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!!

a wacky, wacky week...

First of all...my apologies for not blogging last weekend! Luckily for me, I have been able to sit and talk with MOST of you this week about your child...in saying that, I am continually impressed by your kids...their ability to persevere when encountering hurdles in math, or any other subject...their respectful behavior...their ability to communicate through writing and through discussions...they are just a FANTASTIC group of kids!

Over the past two weeks (this one being really wacky!) we have accomplished a lot...take a look...

LANGUAGE ARTS
We finished Frindle, wrote about how the author feels about particular characters, read an "A to Z" book titled All About Chocolate, sequenced events from that book about taking the cacao bean from the tree to chocolate, and answered higher level questions about that book.

In Writer's Workshop we have been focusing on organization...bold beginnings, excellent endings, facts with strong details...I can see the kids applying this outside of Writer's Workshop which is very exciting! This past week we wrote about daphnia. The kids have done so much work with daphnia that it was a great subject for them to write an expository piece (non-fiction). This assignment was not modeled at all, just a "cold write" and I was so pleased at the results! The kids will get these paragraphs back next week, we will pull out all the good, find things that are missing, and write final copies. This piece will go into their portfolio, so you will receive a copy, but not the original.

We have also been writing about chocolate! The kids are developing a product description of their candy bars...we are discussing word choice as they ponder words that will make others want to purchase their product. I am excited about the upcoming week where they will turn all of their hard work into a commercial ;-)!!

MATH
In our chocolate unit we have been working on many different math concepts...perimeter, area, arrays, multiplication, analyzing and constructing line graphs, and many difficult calculations! For one of the assignments, I gave the kids calculators...quite a few of them said that they're not allowed to use calculators at home...just a friendly reminder...if we're asking a third grader to analyze and calculate data that includes multiplying decimals, and they haven't had that instruction yet...calculators are a wonderful TOOL for that type of work. :-)

The kids created a candy bar using square inch paper and then calculated the perimeter and area of the bar. Then they created a wrapper using 1/4 inch square paper and calculated the perimeter and area of the wrapper. NEXT they had to figure out how many 1/4 inch squares were in a square inch because they were told their wrapper would cost their company 2 cents per square inch...you should have seen the brain work going on in this room...it was WONDERFUL!!

We are headed into a multiplication and division unit...I know many of the kids are having fun on the website "Carrotsticks" right now...a lot of them are working on addition and subtraction...and although important, I would like the focus to be multiplication facts now. Students should be studying math facts 10 minutes a night starting NOW. Thanks for your help with this!

NEXT THURSDAY AND FRIDAY
Next Thursday is our field trip to the Weinberg Theater to see the story, "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble"...thank you to the many parents that volunteered to join us. I am limited to three volunteers that day...but sent home a note yesterday that invites any and all parents to join us Friday am for a Pumpkin Math activity! I will need the slip signed so that I can prepare based on how many parents will attend, so please send that back if you are able. I am asking that parents help supply some of the necessary items for this fun morning. On the slip there is a place you can offer to bring a pumpkin and/or some other supplies. Even if you can't come that morning, but would like to donate a pumpkin or scale (the two things we're usually short), please let me know. Friday afternoon is our Fall Festival party...although the kids are allowed to wear costumes that day, this party focuses on the celebration of a wonderful season...my favorite actually...it is not a Halloween party. Ms. Beers-Arthur and Mrs. Sweeney have been busy planning a fun afternoon...thanks to all who have sent donations or are volunteering to help that day. I look forward to seeing all of you.

As always...if you have any questions...don't hesitate to email me. Have a great weekend!

Monday...where does the weekend go?

So...here's the thing...I know it's not an excuse, but just to give you a snapshot into my life...I had EIGHT games to attend or get kids to this weekend, a dance rehearsal, a baby shower, 2 religious ed classes (one of which I'm teaching), and then there's just regular old housework, my kids, my husband, and my dog...
I don't say any of this because I want you to feel sorry for me...just know that when I leave on Friday, I seriously think I'm going to blog...and then when I get to school on Monday, it's the very next time I've thought of the blog again!!
ANYWAY...we had a wonderful week...let me tell you about it!

Social Studies

This past week we were learning about Frederick County landmarks. Instead of ME teaching the class about the five important landmarks, we developed expert groups. These groups used different print resources (brochures, articles) and electronic resources to research the importance of their landmark. Each student did their own research and then the group got together to share what they found and decide what was most important to teach. THEN the groups had to decide HOW they would teach the rest of the class about their landmarks. They were given total control of the product, as long as it included the important information: the location, the year it was made/found/built, and most of all, the importance to Frederick County. We had posters, written reports, rap songs...and all of the groups made a visual for their presentation, too! Below are our five expert groups...we all learned a lot and had a lot of fun...take a look!

The Schifferstadt House

The Beatty-Craemer House

The Museum of Civil War Medicine


The Catoctin Furnace

The Community Bridge

Science

Well, as I asked the kids...would you like the good news or the bad news? They chose bad first, too! The bad news is...all of our daphnia and guppies died within a couple days of arriving at our school. This definitely made studying the population of minute organisms difficult!! The good news is that we were able to continue with another experiment we were working on while awaiting NEW organisms. One of the experiments we did was one involving evaporation. I had six aquariums filled with water and asked the kids if they thought putting one in the sunlight and one in the dark would create two different results. We discussed the possibilities at length and then decided to see for ourselves. We measured the depth of the water in centimeters to the tenths (a lesson in itself!) and then put three of our aquariums in the dark science closet and three of them outside. We waited three days and then measured (in tenths) again...and what do you know...we were able to verify our hypothesis...the water left in sunlight evaporated more than the water in the dark. We then followed up with a fun weather video clip done by the county that reinforces the concepts of the water cycle and helps the kids see that the amount of water on earth is actually always the same...over half our earth is water and the sun is the energy source that changes the state of the water...but not the amount. It was a great lesson with some awesome data to analyze...take a look!!

Math

We are going to leave operations of numbers for a little while and focus on area and perimeter...and we're going to do it in a unit we like to call, "Chocolate Creations"...and that's all I'm going to say, because I know some of the kids read the blog and I don't want to give away anything that we're doing. HOWEVER...make sure your child is working on basic math facts at home...they should know their addition and subtraction facts by heart...so if they don't...you have my permission to make them practice NIGHTLY!! And then once those are mastered, or possibly simultaneously, they should be working on multiplication and division facts...these should be memorized...no two ways about it! We can discuss this more at conferences if you'd like. Speaking of conferences...

Conferences

Next week is a CRAZY schedule due to conferences...please refer to the FCPS calendar and the UES News for details. I will be sending home a paper that I would appreciate you sending back ASAP...this paper allows you to jot down questions/topics that you'd like discussed during our very short 15 minute conference. This way I can plan our conference so that the time is used most efficiently. Thank you for your help with this!

Fall Festival Party

Hopefully by now you've seen an email from our home room parents by now...but I heard some of the email addresses didn't work and a few hard copies will need to be sent...I have copied the note into the text below so you can see it...

Dear Excellent Parents of the Wonderful Wills' Class Kids,

Maile Beers-Arthur here (Sophie's mom). I am sending this letter to you on behalf of Mrs. Wills. Our Fall Festival will be Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. The party will be from 1:15-2:20 p.m. If your student would like to wear a costume, they certainly may, but please make sure they can walk easily in it. Also, please – no masks, no elaborate hair spray or make-up and no weapons.

For safety reasons, it is a school policy that no younger siblings attend the party.

Kim Sweeney (Emma’s mom) and Maile Beers-Arthur are our Room Parents. Please direct communication to Maile.

I am collecting optional donations of $3.00 that I will pass along to Maile for the purchase of party materials, snacks, and supplies.

Please send in your donations by Monday, October 24th. You can put them in an envelope marked “Fall Festival Donations” on the front.

We also need about 5 parents total to help with the Festival. We’ll have crafts, decorate something to eat, and some games. Please let Maile know if your child has any food allergies.

If you would like to help, or have any questions, please contact Maile Beers-Arthur at 301-874-2558 or maile@apmediation.com.

Thanks for making this Fall Festival a success!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Wills

A quick, great week!

Just went to check something on the blog and realized I never pushed the "publish" button...SO SORRY!!

Here is Friday's posting!!

Weeks like this are always a little hairy, but we managed to get a ton done! Read on to find out!

In Lanugage Arts this week we focused on summary writing. I first asked the kids (without any teaching of summaries) to write a summary of Chapter 8 from Frindle. We briefly defined summary - what happened in the chapter. The next day I taught a lesson on summary writing. We read an article and then read a summary of the article. We picked out all of the important parts of a summary. Then we created a rubric together of all of those important parts. I then asked the kids to take out the summaries that they had written the day before. The kids were asked to use the rubric to evaluate their summaries. If they felt changes needed to be made, they were to make a new copy and staple it to the old one. I was SO proud of the kids' decisions! They did a super job. I collected those and then graded them using the rubric we made together. We will continue to write summaries all year and will gradually increase the complexity of their writing. Right now my focus is on the important parts of a summary!

I'm excited to say that this week we had TWO students participate in the AUTHOR'S CHAIR during Writer's Workshop. This means that two of the kids in our classroom have taken a piece of writing through all of the steps of the writing process and published a piece! We have lots of other students ready to begin the publishing step, too, so the AUTHOR'S CHAIR will get lots of use in the weeks to come!

The kids took a cursive writing pretest this week. As with all subjects, we have quite a wide range when it comes to what cursive instruction/mastery the kids have. I will be working to teach those who need instruction, and work on perfecting with those kids who already know how to form the letters.

In Social Studies this week we are continuing to finish brochures, but we also did some research on Frederick County landmarks. The kids used print resources as well as on line resources to gather information about five different landmarks in Frederick County. Each group was assigned one landmark and will teach the rest of us about the landmark sometime next week.

We begin a Science unit next week titled, Aquariums. This is a unit the kids will love! They will get to experience all of the steps in the scientific process while participating in this unit. More to come as we get into it!

We were busy in Math this week. The kids wrote subtraction story problems and then we did a gallery walk around the room solving each other's problems...it was a lot of fun and great practice! The kids also took a "Moving with Math" test on the computer that scored them on the third grade level. This test will help me ensure there are not gaps as we continue to go through the fourth grade math curriculum.

One of the questions asked at Back to School Night was about the Science Fair. I just received notice that the Countywide Science Fair will be May 19th at Oakdale High School. This usually means our science fair will be the week prior. More details to come...just an FYI.

We participated in a Tornado Drill this week. The kids had outstanding behavior and followed directions really well. Ask them about it, they can tell you where our class goes for a tornado drill.

And last, but not least...your kids earned their Soaring With Pride goal of 28 stickers...we celebrated with a PJ party...you'll have to try to imagine, because I forgot to take pictures! All of the desks were pushed to the perimeter of the room...sleeping bags, blankets, and pillows were strewn EVERYWHERE...kids in pjs, laying around, hugging stuffed animals and...wait for it...WORKING!! It was a busy work day and they got a lot accomplished! I continue to enjoy this wonderful group of kids and was very happy to celebrate their accomplishments!!

REMINDER: Pictures are Thursday, October 6th!!

Have a great weekend!!

It's TRUE!

Tomorrow we are celebrating successfully reaching our "Soaring with Pride" goal of 28 stickers!! We set this goal together the first week of school and are very excited to be celebrating! Tomorrow your child may wear his/her pjs, bring a pillow and/or blanket, and a stuffed friend. We will lay around the room while doing our work tomorrow! I know what you're thinking right now..."Mrs. Wills is nuts!" I think you might be right! I'll post pictures this weekend. Wish me luck!

Happy Thursday!

so much to share...so little time...

First of all...a HUGE thank you to AJ's mom and meemaw...they worked on something for our class while meemaw was visiting...and now we have classroom cushions!! These cushions are one of the things the kids can use their tickets for...and boy, have they been earning tickets! I have a cute picture of two of our friends on the cushions from yesterday that I will post later!

Secondly...Scholastic book orders are due Monday. Every month I will send home a Scholastic book order. Jessie's mom has offered to organize and mail the orders for us...thank you, Mrs. Kilgore! Ordering books is totally optional...whenever you choose to order books, our classroom gets points that I can apply to free books for the classroom...so as we get closer to holidays, think about placing an order! If you have any questions, throw me an email.

Now...onto the academics!

Did you know that your children are creating travel brochures? Applying the knowledge gained from Unit 1 in Social Studies (climate, physical geography, natural resources, mapping, directions), the kids have been diligently working on a final product...a travel brochure! The goal of this brochure is to entice people to visit and inform possible tourists about one of the 50 states in our country! I can't wait for you to see them!

The research needed to make the brochure integrated Language Arts indicators, too! The students needed to skim complex text to find the main ideas of passages...we used non-fiction literature and an online database to search for information.

The kids have continued working on during reading strategies while reading their novel...we have focused mainly on making inferences. The kids are improving as we move through each chapter...

In writing, the kids are working on creative pieces and taking their piece through the writing process. We have students at all different stages of writing right now...and we should have some published pieces in the near future. Writer's Workshop is twice a week, but it's certainly not the only time the kids are writing. Directed writing assignments take place in all aspects of the curriculum. Writer's Workshop is the place where the writing process and the six traits of writing are directly instructed.

Phew...teaching math is both exhilarating and exhausting!! We have kids at many different levels, so I am constantly using flexible groups in the classroom. We moved from numeration and understanding place value with big numbers to adding, subtracting, and estimating with larger numbers. Every lesson has a math warm up...a challenging problem to get the kids focused and engaged in math...we then have some sort of concept mini lesson, followed by group work and independent follow-up. We also focus on writing in math. It is important to reinforce that your children need to be using many details in their math writing to help describe how they solve problems, show multiple strategies, and use whatever tools necessary. REMINDER...if your child brings home an assignment that is too hard...that is MY mistake...please encourage your child (maybe show them this blog) to turn in the paper with a note from you...this helps me know where gaps are that I'm unaware of. I realize in a perfect world, I would recognize all the gaps...but that is not always the case. I provide a perfect world 4/5 days a week...HA! Just kidding.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful weekend. Reminder...next week is a little nutty...we have off on Thursday and then a 2 hour early dismissal on Friday.

TGIF!!

That's always a popular phrase after a five day week! We accomplished so much...where to begin?

Math
After taking the numeration quiz, we moved into adding and subtracting large numbers, estimating, and problem solving with those big numbers. I've been working with two groups...splitting the kids in half in order to get to know them better as mathematicians...this time has proved very valuable. It has also been worthwhile as I analyze their Quarter One pretests and figure out who needs to learn what! We will follow up next week with more subtraction, we will take fact tests, and we will move into multiplication and division...that should take most of the rest of the month for sure!

Language Arts
We are in full swing with Writer's Workshop...and we have amazing authors!! I have introduced the drafting, peer conference, and revising stations...this coming week the kids will be introduced to the editing, and teacher conference stations. Each station helps your child reassess their writing and each station has a different focus on one or two of the six traits of writing. The kids are so busy following directions at each station, they hardly notice how many times they're reading their drafts and making changes...it's AWESOME!!

This week our focus in reading was on making an inference. And I was so pleased with their inference skills! During reading time we have split into three groups, again, so I can get a feel for their ability to discuss the story and make inferences. I am really enjoying getting to know your kids as learners.

Word Study
I am making this its own category this week...because I realize you may need some clarification...

On Monday your kids took a pretest with a focus...homophones...then, based on the results of the pretest, your child made his/her own list based on his/her own needs...this list was approximately 10 words and it was put on a sheet of paper called the "Word Study Contract".

Homework on Mondays is always "do something creative with your words IN YOUR SPIRAL" (the 'in your spiral' part will make sense soon)...this can be writing the words in bubble letters, writing the words in pyramids, writing the words in rainbow letters, etc...

On Tuesday and Wednesday your child's homework is 10 MEANINGFUL sentences...5 a day, or if they choose, all 10 on one of the two days...these sentences have to be turned in...in order to be considered 'meaningful' they must use excellent word choice, be interesting, and use the word study word properly...you will see this develop as the year progresses...

On Thursdays the kids are charged with studying...I would like them to do this anyway they'd like, but I did show them the website, "Spelling City" where they can type in their words and then play games and take a pretest...

On Friday the kids will take a test...they do this with a partner, since there are 28 different lists in the classroom...and now...back to the spiral...some kids will leave the word study lists at home...if this happens, the spiral is the "back up list"...

The process sounds crazy, but it is actually a very organized way for each child to have a list that is just right for them...please email me if you are confused on any night and I am happy to help!

Social Studies
We are continuing with Unit 1...we have been discussing physical geography, climate, and natural resources of different regions. We started with Maryland, and now each student has chosen a different state to research. We have used non-fiction texts and Culture Grams, an online research portal, to collect information about their state. This coming week they will work on creating a travel brochure...a document that will entice others to visit their state!

Miscellaneous
Whether we like it or not...the grades have arrived...
Today the kids brought home two grades...one on a reading paper and one on a math quiz...as I explained to the kids...anytime a student scores a C or below, they should have the paper signed and then return that paper to me. Then the student and I will talk about what he/she can do to improve the grade. If your child does very poorly on a quiz...then they may not have been ready for a quiz...I take responsiblity for that. I want them to do some extra practice and have another opportunity to improve. Again, any questions...please email me.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend...enjoy your families...and the wonderful weather!!