pick up a pack to donate, that would be sooo appreciated. (Thanks, Mrs. Petrolle!!)
3. Our Fall Festival party is Friday, October 31st from 11:20-12:20. Thank you to Mrs. Petrolle and Mrs. Foster for organizing this fun event! Reminder that you must be a trained volunteer to help out at events. The training is on our school's website. With that being said, you're all welcome to come in and help out/visit with your child during this party. We'd love to have you! Please contact Mrs. Petrolle or Mrs Foster (use class directory...not sure I ever thanked Mrs. Kilgore for creating our class directory!!)
Have a great week...we plan to!
