Last week got away from me...sorry!!

So...I think that since I posted the "How Do I Become President" contest, I felt like I had already posted for the week!! Whoops, my bad.

We had a wonderful week and here are the details!!

Let me start with the celebration that I'm sure you've all heard about...Electronics Day! We set a goal for our class...36 Soaring With Pride stickers...this is not an easy achievement...but your kids are fantastic! So...we went through a very long process of brainstorming ways to celebrate, and then another rather long process of voting...and voila...Electronics Day...we will spend about 45 minutes on Tuesday (which in your kids' opinions, will NOT be long enough!!) They deserve this fun break and I'm looking forward to rewarding them!

Writer's Workshop
We have two full blown workshops under our belts...twice a week we spend about an hour in the workshop setting...some kids drafting, some editing, some revising, others in a peer or teacher conference...and I'm thrilled to say we have two pieces that will begin publishing next week! The kids get very excited when they see Writer's Workshop on the schedule and wish I could make it last all day. We are going to see some magnificent pieces from your kids in the near future!

Language Arts
We have been continuing our "During Reading" strategies this week...we spent time with "synthesis" and "inferring"...two of the tougher strategies. We used some wonderful literature to model these skills...and then applied them to the novels we are reading. We will finish up the these strategies this week and move into one of my favorite LA units: short stories!

Math
We had a lot of fun with AREA this week...we started off the week discussing whether all squares are rectangles AND/OR all rectangles are squares...do you know?!?! We used lots of geometry vocabulary while drawing and cutting grid paper to make rectangles. Then the kids wrote equations to matched the rectangles...eventually determining that L x W = area of a rectangle...they are true mathematicians!! I also pulled a few small groups to continue to reinforce subtraction of large numbers with zeroes. We head into multiplication and division for the next couple of weeks starting off with properties of multiplication and rules of divisibility!!

Social Studies
We are wrapping up our unit on government this coming week as we venture into a simulation of a local government. Your kids will be "running City Hall" this week (oh dear!!) They will be reading letters from citizens, delivering that mail after determining which office should handle what problems, making decisions as leaders of those offices, and writing letters back to the concerned citizens...should be a lot of fun and a great learning experience!!

I will not be in on Monday. My oldest son has a doctor's appointment and then is having a tooth extracted in the afternoon...but I will see your lovelies Tuesday for the rest of an almost full week! Reminder...Friday is an early dismissal day!

Hope your weekend was wonderful and I'm sorry this post is so late! Stay dry!!

"How do I Become President?"

A POSTER CONTEST....

From time to time I will post information about a contest available to your child...once I share the website/information, it is totally up to you and your child whether you participate or not. I just like to post the different opportunities because your kids have so many talents and they should be recognized as often as possible!! This contest is very timely in that we are studying national government and recently learned about and discussed the constitution. All pertinent info about what to put on the poster and how to enter can be found here:

http://challenge.gov/challenges/44

(the link can also be found on the sidebar under Social Studies)

Let me know if your child participates...we'd love to follow their progress!

Happy Constitution Day!

We had a great week!

Today we celebrated Constitution Day...we started off with the Preamble and I was pleasantly surprised that the kids had done a lot with it last year...we were even serenaded by the kids in Mrs. Weeks' class from last year...they had learned it in song! They taught it to our class and then we went and shared it with Mrs. Humerick's class...I have a lot of performers in this class! :-)

We found words in the Preamble that were hard to understand and we defined them....discussing the purpose for the Constitution as we went through it. Then the kids took a pretest about Constitution trivia....they were suprised to see how much they still had to learn! We watched a video from Discovery Streaming entitled, "Shhhhh...We're Writing the Constitution!" The kids were able to change their answers from their pretest to the correct answers as they heard the information. They may have started with a 5 out of 10 in the pretest, but they all ended with 100%...they are excellent information gatherers...little sponges ready to soak it all up!

We finished our Constitution information gathering in the computer lab...we visited a site that was new to 90% of our class...BRAIN POP...it is located under every subject on the sidebar of the blog...it has many free videos and games that are all curriculum related...it also has many options that in order to use, you must be a subscriber...UES does not have a subscription, so we stick with the free stuf!! The Constitution movie was free, and it was followed by a quiz that each student took. Then the kids got some time to explore the site a little. It is a wonderful site for kids and educators...visit it with your child sometime soon!

We have been focusing on government in Social Studies this week, so the Constitution was a great tie in! We have discussed the definition of government, the similarities and differences in local, state, and national governments, and we will continue this next week.

In Math this week, we have been working with large numbers. Estimating, adding, subtracting, and playing games with large numbers took up most of our time. I worked with small groups that showed needs on their pretests...we worked on rounding one day, addition with regrouping another, one day on subtraction with zeroes...and those kids that did not need review were busy working on extensions using these skills. Today the kids were given a quiz on large numbers...I'm looking forward to seeing their brains on paper!!

Language Arts has been fun this week! We are using novels to continue our focus on the Mosaic of Thought strategies...we have been perfecting asking questions and what to do when we hit "clunks" in our reading. These kids are voracious readers...I'm excited to get my assessments complete and get them into level appropriate novels. We will continue with reading strategies next week.

In Writing we finally got a true Writer's Workshop underway this week. We had children drafting, peer conferencing, and revising. I will continue to introduce the other "pit stops" in the upcoming mini-lessons...these kids LOVE the workshop and they are producing wonderful writing pieces!

MISCELLANEOUS

Your kids brought home some graded papers today. Please review the papers with your child and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. They also have checklists in their Take Home Folders. Please sign the checklist and place it back into the folder to be returned on Monday. Thanks for your help with this!

If you haven't had a chance to sign up to become a PTA member...there is another membership form in your child's Take Home Folder. Please consider becoming a member...the PTA does and provides wonderful things for our school!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend...looks like it will be great weather...enjoy your families!

Crazy Week....

It's hard to build routines when we feel like ping pong balls in the classroom! But as usual, we were busy...read on to find out more...

Math
This week we began facts tests...the kids took addition and subtraction facts tests...100 problems in 6 minutes...and they scored their own. I will give these fact tests again in one month and their goal is to show improvement. There are many different websites that help with fact practice. Flash cards or worksheets work well, too! This is your child's responsibility...but its a good idea to remind them to practice!!

We also focused on estimation...using front end estimation and rounding...you would be surprised how many kids got this incorrect on the pretest!! We discussed which is a more accurate form of estimating...and the kids discovered that it is usually more accurate to round!

Social Studies
In Social Studies we discussed rights vs. responsibilities and people who contributed to the common good of our society. I am continually impressed with your kids...they work wonderfully independently and cooperatively...they are a teacher's dream!! We did an activity where the kids were the instructors today. Each group of five kids had to read about someone who has contributed to the common good of our society. Then each group had to decide how they would teach us about their person. What fun they had...they shared skits, songs, posters...and every child participated in one way or another! So instead of reading 8-10 pages of text...they each read 2-3 and then taught the rest of us! It was loads of fun...while learning...imagine that!? :-)

Language Arts
This week in Language Arts each child was given a novel to read. Using this novel we practiced many of the skills "good readers" use while reading. We identified "clunks" in our reading and then asked questions, made predictions, and listed new vocabulary. Each student was asked to decide whether or not he/she wanted to be best friends with the main character in their story and provide an example from the story to support their thinking. I loved reading their responses! We will continue to focus on "during reading" strategies next week as we move forward with our novels.


Important Information
Many papers were handed back today! Your child has a folder full of papers...graded papers, PTA and UES news, homework they have checked themselves, and the Behavior and Study Habits checklist. Please take time to go through the folder with your child. Discuss the grades, any comments, and the checklist. Please sign the orange checklist and return it to school with your child on Monday.


Also...school is closed Tuesday due to the primary elections. I am assigning homework for two nights...hope you don't mind...they will have to finish the three page packet (pages 2 and 3) and write meaningful sentences...5 each night (Monday and Tuesday).


And last...today the kids got 15 extra minutes of recess for their outstanding behavior these first three weeks...they deserved more, but our day is already shortened...can't spare the time!

Have a great weekend...email me with questions or concerns...and enjoy your families.

Happy Long Weekend!!

We had a wonderful week...here's how it went down....

Math

This week we focused on finding averages. We decided to find out what the average third grader was like in our classroom. We collected data, organized the data, and analyzed the data. We found the mode of our favorite school subjects and food, we also found the mode of hair color, eye color, and gender. When it came to height we worked with calculating the mean. We also calculated the mean number of letters in our names in order to name our average third grader. In order to do this...your third graders were dividing with two digit divisors!! We found calculators to be wonderful tools to practice these skills while keeping the frustration levels low!! The kids are so excited to learn to divide with one and two digit divisors later this year! We also found the median and range when using our numerical data...the kids were so happy punching all the data into their calculators!!

Today was the big reveal...you see, Ms. Maenner's class was also working on their average third grader...and until today all the results were secret.

This afternoon we introduced Ms. Maenner's class to VIOLET. She is our black haired, brown eyed, science loving, pizza eating, 53 inch girl! Take a look...she's the one on the far right!

Then we met...the Enigma twins...Ms. Maenner's class' black haired, brown eyed, pasta eating, science loving, 54 inch boy and girl!! They have exactly the same number of boys and girls in their class, so they made twins!

The kids seemed to really enjoy this project while learning all about finding averages!

Language Arts

This week we were involved in the Before Reading Strategies...preview, purpose, and plan. We read Mr. Peabody's Apples by Madonna and I modeled how to write a Reading Response. The kids will write Reading Responses often during the year while reading different literature selections. The kids worked cooperatively with a stack of books...they had to discern which were fiction and non-fiction by checking out the different features found in the books.

I also read The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown this week, and then the kids wrote poems about themselves...based on the structure of the book. We took our rough drafts to the Computer Lab and used Power Point to publish our work. I have put each student's slide into a class power point and this will be scrolling Tuesday evening at Back to School Night...you can look forward to seeing it then!

Social Studies

This week we dove into some geography when dealing with our community...we started with the big picture...our world...we discussed continents, oceans, equator, Prime Meridian, hemispheres, the compass rose, cardinal directions, intermediate directions, legends...we are going to take a detour from the geography and head into how people can change the community and local and state government...just in time for the primary elections!!

SUNNY D and SCHOLASTIC BOOKS

First of all...the form I sent home Thursday afternoon about Sunny D was really the form the teacher is supposed to fill out after we collect the labels...so please disregard the 8 and 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper about Sunny D. Today I sent home a 1/2 sheet explaining what labels can be brought in for this contest. This is not required...its just an extra, easy way to gain more books for the classroom.

Ms. Lizik is planning to send each of you an email with the directions on how to order Scholastic books on-line. Again, this is not at all required...just an opportunity to buy books at a reasonable price! Look for this email soon!

IMPORTANT DATES

Tuesday, September 7th – Back to school Night 7-8pm
Thursday, September 9th – Schools Closed
Tuesday, September 14th - Schools Closed
Friday, September 24th - Schools Closed/Teacher Work Day

I hope you and your families have a wonderful three day weekend...if you ever have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact me...

karen.wills@fcps.org

You're very patient...thank you.

Have I told you how great your kids are?! Well, they are...and I'm very busy planning fun and challenging lessons for them while trying to be a good mom...so picture uploading has taken a backseat, bigtime...sorry about that...but as promised...some fun pix from last week!

Below you can see we have lots of privacy when we take tests/pre-tests. This was last week taking the Math Quarterly!

These next pictures were all a writing assignment in their Writer's Notebooks. We made cars out of play-doh to inspire an idea. Then the kids got into pairs and told each other all about their creations. Then we had 15 minutes of quiet thinking and writing time...using their car for motivation...I'd say it was a BIG HIT!! See for yourselves!

We've had another great week...I'll post sometime tomorrow!

Happy Friday!!!

WOW...what a week! You all have sent the most well-mannered, delightful children...and I cannot begin to thank you!! I know many of you are thinking, "Is she talking about MY kid?" I am. My 21 students are fantastic...they're good listeners, excellent discussion participants, and overall awesome kids!! I'm really excited about the upcoming year! I have so much to share, so let me get started.

SOARING WITH PRIDE
This is the theme for our positive behavior support system at Urbana. The students have reveiwed the expectations and have been informed how they will be rewarded (classroom stickers and star student stickers) and how they will be reminded/what consequences they will face if those expectations are not met. "Think Sheets" are one of the ways we're asking kids to think about their actions. A think sheet is given after a warning...a silent warning. In my classroom that silent warning is a "Thinkman" card...this is a picture of the same "man" that is on the Think Sheet...it is supposed to warn the student that "I've asked you to stop that behavior and now I'm leaning toward giving you a Think Sheet." (I will go over this more at BTSN.) Anyway...I'm happy to report that I didn't have to use ANY "Thinkman" cards this week!! This positive behavior support will bring consistency throughout our school...our entire staff is involved and we like what we've seen the first week!

Math
In Math this week we've been focusing on numeration and place value. We've been working on "really big numbers" and using many different ways to manipulate these numbers. The students have worked with a place value chart, had to read numbers aloud, shown their ability to write the numbers in expanded form, composed and decomposed the numbers, and put large numbers on a "human" number line. The kids also took a Quarterly pretest this week. The results of this test help me to structure the lessons and groupings for each concept in math. I will be scoring them this weekend and will spend the remainder of Quarter One covering fourth grade indicators and extending/enriching when appropriate.

Writing
I am so excited about writing this year. I was a participant in the Maryland Writing Project through Towson University this summer and I have SOOOO many wonderful things to share with the kids to help develop a love of writing (or in some cases in this class, support the love that already exists!) The kids spent all week making different types of entries into their "Writer's Notebooks." The concept behind this notebook is to give the kids a place to store their IDEAS...which happens to be the first writing trait we are focusing on. We are having so much fun putting different topics, lists, and memories into it! Some kids are writing full blown novels already!! Now that we have these notebooks set up, they are one of a few choices that kids have when they finish their classwork. Many kids are dying to take them home and work on them...I am allowing that...BUT please refrain from helping them "improve" their pieces. These pieces will be taken through all steps of the writing process and need to be their own work! Trust me, I know how hard it is to not help...but try not to, please!

Language Arts
I read a book this week called By My Brother's Side. It was a story written by Tiki and Ronde Barber and is about when they were young. It's a wonderful story that Mrs. Wright, our media specialist, recommended...we used it to discuss the Pillars of Character that our school recognizes: citizenship, caring, responsibility, respect, fairness, and trustworthiness. The kids worked cooperatively to define these six pillars, and then after the story, illustrated a pillar and defined it in their own words. They did a nice job. Next week we will dive into unit one which deals with reading strategies. We will be responding to literature and having class discussions... it's a great unit!

Social Studies
This week we focused on communities and being good citizens...the curiculum suggests we touch on this later in the year, but it seemed so timely as we worked on classroom rules and our behavior system. We have 21 FINE citizens in our community of learning and I'm proud to spend my days with them!

Miscellaneous...
Ok, so the good news is...I have SO many pictures to share with you!! The bad news is...last year I had a computer that the memory card fit right into the computer...this year, not so much. SOOOO...I will post pictures later this weekend when I can plug the card right into my computer. Gives you something to look forward to!

I hope you all have a great weekend with your families. My family is going to the Nationals/Cardinals game this weekend and we're very excited. It will be my first time at a Nationals game! It looks to be great weather, so enjoy the outdoors, and again, thanks for sending me such amazing kids...can't wait to see them Monday!