Happy almost December.  Crazy, right?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  Thank you to those parents who came to help out Friday for our project afternoon.  It was a squirrely day throughout the school and also busy, so we didn’t get to have 1st graders finish their interviews.  We will have 1st graders finish up tomorrow (Monday) after PE and Music.

December Events!

December is super busy with important things happening:

Permission slips for the ballet are due by December 4th.

The Nutcracker Ballet is Monday December 7th.  Please have your child pack a lunch that day.  We will have an early lunch and recess that day.  The bus comes at 11:00am.  We will be back at MMA by 2:30 for regular pick up.  Since we are going to a nice theater performance, it is asked that students wear something nice.

December 8th– 3rd grade practice Writing Test in the morning.  Have your 3rd grader pack a snack and have their water bottle.

Holiday performance!  Our lower el classrooms attend a once a week Music class.  Ms. Connie, our music teacher is putting on a nice holiday performance on the evening of Thursday December 10th.  If your child’s last name is between A-L- those children will sing at 7:00pm.  Those last names between M-Z will sing at 8:00pm.  Come support your child’s hard work and get a chance to see them sing some holiday songs they have been working hard on!

Cookie Baking and Holiday Store!  On December 14th, our students will get to shop and sell in our classroom store!  We do this activity at the end of the year in May, but our students love it so much that we added another!  Students in our class have been earning money for this store day.  For selling, they may bring gently used books, toys, and games.  Baked goods, flowers, crafts, and small services (painting nails, hair chalking, etc.) also make great store set ups.  This is a great opportunity to have your child shop for their siblings, friends, cousins, themselves or anyone else!  I would love to have a few helpers to help show students how to wrap a present if they are buying for someone.  Let me know if you would like to help that morning.  Holiday store will start at 9am.  Also, on December 14th, I think it would be nice for each level to make cookies for our December 15th Holiday Feast!  After our store morning, each level can take turns making cookies and decorating.  If you want to help students make cookies please let me know as soon as possible.

Class Holiday Feast!  Our classroom would like to invite your family to our annual feast on December 15th.  It will begin at 12:00pm and go until 1:00pm.  Any parents wishing to help with food or set up are welcome to come at 11:15am.  We have the South Kiva reserved.  A link to sign up for food will be posted this week.

MMA’s annual International Festival is December 16th-18th!  This wonderful and festive event is 3 days long.  Upper El’s festival will be on the morning of Wednesday the 16th.  Lower El’s festival will be on the afternoon of Thursday the 17th and Junior High’s will be on the 18th.  Our continent for the festival is Europe!  Students will get to choose what their focus will be on.  This week, I will go over instruction and students will need to pick their focus by Friday.  Students will get chances to work on their report in class, but students should also work on it at home.  If your student needs to work on their poster or board in class, please send them with their board to work on.  If your child would like to put together a PowerPoint together, that works too.  Students who wish to do a PowerPoint will need to bring their own flash drive or external hard drive to save their work.  Parents and families of students are more than welcome to attend the festival!

Volunteering: If anyone would like to help with reading or spelling this week or the upcoming weeks in December, please let me know!  You guys are great!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello Everyone!

Upcoming Week:

3rd graders take their Language PRACTICE SAGE test Monday morning.  The PRACTICE SAGE Math test will be Wednesday morning.  For tomorrow and Wednesday, please send a water bottle and a snack with your 3rd grade child.  Please help your child that it is just a practice test.  USOE has very strict regulations on what I can do when your child tests.  I can help with technical difficulties to a degree, so if your child gets emotionally upset because they can’t read a word or feel like they can’t do it, please have a talk with them today/tonight that breaks are allowed.  Students are NOT timed.  If a child does take longer, that child may finish up with another class who is finishing up testing.  I will take 3rd graders outside for recess in the morning for a little bit and then we will be in the library on Monday and Wednesday.  If your 3rd grader is absent tomorrow or Wednesday, those students will test with another class.

1st and 2nd graders will do morning work in our classroom with Ms. Emilee.  3rd graders who finish early will go back to class and work on morning work too.  Wednesday morning in our monthly health lesson from Ms. Julia, so 1st and 2nd graders will have that.

Volunteers for this week:  I am not going to push Spelling tests on 3rd graders this week.  It will be optional for 3rd graders to take a break this week from their spelling tests.  We need 1 or more volunteers for spelling tests Thursday morning (9am).  Please email me if you would like to help.  Anyone who wishes to help with reading this week, times open are: Tuesday (morning or afternoon), Wednesday afternoon, or Thursday (morning or afternoon)

Past Week:

Thank you for all the parents who supported and came to our Fall Party.  It was a GREAT success!  For November, a lot of classes do a Thanksgiving feast with their class and invited parents.  Our class does a Holiday Feast in December.  Jaida and Sarah, that will be our next sign up situation 🙂

Lessons this past week:

Level 1s: Money, Partitioning squares into equal pieces, Halloween stories

Level 2s: Halloween stories

Level 3s:  Halloween stories, SAGE practice

Cultural: Zoology

Level 1s: Fish

Level 2s: Whales, Dolphins, Porpoises

Level 3s:  Platyhelminthes and Nematodes (types of flatworms both parasitic and non)

November Project- DUE Nov. 20th

Students will do a home project for November that focuses around family and history.  Projects will be shared on November 20th in the afternoon.  

Level 1 project: Interview a grandparent or great-grandparent about their life.  If no grandparents or great-grandparents exist, have your child interview a neighbor, aunt/uncle, family friend etc. (Just not mom or dad).

Interview Questions *Please choose 10-15 (or more if you would like) This link contains 150 questions.  You are welcome to make your own questions too 🙂

Once your Level 1 interviews their family or family members (Example: both grandparents), make a poster (big or small) about that person (Example: collage of pictures, things that they liked or experienced)

Level 2 project: Ancestor/Genealogy project.  Students will make a family tree poster and present their posters to the class.  Please have your child understand who they are talking about. They don’t have to know everything about that family member, but I would hope they would know their name.

Level 3 project: Family Recipe project.  3rd grade students will need to ask their family members if they have a passed down recipe or special/favorite item that gets made for Thanksgiving or special family events.  Students will learn to make that recipe at home and bring into class to share.  I would like 3rd graders to share the lineage from the recipe (a report on who started the recipe, how many times it has been passed down etc.)  If your family doesn’t have a passed down recipe, find one together and maybe start one for your family!  Example: if your child chooses a green bean casserole recipe, then have him/her write about the history behind the green bean casserole).  Really do involve your child in the cooking process.  Definitely have your child read the recipe, find the measurement tools, do the measuring for you.  You are acting as a safety measure and guide.

3rd graders will bring in the dish they are sharing and share with just our class on Nov. 20th.  If it has to stay hot, you can send it in a crockpot to keep warm until the afternoon.

Have a great upcoming week!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hi Everyone!

Class Holiday Feast:

This Tuesday is our class feast. I forgot to edit the one sign up in the last post. Our feast is the 16th from noon-1. Please sign up to help bring food in last week’s post. If you are wanting to attend to eat with your child, please sign up for attendance too. Our feast will take place in the South Kiva. If you are btinging food and attending, please come at 11:30 so we can set up.

International Festival and Afternion Crafting!

International Fesival starts Wendesday! Upper El goes first (Wednesday) in the morning.   Wednesday afternoon I plan on having an afternoon of holiday crafts. If you would like to volunteer please email our room mother, Jaida. The kids got excited when I told them about the crafts.

Thursday, we will have a regular morning. Thursday afternoon will be our International Festival from 1-2:30.

Friday we will watch Arthur’s Christmas and also visit the Junior High’s International Festival from 10:30-11.

in group lessons this week:

Level 1s: endpoints, skip counting by 2s, 5s, 10s (practice with them!)

Level 2s: geo board angles, pictographing

Level 3s: rounding review to nearest 10s and 100s place, how to divide on paper, not with materials (practice with them!)

in cultural: Zoology/Physiology

Level 1s: all about Amphibians

Level 2s: The eye and the ear

Level 3s: Annelids intro, earthworms, and leeches

Friday: studio, simple machines: catapults, Level 3 earthworm pillows

Have a good week! Hope to see many of you this week!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello!

Hope you all are enjoying the holiday season!

Holiday Feast!

Very soon we will be having our Holiday Feast.  This year it will take place on December 16th at 12:00pm.  A sign up for food, tableware, and drinks will be posted soon.  Mark your calendar!

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Geometry: Faces on solids, Money introduction, parts of a fraction, Odd and even review

Level 2s: Geometry: Supplementary angle, Money review

Level 3s: Geometry: Base, altitude, and hypotenuse on triangles, Money review

In cultual: Botany

Level 1s: Food chains: land and aquatic

Level 2s: Pinnate and Palmate margins on leaves, Types of dented margins on leaves

Level 3s: Gamopetalous and Polypetalous petals

Friday- Magnetic or not and Charlie and Chocolate Factory movie

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Cheers!

Ms. K

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

Please see under our link to the right of the blog under “Holidays”  You will see Feast Attendance.  Please state who is coming

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

Hello!

Please look to the right of the blog and under Holidays.  There you will find the we join link to sign up for our feast!

It will start at 12:00pm and run at least an hour, please plan accordingly.  If you volunteer to bring something please be here at the school no later than 11:30pm.

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