This coming week is busy!  We have the International Festival Wednesday and Thursday.  Lower El’s presentations are on Thursday. It is all morning, starting at 9am.  Please have their festival projects in on Wednesday so we can set up the classroom!  You are welcome to attend the festival on both days if you wish.

Parent teacher conferences are also this week!  Starting Wednesday and ending Friday.  Please sign up if you haven’t.

Monday begins Come observe our classroom month!  Each parent gets a half hour to view what work cycle is like.

Both sign ups are to the right of this blog!

3rd grade parents!  I got someone from Academica West to come out and help set up our 3rd graders SAGE accounts.  I’ve been working on it for sometime with them and your child’s name was not being linked to me.  Everything should be fixed by this week and I will start them on practice tests.  It is imperative that they practice at home as well!  There will be 3 sections: a writing sections with 2 small essays (informative and opinion), a language arts section, and a math section.

Pizza Friday is BACK!  Each slice is $1.75.  Money must be in by WEDNESDAY! No exceptions.  Money this year must be in check form.  NO CASH PLEASE! You may also pay up to only 4 weeks in advance.  All these reasons helps keep things orderly and counting quicker.  Pizza Friday begins this week, I believe!

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Point in geometry with artist Seurat

Level 2s: Angles in art with artist Mondrian

Level 3s: Editing a paragraph, homophone practice, characteristics of kites, perimeter robot

In cultural:

History:

Level 1s: Time to the hour game

Level 2s: Venus

Level 3s: Triassic period

Zoology:

Level 1s: Kinds of reptiles

Level 2s: Marsupials

Level 3s: Make an octopus

Geography:

Level 1s: Compass game

Level 2s: Geysers intro

Level 3s: Temperature

Botany:

Level 1s: Parts of a root

Level 2s: No botany because of SAGE set up, however, the level 2s worked on their leaf rubbings

Level 3s: Birthday and state flowers

Friday: Classroom games, Chinese New Year, Library

Hope you have a great week and hope to see you this coming week!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello!

Busy weekend, our school went to The Utah Montessori Conference all day Saturday.  Once again it was a great learning experience and gave us the opportunity to connect with other schools.

This week we were able to book a February field trip to Mrs. Cavanaugh’s Chocolate Factory in Salt Lake.  This field trip will be February 12th at 10am.  The tour will last about an hour and then we will head back to the school.  Ms. Anna and I thought this would be a fun Valentine’s Day treat.  The kids are looking forward to learning where chocolate comes from and how it’s made.

January’s Home Project is due this Monday.  We will take the afternoons this week to share them!  I’m looking forward to seeing the children share their famous person!

February is come to school with your child!  It is also PTC time!  I will be sending out 2 wejoinin.com links for both of these sign ups this week.  For come to school with your child, you will have to sign in with the office so they know you and I have made an arrangement for you to be in the classroom.  Now, this experience is for observation.  If you decide to come, you are there to watch.  The school has asked that you do not interact with your child or another child.  I will have a chat with the students about parents coming in the class.  They are used to observations from administration in the school, so we will go over that they are not to bother you as well.  You may ask questions after your time is up.  I will allow 1 parent at a time since we have the whole month for you to come.  Observation time will commence at 9:30am.  Please keep an eye out for both sign ups this week.

This week in group lessons:

Level 2s: drawing angles and measuring

Level 3s: math review, characteristics of a parallelogram, fractions on a number line

In cultural:

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Reptiles

Level 2s: Teeth

Level 3s: Octopus

Geography:

Level 1s: Map orientation

Level 2s: Volcano facts book

Level 3s: Rain gauge

Botany:

Level 1s: Parts of a plant overview

Level 2s: Leaf rubbings

Level 3s: Medicinal plants

Have a good rest of your weekend and week!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Tickets went on sale for the MMA ski trip today (Friday).  Please see our website or our newsletters for more information.

Please don’t forget that children should be working on their home projects for January and planning for February’s.  See the Home Project tab for more details.  January’s project is due Jan. 27th.

Scales and Tales came this week (Thursday)!  The kids really enjoyed learning about some insects and reptiles.  Because of the time of the assembly, there was no Level 2 Botany this week.  However, their activity was a leaf activity and that is planned on the schedule for a few weeks.  So, they haven’t missed out.

Ms. Kaley is Having a Baby!

I told the kids this week that I am having a baby 🙂 Th baby is due early to mid August, so I will not be present the first few weeks of school for the 2014-2015 school year.  Ms. Anna will be there and there will also be a long term sub, yet to be determined.  My midwife said if the baby cooperates we will be able to find out if it is a boy or girl next month.  Currently, I am 11 weeks.

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Horizontal lines, all coin layout (also an open lesson)

Level 2s: Measuring angles with a protractor

Level 3s: Prewriting, writing a paragraph on a computer, characteristics of a common quadrilateral, math fact review

In cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Time game to the hour

Level 2s: Mercury

Level 3s: Mesozoic Era

Zoology:

Level 1s: Reptiles intro

Level 2s: Mammal study

Level 3s: Clams

Geography:

Level 1s: Classroom orientation

Level 2s: Volcanoes around the world

Level 3s: Precipitation

Botany:

Level 1s: Care of plants c and d

Level 3s: Edible and poisonous plants

Friday: Studio, Martin Luther King Jr. introduction and activity, Library, classroom desk cleaning

Cheers!

Ms. K

Reminder from Ms. Julia, our PE teacher, please send your child to school on Wednesdays with sneakers.  If you don’t want to have to remember every week, send your child with them and have them keep their shoes in their locker.  Ms. Julia is VERY adamant about children having the proper shoes.

I booked us a May field trip.  We will be going to the American Heritage Center, just north of our school.  Since we are studying our new continent of North America, this will be a fun field trip for the end of the year when our class has gained knowledge in our study.

Ms. Anna and I are trying to book a field trip on Valentine’s Day, so if thus gets booked I will let you know.

Please have your child be working on their projects!  January’s is due the 27th!

3rd graders and I have started meeting regarding testing.  3rd graders will meet with me Mon-Thurs. to learn subject matter on the test.  2 days will be devoted to language and 2 days for math.  The SAGE program is NEW this year.  There is a writing section that will require 2 essays, one that is an opinion and the other is informative.  There is also a reading and response language test and lastly, a math test.  Next week I will have 3rd graders signed up for the practice tests.  3rd graders will be practicing during school, but please have them practice at home too!  The more exposure and practice, the better they will feel and most likely do!

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Kinds of lines in geometry

Level 2s: Protractor introduction

Level 3s: SAGE overview, how to write a paragraph and prewriting, quadrilaterals, perimeter and area

In cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Telling time to the hour

Level 2s: Order of the planets

Level 3s: Permian period

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Amphibians

Level 2s: Parts of the tongue

Level 3s: Snails

Geography:

Level 1s: Continents and oceans

Level 2s: Volcano model

Level 3s:how clouds form

Botany:

Level 1s: How to water plants

Level 2s: Parapinnate and imparapinnate

Level 3s: Watercolor of calyx and corolla

Friday: Studio, Physical science with air, movie from the book we finished.

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Welcome to a New Year!

We had 16 lovelies come join Ms. Anna and I Friday January 3rd.  We spent the day:

1. Talking about our holiday break

2. Clean/switch lockers and desks

3. Play 4 classroom games as a group

4. Talk about our home projects for January and February and the rest of the year

5. Have free time the last little bit of school

The next home project is the Deceased Famous Person home project.  Students are to choose a famous person from the past and do a board or large poster on them.  They also are to dress up as their famous person!  This project is due January 27th.  I will be posting details to January’s project and also February’s this weekend.  If you joined me for Back to School Night in the beginning of the year, we discussed how Jan. and Feb.’s projects don’t allow a lot of time in-between each.  Feb.’s project is for the International Festival due Feb. 5th!  Lower El’s presentations, which you are welcome to come to will be Feb. 6th.  Mark your calendars please!

Hello!

Our school is looking for donations of: coats, hats, blankets, boots, and gloves.  There will be a collection for these items in the glass entryway to the left.  Items donated need to be in by December 20th, the day we get out for Christmas break.

Book reports are due this coming week!  Please have your child do his or her cereal box project and have them in Monday the 16th!  Review instructions under the Home Project tab.

This week our class voted for a free morning on Thursday the 19th, the day of our Holiday Feast.  They will make 3D snowflakes and make graham cracker gingerbread houses along with other Holiday crafts.  We will need:

-White frosting

-Graham crackers

-Assorted candy that would be good to decorate on our “gingerbread houses”

HOWEVER! This crafty Thursday morning is EARNED.  Students and I discussed at our class meeting this week that EACH student will get 3 strikes (like in baseball).  So, if a student is asked multiple times to get on track for something or their behavior is not preferable, they will get a strike.  Students discussed that once they get their strikes that is it.  Those students who strike out will do morning work cycle while others who earn their craft time do their activities.  

Please remember to sign up for our feast and also for attendance!  Our feast starts at noon and will run until 1pm.  Whenever our feast is over we will see if there is time for Botany.

December 20th from 9:30-10am is Lower El’s time to perform their holiday songs.  Our class will be performing Jingle Bell Rock.  You are welcome to come and watch!  We also discussed at our class meeting this week that for our performance:

Level 1s: will be elves!  They will have a name tag for their elf name that they got during Writer’s Workshop last week!

Level 2s: will each be a reindeer!

Level 3s: will be Santas or Mrs. Clauses. Please dress your 3rd grader in red on the 20th!

All students need to bring a pair of sunglasses for our performance.  We will be making the rest of our “costumes” in class.  Dress your kids nicely for our performance!

What we did this week in group lessons:

I did reading testing with all the level 1s this week.  Those who move up to a new group will next week.

Level 1s: 3 dimensions with marshmallows (geometry)

Level 2s: Identifying polygons and cubes (geometry)

Level 3s: Features of a triangle (geometry), What is a thesaurus? (language)

Open lessons: ordinal/cardinal (small math)

In cultural this week:

No History due to our our field trip to the ballet

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Frog life cycle

Level 2s: Parts of the nose

Level 3s: Leeches

Geography:

Level 1s: Naming of the continents

Level 2s: Earthquakes around the world

Level 3s: Wind vane

Botany:

Level 1s: The Very Hungry Caterpillar reader’s theater

Level 2s: Compound leaves: Pinnate and palmate

Level 3s: Gamopetalous

Friday: Studio, Christmas movie since our Australian visitor had to cancel on us at the last minute.

Some students are forgetting winter coats, gloves, snow pants, boots etc.  Please provide these things for your child!

We’ll those who are coming next week at our feast!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello and Happy (cold) December!

Speaking of cold, please send your child to school with winter gear.  Some children are coming with just a zip up hoodie.  Please send them with gloves, a hat, and boots if there is snow.  Here is the forecast for this coming week:

Monday 9th- high of 19 

Tuesday 10th- high of 27

Wednesday 11th- high of 33

Thursday 12th- high of 38

Friday 13th- high of 36

Monday the 9th is our field trip to the Nutcracker Ballet.  Please don’t forget to pack your child a lunch.  We will be eating at 10:30-11:00am.  Our bus will be here at 11:15am.  We will be picked up at 1:30pm.

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: 3 dimensions

Level 3s: Parts of a triangle part 3

Open lessons: quarter layout (money)

In cultural:

History:

Level 1s: Grammar and time

Level 2s: Constellations

Level 3s: Carboniferous period

Zoology:

Level 1s: Amphibians

Level 2s: Mammal study

Level 3s: Making stocking earthworms

Geography:

Level 1s: Planisphere map

Level 2s: Jello earthquake model

Level 3s: Day and night breezes

Botany:

Level 1s: There once was a daisy play

Level 2s: Dented margins

Level 3s: Types of corolla (petals)

Friday: Studio, Library, Heat (physical science), snowflakes for junior high

Have your child work on their book reports!  They are due soon!

I will be testing level 1 reading this coming week and will be putting those who are at a higher level in different reading groups.

Please don’t forget to sign up for our Holiday Feast! See the link to the right of the blog.

Take care and stay warm!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Didn’t we just bid adieu to October?  Crazy…

Speaking of December, it is a short one and it is jammed packed with lots of things to do!

First thing to take care of is to get your child’s permission slip in when we come back from Thanksgiving Break.  Thank you for those who got there’s signed and back to me the Friday we got out on break, that was most helpful!  Remember, permission slips must be in 24 hours before we go to The Nutcracker Ballet in Ogden.  This field trip will NOT require any parent chaperones.  Please also to make sure to get your child’s $2.00 fee in to the office either through the link to the right of our blog or in person.

December’s project is a book report!  Projects are due the week of December 16th.  Students are to read a book for their reading level.  If your child is seeing Ms. Kathy for reading, she will be doing mid year reading testing the first week of December.  You can email me if you would like those results.  This month’s book report project is called Cereal Box!  Please visit the Home Project tab for more information!

In December we do a Holiday Feast.  December 19th is the date, that is a Thursday.  It will take place at lunch time (12:00pm).  We will need helpers with food/drinks, tableware, etc.  I will send out a we join link for those who want to help.  This is our big get together of year and you’ll DEFINITELY  will not want to miss out!

Now for what we did before Thanksgiving Break!

In group lessons:

Level 1s: Golden bead point to solid (geometry)

Level 2s: Making angles with pipecleaners

Level 3s: Hypotenuse of a triangle

Open lessons: Dime layout, Exchange game (money)

In cultural:

History:

Level 1s: Learning about AD and BC timeline

Level 2s: Life and death of a star

Level 3s: Devonian Period

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Introduction to amphibians

Level 2s: The ear

Level 3s: Intro to Annelids

Geography:

Level 1s: Mercator map

Level 2s: Earthquakes

Level 3s: Global atmospheric movement

Botany:

Level 1s: There Once was a Daisy reading

Level 2s: Palmate margins

Level 3s: Corolla/Petals

Friday: Family Tree projects, Meaning of Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving crafts

Happy Thanksgiving!  See you all in December!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello!

Our class is working on something special for the Gratitude Feast on Thursday the 21st.  The 3rd graders created a poem together about being thankful.  The 1st and 2nd graders are teamed up in pairs of 2, most groups containing one 2nd grader, one 1st grader.  Each group will draw a visual to each line of the poem.  On Thursday, the 3rd graders will read the poem.  the 1st and 2nd grade pairs will sit with their 3rd grade buddy and hold up their visual as each line is read.  We will finish up the visuals and practice more this coming week to be ready on Thursday.

I will be making permission slips for the Nutcracker Ballet field trip, December 9th, this week.  I will be sending them out Wednesday. If you can have them back ASAP, that would be fantastic.  All permission slips MUST be in 24 hours before the field trip.  Please do not forget to submit your child’s 2 dollar fee for the ballet through the payment link on the right hand side of this blog.  I have heard from one parent so far on submission, so please don’t forget to email me or leave me a comment on the blog that you completed the payment.  That way I can mark your child off on my check off list 🙂

This soon to be Friday is our Thanksgiving party.  In the morning we talk about the history of Thanksgiving.  Since we don’t have studio this Friday, we will do recess first and then lunch, like we do the rest of the week.  By the time the kids get cleaned up it will be around 12:40pm.  I need a few more helpers for Friday.  If you are coming to help, please be at our classroom at 12:30pm.  After they get cleaned up,  I’ll sit them down and explain each of the crafts.  They are then free to choose until 2:30pm.  

Group lessons this week:

Level 1s: Intro to point of a line (geometry)

Level 2s: Interior and exterior angles (geometry), Marshmallow angle review

Level 3s: Features of a triangle (geometry), Arrays of multiplication with fruit loops

Open lessons: fractions equivalence with pizza visuals, how to read a ruler to whole inch, half an inch, 1/4 an inch

In cultural:

History:

Level 1s:  BC and AD timeline.  Introduction to a century with golden bead

Level 2s:  Formation of a star

Level 3s:  Silurian Period

Zoology:

Level 1s: Fish report

Level 2s: Shrews and hedge hogs

Level 3s: Roundworms

Geography:

Level 1s: 3D Earth to 2D using a grapefruit

Level 2s: Faults

Level 3s: Weather reader’s theatre

Botany:

Level 1s: Land and water food chain paper model

Level 2s: Pinnate margins

Level 3s: Position of the calyx

Friday: Studio, Library, Great Barrier Reef animals and learning watercolor painting

Home projects are due Monday and this coming week!

Have a great (wintery) weekend!

Cheers!

Ms. K

I fixed the links from post Week 12.  Please see where you would sign up for snack!