12/18/17 Room 303 News

Weekly Updates and Reminders:

• We are so excited for our Holiday Celebration.  We will have a Pajama and Pancake breakfast, along with a book exchange and a craft on Thursday, December 21.  Please turn in your book ($5 limit) for the Book Exchange as soon as possible.
• There will be no school on Friday, December 22-Tuesday, January 2 due to the Holiday break. School will resume on Wednesday, January 3.
• Last Day for the BookFair is Monday! Did you know there will be a family shopping night on Monday, December 18th from 4-8PM?  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Math:
We will be having our Unit 3 Assessment this Wednesday, December 20th.  Look for the study guide on Monday.  

Social Studies:
This week in Social Studies students identified Michigan counties on a map that are well known for growing agriculture and raising livestock.  We color coded the map, then analyzed our work.  Students recognized that the west side of the Lower Peninsula grew the majority of crops as well as raise livestock.  Our discussion continued with how location determines why certain crops are grown in certain locations within our state.  We discussed climate as well as soil.  Finally students worked with a team to create a menu (appetizer, main meal and dessert) of food grown right here in Michigan.  What a fun lesson!

Science:

Students really enjoyed water coloring and creating cute penguins out of construction paper.  I linked this art project with our water unit because we were talking about why ice floats (ice has less density than water) and then of course we began talking about animals that live on icebergs.  Students then decided to use this project to teach the rest of Wixom students what we learned by writing one sentence in a speech bubble...hence, TALKING PENGUINS!  

This Week in Word Study and Grammar:

We will not be having Grammar and Word Study this week.

 Writing:
The students have continued to work on their expert writing.  We have been exploring different topics that they know a lot about.  We are also examining a topic as a class (cockroaches!)  so that I can model to the students how to take notes, determine importance of facts, write paragraphs, create headings, etc.  The students are super excited to begin working on their non-fiction mini-books.

Reading: 

We have started Informational Reading!  The students have had fun exploring the purpose of the many different text features in non-fiction books- such as Table of Contents, Headings, Subheadings, Pictures, Captions, Bold words, Glossary, Index, etc.  We are also spending time learning about Informational Text Structures.  We are reading articles with these different structures to really examine the way it is used and how it helps us to learn new information.

12/10/2017 Room 303 News

Weekly Updates and Reminders:

• Parent/Teacher Conferences are Thursday, December 14th.  It is also a half day of school for your child.  School will be dismissed at 11:09am.  We look forward to meeting with you all at Parent/Teacher Conferences.
• We are so excited for our Holiday Celebration.  We will have a Pajama and Pancake breakfast, along with a book exchange and a craft on Thursday, December 21.  Please turn in your book ($5 limit) for the Book Exchange by Friday, December 15.
• There will be no school on Friday, December 22-Tuesday, January 2 due to the Holiday break. School will resume on Wednesday, January 3.

Math:
As we deepen our understanding of the relationship between multiplication and division, students are learning about the commutative property (turn around rule).  This week students worked with a team to discuss if division also has a turn around rule?  Their challenge was to work together, use a mathematical model to explain their thinking, and a written explanation.  Three groups were asked to present their work to their peers.  Below are pictures of their thinking and presentations.  I love when students' understandings manifests themselves into a learning opportunity for all!  By allowing students to teach their peers or share their understanding, it provides another opportunity for learning as well as solidifying understanding for the students presenting.  So much learning from this activity!  

  
Social Studies:

Unit 2: Michigan Economy. One student was super excited because she had on a pizza shirt and our learning for this particular day included the book, Pizza for the Queen.

Students enjoy this unit because we look at it from the perspective of owning a pizzeria!  Students will learn about the natural resources needed to make a pizza that are grown right here in Michigan, as well as the geographic location of certain crops, business incentives, reasons for certain locations of businesses, and opportunity costs, to name a few concepts for this unit.

Science:

Students will take their assessment this coming Monday and I will share their scores during Parent/Teacher Conferences.

This Week in Word Study and Grammar:

 Writing:
This week we started our writing unit on Informational Text.  The students will be writing a non-fiction minibook.  We talked about how the purpose of Informational writing is to WRITE to TEACH.  The students started brainstorming topics that they know a lot about.  We will be examining these topics further and the students will begin to learn how to gather facts, take notes, and begin to put their ideas together into headings and subheadings.  We will also be using mentor texts to learn a variety of text features.  The students are so excited to begin their informational minibooks. 

Reading: 

We just finished our read aloud Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel and wrapped up our unit on Character Studies.  The students did a great job with this unit and really learned what it means to follow a character along the ups and downs through their journey.  The students also did a great job comparing and contrasting the two main characters (Dyamonde and Opal) from our last two read alouds.  They met in their Thinking Teams to make an argument about which character they think would make a better friend.  They had to support their position with evidence from the story and have a friendly debate with their team members.  

We will be starting a new unit next week where we will be focusing on reading Informational Text.

12/04/17 Room 303 News

Weekly Updates and Reminders:

• Parent/Teacher Conferences are Thursday, December 14th.  It is also a half day of school for your child. 
• A note went home today about our Holiday Celebration.  We will have a Pajama and Pancake breakfast, along with a book exchange and a craft on Thursday, December 21.  We will be contacting those parents who volunteered to help out.  Look for an email this week.  
• There will be no school on Friday, December 22-Tuesday, January 2 due to the Holiday break. School will resume on Wednesday, January 3.
• The weather was so nice last week, students enjoyed a fun afternoon recess.
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• If your child has one of these images stapled to their daily planner, it is just our way to quickly communicate to you that your child needs a specific winter item for recess.  On Mondays students do go outside for one hour.  As temperatures get colder, they will need winter gear to stay warm and enjoy recess with their friends.
  

Math:
Embedded in our math curriculum and within each unit is something called, Exploration.  Exploration extends a mathematical topic, providing students with hands-on activities.  This particular exploration's focus was exploring bar graphs, area, and partitioning rectangles.  Students explored different ways to measure area, partition rectangles and represent data on a scaled bar graph.  Student worked alongside their peers to complete the activities.

  
Social Studies:

We have begun Unit 2: Michigan Economy.  Students enjoy this unit because we look at it from the perspective of owning a pizzeria!  Students will learn about the natural resources needed to make a pizza that are grown right here in Michigan, as well as the geographic location of certain crops, business incentives, reasons for certain locations of businesses, and opportunity costs, to name a few concepts for this unit.

Science:

We will begin to review the water unit this week and take the unit test next Monday.  I will send home a study guide by the end of the week.  

This Week in Word Study and Grammar:

 Writing:
This week we are publishing our Personal Narrative stories.  The students have worked hard on their final writing pieces and are excited to share them with the class.  

On Wednesday, we will begin our new Informational Writing Unit.  The students will brainstorm various topics that they are experts on and begin to write all that they know.  We will be taking a close look at a lot of Informational books to learn about the structure and organization that goes into informational writing. 

Reading: 

Today (Monday) we had our Because of Winn Dixie celebration.  We watched the movie and enjoyed rootbeer floats.  The students had fun comparing the movie to the book.  

This week we will be continuing with our new read aloud Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel.  We are nearing the end of our Character Studies unit.  We will be closely following the character Dyamonde and how she responds to struggles and changes throughout the story.  We will then spend time comparing and contrasting Dyamonde to Opal in Because of Winn Dixie. 

11/19/2017 Room 303 News

Weekly Updates and Reminders:

• NO SCHOOL:  Nov. 23rd AND Nov. 24th!  We hope you have a great Thanksgiving Break! 
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• Please always email BOTH teachers if you have any questions or concerns.
• Daily folders and red reading folders are to go to and from school each day.  Reading logs are to be filled out at home to log their 20 minutes of nightly reading.
• Assignment Notebooks (planners) are to be signed or initialed every evening by a parent.  Thank you for taking the time to check your child's planner.
• Please always email BOTH teachers if you have any questions or concerns.
• If your child has one of these images stapled to their daily planner, it is just our way to quickly communicate to you that your child needs a specific winter item for recess.  On Mondays students do go outside for one hour.  As temperatures get colder, they will need winter gear to stay warm and enjoy recess with their friends.
  

Math:

  As a reminder, please make sure your child is studying their specific multiplication set every night!  You can find out what set your child should be studying by checking the top right corner of the actual quiz sent home on Fridays.  Make it part of your child's nightly routine!  

Here is a website, I am sure your child may enjoy visiting to practice multiplication facts!
https://www.mathplayground.com/index_multiplication_division.html

Also, here are some recommended apps for iPads and/or iPhones

http://www.smartappsforkids.com/multiplication/

 Lastly, we have three students who are FACT MASTERS, which means they have mastered all their multiplication and division facts on the weekly fact fluency quizzes!  These students will now be challenged to have a mixed quiz of multiplication and divisions facts each Friday and will try to beat their own time each week!

Social Studies:
We have finished our studies of Unit 1.  Students will be taking the unit assessment on Wednesday.  On Monday and Tuesday we will review the content and I will send home the study guide on Monday, so that your child can study Monday and Tuesday night.  They are already well prepared but it will be helpful to review the study guide at home as well.  

This week students were thoroughly engaged as we discussed how water flows from the Great Lakes into the Atlantic Ocean.  I showed the students a 3 part youtube.com series of the Caldecott Honor Book, Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling Calncy Holling.  The students were very excited to learn that these videos were based upon a real book and I knew I had them (every teacher's dream)! So, I pulled out a stack of the actual book and many students wanted to take the book home to read today!  This was not required and I believe all but four students brought the book home tonight!  Your child can keep the book at home until after winter break.  Please return the book no later than January 5, 2018!  

Science:
Oh my!  Students enjoy Science!  

I certainly hope they are telling you all about our experiments!  This week students had the opportunity to make a thermometer using a small glass bottle, a piece of plastic pipe, a rubber stopper and colored room temperature water.  Students placed their thermometers into hot water and observed how water expands as it is heated.  Then they placed their thermometers into cold water and observed how water contracts as it is cooled.  After our investigation, students recorded their finding into their science notebooks.  Next, students gathered into two groups and shared their written observations with the group.  Such oral discourse helps students process and organize what they learned.  In addition, listening and evaluating their classmates' understanding not only sharpens their reasoning skills but allows the student to question and/or confirm their own understanding.  After each student shared, the students were then encouraged to revise and edit their own writing based on the groups' discussion.  

This Week in Word Study and Grammar:
Because this coming week is so short, we will be working on the same grammar packet for this week and the week after we return from Thanksgiving Break (November 27).  Our focus will be...

 Writing:
This coming week we are going to be focusing on making some final changes to our personal narrative writing to make it our very best!  This will include reading it carefully to see if there are parts we need to take out, or parts where we need to add more detail.  We will also focus on writing with our senses to really make our "writing come alive" for our readers.  Lastly, we will be working from our editing and revising checklists as our final step before publishing.  The students have worked so hard on these stories can't wait to share their finished pieces.

Reading: 

This week we will continue to focus on following our characters through a story, taking a journey with them along all the hills, valleys, twists, and turns.  We are almost done with our chapter book read aloud Because of Winn Dixie. The students have loved following the character Opal and learning about her by the things she says, thinks, and does.  We have also been analyzing character traits, learning new vocabulary and having literature discussions with our other read aloud titles Maurice the Unbeastly and More Than Anything Else.  The students have also practiced these skills independently in their book clubs and small reading groups. 

11/10/17 Room 303 News

Weekly Updates and Reminders:

• Daily folders and red reading folders are to go to and from school each day.  Reading logs are to be filled out at home to log their 20 minutes of nightly reading.
• Assignment Notebooks (planners) are to be signed or initialed every evening by a parent.  Thank you for taking the time to check your child's planner.
• Math homework is checked in class together each day.  This time is spent reteaching (if necessary) and more importantly, a time for students to take ownership of their learning by asking questions if they have an incorrect answer on their homework.
• Please always email BOTH teachers if you have any questions or concerns.
• Did you know that Room 303 has a Twitter account?  We only have 16 Followers so please check us out!
  
• There will be no school on Thursday, November 23rd, and Friday, November 24th!  Happy Thanksgiving!
• Please always email BOTH teachers if you have any questions or concerns.
• Our PTA is awesome!  Won't you join?  We currently have 11 families out of 24 who are members.  Membership helps our school in so many ways and it would be amazing if we had 100% participation this year. Please let me know if you'd like another PTA Membership form and I will send it home in your child's daily folder.
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Math:

 Students took their Unit 2 assessment this week.  I will be sending home the graded assessment next week.  Please sign and return the assessment!  Unit 3 will focus on place value to develop and practice strategies for addition and subtraction of 2 and 3 digit numbers.  We will continue to represent multiplication using arrays and use these representations to develop strategies for solving multiplication facts.

Social Studies:


In Social Studies, we learned how people interact with the environment as it relates to natural resources.  Students learned the difference between adapting and modifying and the consequences to our environment.  

As part of our learning we read the book Letting Swift River Go by Jan Yolen.  This book demonstrates how people modified their environment to meet their needs (water) and the natural consequences..

Science:


In Science this week included a hands-on experiment wherein students measured the temperature of three cups water, using their fingers as gauges.  They realized that a standard is needed, as well as a more accurate device to measure temperature, the thermometer!  We will continue to investigate the properties of water and observe how temperature affects water's state and density.  Our next investigation will include making a thermometer to observe how water expands as it is heated.

This Week in Word Study and Grammar:

 Writing:
The students continue to work hard on their second personal narrative writing pieces.  We have been using several great personal narrative mentor texts to help us make our writing even better.We have also been working on adding transition words and learning where to start a new paragraph in our writing.  I am proud of the work the students are doing in writing.

Reading: 

In reading, we continue to pay close attention to how the characters in our story think and act.  We have been learning about the flow of stories and tracking the characters along the story mountain. We are noticing how the character often changes throughout the story with each challenge or problem they may face.  We have also started looking at the different roles that supporting characters may play- the role of sidekick (friend), challenger, or advisor.  We are enjoying our mentor text Because of Winn Dixie as we track Opal along our story mountain and look at the role the other characters play in the story- Gloria Dump, Otis, Miss Franny, the Preacher, and Amanda, the Dewberry brothers, etc.