Ms. Kaley's Classroom Room 24

Hi Everyone!

Thanks to all that attended PTC with their child last week. I really enjoyed showing you our portfolio layouts and some of the snipits of works we do in the classroom!

This past week we had a great time working with who is trying to be in our Spelling Bee on February 26th, our Valentines crafting and activity morning, and Store Day.

This coming week there are a few things:

Tuesday- I have a morning meeting. Lessons will still go on as needed. During the evening is a free family Skate Night at Classic Fun Center in Layton. I believe that begins at 5:30.

Wednesday-Wednesday is Box Tops Day! It goes from 11am-1pmish. Wednesday will also be our class picture day of our school’s yearbook. This will happen at 8:45am.

Friday afternoon will be the bird show from Scales and Tales. Our show will be at 1:30pm

Our school is doing a schoolwide History Week event next week. Our classroom will be doing an in class learning and activity regarding Black History Month. Our little project activity will be displayed outside our classroom.

Hope you all are having a great long weekend and Happy President’s Day!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Hi Everyone!

Upcoming Week

Parent Teacher Conferences!– PTC is this coming week!  They begin on Wednesday the 13th and go until Friday the 15th.  My times start at 1:30pm.  On Wednesday at 1:45pm is my daughter’s PTC.  Since Wednesday turned out to be our busiest day, I will be there for that first conference halfway through.  These conferences are student led!  Our students have been working on samples to show in their portfolios.  We will not be handing out a progress report like before.  Since it is February, Utah’s state standards are goals for students to accomplish by the end the year.  If your student hasn’t mastered the standard yet, then they have until the end of the year.  Children learn at different paces and different ways, so please keep that into consideration.  Our portfolios have some really nice examples in them, so it should be fun for them to share!  I also will have DIBELS reading testing for the middle of the year also to give out.

Please sign up on Track It Forward at www.trackitforforward.com.  Sign in, click on event signs up (a green button) and find either Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday to sign up under the Ms. Kaley’s PTC!

Field Trip!– We have an afternoon field trip coming up on March 5th.  I have the information sheet to hand out to you.  If your child needs a ride or you can do a carpool then you can state that on our sign up sheet we will have out.  I will then send that information over to Katie, our room mom.  We will be going to Union Station on Tuesday March 5th.  We will need parent transporting for this field trip.  Pick up will need to be at 12:30pm.  We will arrive to the museum at 12:50pm.  Our tour and workshops are from 1:00pm-2:30pm.  Pick up will be at 2:30pm and then any kids needing to be transported back to MMA will then go home at regular dismissal. Our students will be learning about Utah History and American history as part of our USA studies for the year.

Valentine’s Day! -This Thursday is Valentine’s Day!  We are planning to have a Valentine’s Day activities morning in class since it is an early out day.  Students will be able to do a few crafts, some writing activities, decorate a Valentine’s Day “mailbox” for cards” and be able to distribute Valentine’s Day cards they bring in.  If your student has a piece of candy as part of their Valentine passing out then all cards and treats will go and stay in their bag.  Once they are done school and have permission to have some then they may.  To make distributing quick and easy, I recommend your student just writing their name on the “from” section instead of wondering about names in the “to” section.

Wednesday– Spelling Bee testing day!  I will be testing our students to see who will represent our classroom in the Lower Elementary Spelling Bee on February 26th!  If your student is not wanting to participate in trying for the Bee, please have them do something creative with the list of words and have that in on February 26th.  This past week we had a fun Pokemon story written that was submitted because that student didn’t want to do the Bee.

Friday– It’s STORE DAY!  This is some of our student’s favorite thing that we do!  We will be doing it twice this year and this our first round.  Our students have been earning classroom money and some students have created little businesses to earn money from others.  Our students have learned about the responsibility of having a wallet and not to leave it around.  They have also learned about money exchanging and how that works.  For Store Day, students may bring items to price and sell.  These items they choose might be baked goods, snacks, crafts, books/games/toys no longer wanted (but good enough for someone else to have), a service (I’ve had some girls wanting to do nails). Talk to your student about fair pricing.  If your student has a big ticketed item and wants to do an auction, please help them prepare for that.  Store Day lasts most to all of our morning.  At the end of the year we do Store Day again with earning and this time owing.  The stores also get larger as we team up with multiple upper elementary classrooms.  Have your child bring on Friday: a blanket or towel to set up their “store,” small shopping bag to carry items, and if your child is selling some kind of food item please have it packaged up for easier buying and storing.

Tuesday– On Tuesday we will have our monthly Botany lesson with Ms. Rachael.  This will be from 9:35am-10:25am.  3rd graders will still go to computers and will join us in the Library after computer class is over.

Past Week:

This past week we got everyone back into their Large Maths.  The 3rd graders exceeded the expectations on missing multipliers/multiplicands/products, so we will advance them with more division practice next time.  1s graders got back into their stamp games and 2nd graders reviewed addition with triple addends to add up.  We did some Zoology lessons as well as Geography/3rd grade science.  2nd graders caught up on their History from last week.

Level 1s: Birds and external parts of a bird, The Compass rose and directions in the town game

Level 2s: Fundamental Needs of Humans continued, Metamorphic Rocks

Level 3s: The Earth/Sun/Moon relationship

It’s a Boy!  We got the call on Wednesday late afternoon that I am expecting a boy 🙂  The kids found out Friday and were very excited to finally know (as was I!)

Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!  See you at PTC this week!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Hi Everyone!

PTC Reminder!

Reminder that PTC begin next week on Wednesday the 13th and are until the 15th.  Please visit Track it Forward to sign up for your time slot.  Right now we have 11 students signed up for their conference.

Past Week:

This past week we completed character ed from the Boosterthon group and then ended our week with the Fun Run!  Thank you to all those who contributed pledges.  Our class got up to 30 pledges!  On on class’ Pledge-o-meter we accomplished obtaining the Read-a-thon incentive.  On Friday the 8th of this week we will plan for students to bring in their favorite books to read.  They are allowed a pillow and blanket to use while they read.  They may bring multiple books.  Please make sure their names are in their books, just in case.  Thanks!

3rd graders checked in with me on their rounding skills.  We did larger numbers rounded to the 10s and 100s place.  1st and 2nd graders did a math standard check in on adding and subtracting within 20.  The answers or the numbers they are solving with are no over 20.  1st graders checked in to see if they understand the difference between signs and if they know what to do with them.  2nd graders had the same problems to solve, but the goal is to have 2nd graders fluent.

We went over Spelling Bee this past week and some students are already practicing.  Students have 2 choices when it comes to participating.  They may try their best testing to see if they are one of our top spellers.  I am going to start with small groups and then the winner from each of those groups will then go on to compete against one another.  This will let me know our two 2 spellers.  The student who comes in 3rd will be the alternate.  Even if a student doesn’t become one of our winner and still tries their best spelling then their participation counts towards this theme’s Spelling Bee contribution. Those students who do not want to spell towards the Bee will use the words on the Spelling Bee list I printed to come up with something creative to show me and Ms. Misha.  They must use the words not the list, but not all of them (just a few).  Students can create a game with the words, make extension works for our classroom, create a story, make silly sentences etc.  I am wanting to know the student’s choice by Friday.  Next week on the 13th I am going test for our top spellers.  The winners from our class will then have some time to study before the 26th of February.

Upcoming Week:

Nothing too much is coming up this week.  We will have an Earthquake drill Tuesday and we have Art on Friday from 8:40-9:30.  Everything else will be normal to our schedule.  There is some snow and winter weather moving in for the first half of this week, so please drive carefully this week with the rain and snow.  Please provide your child appropriate outside gear for recess.

If you want your child to have pizza on Fridays, please have pizza money to the front office by Tuesdays.  The form can be found on the MMM normally.

Baby on the Way!– This past Friday I announced to the class that I am pregnant 🙂  I am due in August as school starts back up.  Please remind your child to help me out when it comes to clean up time and helping out around the classroom.  It is helpful as I get bigger and helps me feel reserve my energy.  Thanks!

Skate Night Coming Up!  A Skate Night is coming up on February 19th.  A flyer to take home should be sent home soon.  Please refer to the MMM too for digital copies of those flyers.

Have a great upcoming week and Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Hi Everyone!

Past Week and Upcoming week:

Fun Run Fundraising:

This past week we were all introduced to Boosterthon’s Fun Run.  This was the email I sent you on Friday regarding how we are raising money for our school’s field adventures and field trips.  Our school is looking to raise money for students participating in the 6th and 9th grade field trips so that every child may have the opportunity to get to do those special trips.

Your child is looking for pledges for every lap that they run during the Fun Run.  Every pledge helps our school goal.  As the students help obtain pledges, we get classroom incentives, and your child also gets prizes from Boosterthon for certain goals.  Please help out our class by this Friday.  Thank you for all your donations and help in this event.

Our students finished up Math U See this past week for those who needed to finished up.  Some students were able to complete the pages they have been working on and some students did as much as they know or were able to focus on.  These Math U See mid year examples will be one example in your child’s portfolio.

We went on to learn more about the Westward Expansion in regards to reviewing what the Expansion was and also what the Louisiana Purchase was.  This coming week we will look more closely at who President Thomas Jefferson was and what the Pony Express was.  In Writing, your child will complete a 4 square writing graphic organizer on a person during the Westward Expansion time era or an invention from that era (telegraph, steam boat).  4 square writing allows your child to read an informational piece of reading and then take notes about what they learned and they classify the information into 4 categories.  We will then turn this 4 square practice round into a piece of informational writing.  I am hoping to have everyone complete their writing piece before conferences.  Those who stay on task should have no problem achieving this goal.

Fun Run-  On Friday February 1st, our class will have art with Ms. Trudy and then they will do the glow run at 9:50-10:50.  Our small math lessons we normally do on Friday mornings will get done Thursday afternoon instead.

Last week we got to 2nd Geography and 3rd grade Science for cultural.  This week 1st and 2nd graders will have Botany and History lessons while 3rd graders will do Zoology and History lessons.  3rd graders will be excited to know that we will begin learning about Dinosaurs!  We begin the Triassic Period on Wednesday.

Spelling Bee:  In February, our annual Spelling bee will take place.  This week, since STEM week displays and all that are all over, I will be going over it with the students.  I highly ask that your student try to practice and participate to try and be one of our classroom representatives for the Lower Elementary spelling bee.  Those students who really decide that they don’t want to try will be asked to do a home project with the Spelling Bee words.  Those students can make silly sentences with the words, create a card/board game with the words etc.  (the creative choices are up to the child.)  Those students who try their best and no matter if they make it to the Lower El Spelling Bee or not, will get credit towards participating in the Bee.  The Spelling Bee words are copyrighted and I cannot post or email out a digital copy, I do not have the authority to do so.  Your child will come home with a printed version of the Spelling Bee words.  Those words will actually be the words chosen during the Bee on Feb 26th.  Even students who are working on CVC words (consonant, vowel, consonant words) will find that the first column of 1st grade words are CVC words, allowing those students to feel successful in trying to do their best.  Words lists will go out this week.  Happy studying!

Chili Cook Off-  Please visit the MMM email that is sent out if you would like to participate in the annual Chili Cook off or just come and try all the different kinds of wonderful chilis.  It is next week and I believe it is the 30th of January.  Please double check the flyer on the MMM.

PTC- Please sign up on Track It Forward to reserve your mid-year PTC.  This is a student led conference and your child will be showing the work they have completed for their portfolio.  On Wednesday Feb 13th, I have my daughter’s PTC from 1:45pm-2:00pm.  If you sing up for the 1:50pm-2:10pm slot on Wednesday, please know I will be there for half of it, but Ms. Misha will be there too 🙂

Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!  Thanks 🙂

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Hi Everyone!

Past Week:

This past week we talked about what an Economy is.  To learn how an economy works we are having the students earn fake paper money for tasks during their day.  This last Monday we held a classroom meeting and students talked about how they will earn money.  We all agreed that if you:

1. Do your classroom job you can get a $1.00 (a total of $5.00 if done every day at the end of the week.)
2. If someone borrows something of yours you can charge $1.00.  This will be the same for wanting to have or borrow something that belongs to the teachers or classroom supplies.  It will be the teacher’s decision on how much to charge depending on the item and the frequency of use.
3. Students can earn $5.00 for doing their assigned follow up works on time.
4. Students can earn $5.00 for completing all work goals done for the day
5. Students can earn $10.00 at the end of the week if all Spiral Math, Word Work, Text Time, and any needed writing assignments are in the “done” bins before recess on Fridays.

Students are also learning the business side of an economy.  If a student has completed all of their work goals for the day (Coming to lessons included), then that student may participate in what we are calling Market Time.  A student may open their own small business to sell a skill of theirs to others.  A lot of our students like to craft really inventive things and some students are learning to crochet.  Students who want to participate can then work on things to make and then on Fridays if your student gets to Earned Friday Time they can sell their crafts.

When we get to the week of conferences and Valentine’s Day week, on one of those half days we will have what is called Store Day.  If you have been with me in the years past, we have done this activity before.  Students can elaborate on the business they want to run and sell items during that morning with the money they are collecting over these next few weeks.  Students may make baked goods, do hair/nails, sell unused toys they don’t want anymore, auction something they no longer want, but someone else may want, and sell crafts (bracelets, drawings, origami etc.).  We like to debrief with the student after to see how much money they began with, how much they earned through their business, and how much they spent.

PTC- Mid Year is approaching!  Please sign up on Track It Forward for your time slot!  These conferences  are students led.  Each student has a portfolio that they have been doing reflections in and putting in works that pertain to a standard.  If a student isn’t quite achieving that standard then we will show you how they are working towards it.  If your student doesn’t have that piece for their portfolio then that student isn’t abiding by their turn in due dates.  We work with each child in our classroom at their own individual pace and each student works and different rates and paces.  Seeing real work samples of your child’s work will allow you to see how they are doing.  Since your student will be talking and showing their examples it will be a showcase of their current progress and how they want to progress on those standards for the end of the year.  The hope is to show growth and that your child isn’t just a number on a progress report 🙂

This past week was STEM Week.  What a week!  We had assemblies and project presentations throughout the week.  This past Friday we set up our class’s projects like a mini cultural festival and half the students presented and the other half visited the others.  Then we switched.  I was able to make it around to all the projects that were there to hear their presentations.  This week, our 3rd graders will display their projects in the hall on Wednesday.  2nd graders will display theirs on Thursday and 1st graders will display theirs on Friday.  After their display day they can take their projects home.

Home projects are on break for now and the rest of the themes have events to participate in.  The next one in February will be The Spelling Bee.  We will have each student participate in trying their best and then I will test who will represent our class at the MMA Spelling Bee.  Our students will have a month to practice and prepare.  The Spelling Bee will be February 26th from 9am-10am.  The last event will be in March for Literacy Week.

Upcoming Week:

We will be back to a regular schedule this coming week.  We will get into some Geography lessons for cultural and work on learning about the Westward Expansion for our Group History and Geography.  This week we will learn about the Louisiana Purchase.

Remember: Pizza Money is due Tuesdays!

We are in need of some snack!  The next few weeks are not signed up for.  If you can, please sign up for snack support 🙂

Have a great rest of your long weekend. Please sign up for conferences!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Hello Everyone!

Upcoming Week:

We have an extremely busy upcoming week filled with assemblies, activities, and project sharing.  Please look at the schedule carefully to help inform your student.  Recess and Lunch times are also effected by some of the changes and to accommodate them they will come at different times throughout the week!

Monday: STEM Assembly from 10:30am-11:45am.  Lunch is 1st at 11:50am-12:20pm.  Recess will then follow from 12:30-1:00pm.  3rd graders will go off to an assembly on Caves and Rock Stratification from 1:15pm-1:45pm.

Tuesday:  No Computers today (Ms. Megan will be out).  Botany with Ms. Rachael will be from 9:35am-10:25pm.  Recess for everyone will then be after from 10:30am-11:00am.  Everyone will then continue work cycle.  3rd graders will attend another 3rd grade only assembly from 11:30am-12:15pm and it will be on Chemistry.  1st and 2nd graders will get cleaned up at 11:50am and then everyone will do lunch from 12:15pm-12:45pm.  Everyone will then do their normal PE and Music time in the afternoon beginning at 1:10pm.

Wednesday: I will be judging Upper Elementary and maybe Junior High Science Fair projects until after lunch.  Ms. Misha will stay with the class and will do a STEM Shelter Challenge in the morning.  If any parent volunteers would like to help out Ms. Misha this day, please email me 🙂

*We are in need of “building materials” for our STEM challenge!  If you have any of these around your house, please bring them in by Wednesday!

• Cardboard (tissue boxes, cereal boxes etc.)
• Toilet paper/ Paper towel tubes
• Paper plates
• Aluminum foil
• Craft sticks
• Wax paper
• Pipe cleaners
• Rolls of tape

Thursday: We will clean up from work cycle at 10:45pm and then do recess at 11:00am-11:30am.  Lunch will be from 11:30am- 12:00pm.  3rd graders will be going to a Planetarium assembly at 12:00pm.  2nd graders will then go to their Planetarium assembly at 12:35pm and then 1st graders will go last at 1:10pm.  We will do our Library visit early this week at the end of the day from 2:30pm-3:00pm

Friday: STEM PROJECTS ARE DUE TODAY!  We have Art with Ms. Trudy from 8:40am-9:30am.  I don’t need any volunteers this morning for reading because afterwards the students will share their STEM projects in our room.  We will then do a portfolio reflection about STEM week and their projects. A Scales and Tales presentation will take place in the afternoon (we are waiting on our time)

This coming week the students will learn what an Economy is and will decide together how our Classroom Economy will be set up.  I have paper money that can be earned for doing their classroom jobs and how else they want to set up their economy earning.  This financial literacy skill will be to help students understand how earning works.  Part of the activity is event learn how to write a check!  In the coming weeks we will set up a Classroom Market day  where students can work together or individually on selling a skill of theirs (certain crafts, auctioning an item, a baked good or food etc.)

We will also continue our group Geography with beginning the Westward Expansion.  The students have been wanting to know more about the states out west, so we will begin how Early Americans decided to go west and why they wanted to.

Past Week:

This past week we looked at early American paper money and how paper money was created differently in each of the colonies.  Some money was worth more depending on what colony you went to because of their economy’s success.  Students got an overview that some designs of paper money failed and money went from being private to becoming something all Americans can use within any state.

Students made a money flip book on Thursday to help them remember how much each of our coins we use are worth and how many of those coins tally up to a $1.00.

We began the mid year Math U See assessments on Wednesday.  Depending on how your student did at the beginning of the year was the starting place for them this time around.  I’ve graded the tests they took and then if they can do any of the problems on the other tests they will continue to work on those.  The majority of the tests show a great improvement in adding and subtracting skills.  I’ve noticed that more 3rd graders attempted the rounding problems this time around than they did in the beginning of the year and also tackled more the larger adding and subtracting problems.

Dyad reading is going well and the students seem to be enjoying reading out loud together after lunch.

We continued our 13 colonies 4 square note taking some.

In Cultural: Botany, Geography, and Science

Level 1s: Parts of a root

Level 2s: Different kinds of leaves, The Rock Cycle intro.

Level 3s: Simple machines, compound machines, and how Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion show up in these machines.

Have a great upcoming week and rest of your Sunday!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Hello! Welcome 2019!  Please read carefully for important information!

With the 2 days that we were back we organized binders and added the 2nd half of any papers that are needed that the students do weekly.

We also began a special kind of reading called Dyad reading.  This is something the students will be doing after lunch for 15 minutes Monday-Thursday.  If we can get it in on Fridays we will.  It is a special kind of buddy reading that looks at a student’s exile reading level.  I obtained the information from the recent DIBELS testing that was finished before Christmas break.

What is a Lexile level?

The Lexile^® Framework for Reading is a scientific approach to measuring both reading ability and the text complexity of reading materials on the same developmental scale.

I list the students from highest to lowest and you split the list in half and match the students up.  One partner is the “higher reader” and the other is the “developing reader.”  The higher reader tracks the words and the buddies read aloud together.  The developed reader hears their buddy and sees the word and tries to keep up with them.  The University of Utah has developed positive research behind the reading method and data shows this kind of buddy reading can help significantly help raise reading scores.  The developed reader also reads above their reading level according the research.

Dyad reading is also something you as parents can do with your child.  For more information, please take a moment to look at this:  DYAD READING

We also began another writing piece regarding informational writing. Students are picking a topic of interest from the 13 colonies era.  They are using a note taking skill called 4 square writing that will help them turn their research into a piece of learned writing.  We had the COW Friday morning and some students were able to get started on picking a topic.  The others were working on finishing up their time with Imagine Learning because some of the computers weren’t all the way charged, so some had to wait.

STEM Week is approaching!  Not this coming week, but the week after is STEM Week!  It looks like the project touring day will be Wednesday to see Upper El and Junior High projects.  The Lower El’s project day will be the week of January 22nd (After MLK day).  I would like to have the student’s projects due on January 18th.  We will use this time to share their projects in class with our students.  When it is the Lower El’s turn to show their projects the week of the 22nd, they won’t be standing and presenting.  Their projects will just be on display to see.

The week of STEM Week will also bring lots of assemblies and out of routine lessons.  These workshops might be for the entire class or just for certain levels.  Some of the workshops are at times that go into normal recess and lunch time.  We will adjust recess and lunch schedules to accommodate students’ workshops.  By the end of this week we will know more on what levels and workshops students will be attending.  I will make those updates in next week’s blog post.

An after school event is taking place on Thursday from 6-7:30pm.  The movie ScreenAgers will be shown.  It is a movie about screen time and the effects it has on the developing teenage brain.  It is open to anyone, so if you are interested it will be taking place Thursday the 10th in the Junior High Commons area.

Friday January 11th- No School for students- PD day for teachers.

Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Hi Everyone!

We have an eventful upcoming week!

Monday– Monday evening is the Winter Concert.  Students who come should be dressed in solid colored black pants and a solid colored shirt.  Students should arrive at the school at 6:15pm.  It will take place in the large gym that is in the Junior High.

Wednesday– Wednesday is our winter feast day!  Please remember to go to Track It Forward and look at December 19th for our sign up.  If you are bringing food or supplies, please please please have your signed up items in the south kiva no later than 11:45am.  This way we can have everything set up and when students come in from recess we can get started.  If you are planning on attending our luncheon, please be at the school by 11:50am.  This way you can get seated and when the students come back inside they can join you.  After our feast is all done, you may check your child out, if you wish.

Friday–  Friday afternoon is our Holiday party.  This party will take place at 12:45pm.  If you are planning on coming to help out and set up, please come at 11:30am and you can get set up while the kids are outside playing.  We will eat outside in the kiva while set up is going on.  Our room mother has a sign up on Track It Forward for December 21st.  Please visit Track It Forward to sign up on our event!

This coming week will bring a lot of excitement for our students and some out of schedule events (as stated above).  Some students are very sensitive to these kinds of changes and may not be able to express these feelings in words on how they are feeling.  Please remember to check in with your child and help reiterate that while we will be doing some fun activities, it is still school and school rules still apply.  December is an eager month for students and their emotions run high.  If you are able to make it to our feast and help out at our party to help, Ms. Misha and I would greatly appreciate it!  Thanks!

Past Week:

This past week we got to Zoology lessons in cultural.  Our 3rd graders were very happy to finally have it be their turn to make the Annelid earthworm model.  Students reviewed the parts of an earthworm and they should be able to tell you the basics of an earthworm.

Level 1s: Kinds of amphibians

Level 2s: Internal parts of a reptile

Level 3s: Earthworm models and review

The Lower El teachers had a representative from the computer reading program Imagine Learning on Wednesday after school.  To have your child get the correct amount of time on the program, we bumped the time up to 45 minutes when our class has the COW on Wednesday afternoon.  Students can also log on at home too to ensure their minutes and effectiveness of the program.

We’ve been talking about informational reading and writing and this week our students started on their Holiday from another country learning.  Students will work more on their reading and writing this coming week.

On Tuesday we had fun reviewing what a fact vs opinion is with each writing group.  For two of the groups we read The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.  It is a book about the Big Bad Wolf’s perspective on what he believes what happened to The Three Little Pigs.  The groups then picked apart what the facts were from the story and what the opinions were.

Colds and Illnesses:  Classrooms have been experiencing many students with colds, including ours.  Even with an eventful week ahead of us, if your child isn’t feeling well, please let them stay home and rest.

Our blog will be on Christmas vacation beginning at the end of the week!  I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday break and safe travels to anyone going anywhere!  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!   Looking forward to seeing you all this week for our events!

Don’t forget about STEM Fair coming up in January!  Please review the previous posts and/or the project tab up top!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Hello!

Holiday Feast December 19th

Our sign up for our Holiday feast is up on Track It Forward.  I have the food sign up available.  We will be doing soup options for our luncheon.  Please check out our sign up sheet.  We will be having immediate families joining us and some siblings, please plan for a crowd.

Snack Needed

We are in need of snack for the next two weeks.  We went through what was left for everyone to have something for snack this past week, but ran out by Friday.  The sign up on Track it Forward.

Our Holiday Party will be December 21st from 12:45pm-2:30pm

This past week in cultural lessons we did Botany, History, and Geography

Level 1s: How plants grow, Land and water landforms

Level 2s: Leaf venation symmetry, time to 5 minutes review, Earthquake parts and how they happen

Level 3s: Silurian period, Momentum in physics

Science- STEM activities

Our students were introduced to what Information writing and reading was this past Monday.  This week we will go over what a fact vs opinion is and do some practice activities.

Reminder- Monday is an early out!  Please have your student picked up at 1pm.

Hello All!

Thank you to everyone for a smooth field trip this past Friday.  The kids had a great time and they said they really enjoyed the workshop on simple machines.

STEM Fair Projects:  LE display the week of Jan 22nd.  Projects Due January 18th.

In January the school will host a STEM Fair display.  I talked to the kids this week on what their focuses will be:

1st grader’s projects:  Research a famous scientist and create a project about their life and what they did for science (what made them famous?)

2nd grade’s projects:  A simple science experiment that the student can do the scientific method on.  2nd graders should be able to: 1. Pick a focus (a topic), 2. Create a hypothesis for their topic, 3.  Conduct the experiment (take pictures/video for presentation display!) *include materials/supply list for experiment! *can the experiment be conducted multiple times? What kind of results happen each time, 4.  Write down observations, 5. Make a conclusion and was their hypothesis correct or incorrect?

3rd grader’s projects:  Choose between a project on a simple machine OR a demonstration that explains one of Newton’s Laws of Motion or a demonstration on how momentum or acceleration works.  3rd graders’ projects should be a display that can explain the meaning of the simple machine or laws of motion, explain why/how it works, and how it relates to real life.

Past Week:

3rd graders were excited to learn about round worms (such as earthworms).  We went over the parts of an earthworm and what they do.  We also looked at other kinds of Annelids such as leeches and how they are parasites.  2nd graders reviewed amphibians and the life cycle of a frog.  Since we have the COW on Wednesday afternoons, some 2nd graders got started on reading and researching on an amphibian of their choice.  1st graders learned what an amphibian is and learned they go through a change called “metamorphosis.”

3rd graders have now had a lesson on division with remainders (such as 67 divided by 8).  We will continue practicing this skill and then will work with a triple digit dividend and then move into division with a double digit divisor.  The 3rd graders have seen division in multiple ways with the use of our Test Tube material and also on a white board.  I’ve tied in their division into their multiplication, so they can see how the two are similar to each other.  A skill that is challenging for almost all our 3rd graders is a missing multiplier or missing multiplicand.  This is also true when it comes to division (ex. A x 6= 24 or 28 divided A= 4.

2nd graders are working towards seeing how addition and multiplication are similar.  This week they saw how when numbers go over 10 in a given place value the steps to solve in either addition or multiplication are similar on our materials.

1st graders have begun what we call dynamic addition.  Dynamic is when a given place value goes over 10 and there is exchanging that is needed.  We are starting basic right now, going up to just the 10s place.  As the skill develops they will work with addition that goes up to the thousands place.  This week we will look at subtraction and begin practicing.  1st graders will then have addition and subtraction skills to practice during the week.  After Winter break they will look at multiplication and see how multiplication and addition are similar.  Subtraction skills will also continue.

We begun an important prompt this past week.  It is the 1st summative writing assessment given this year.  After every 2 themes there is an assigned writing prompt that is used to see if they are applying the needed skills they have learned in their writing lessons.  1st graders should be able to write 3-4 complete sentences, 2nd graders should have a fluid beginning/middle/end to their story, and 3rd should apply what 2nd graders do, but be able to add dialogue to their writing.  This coming week the students are working on finishing up their drafts, edits, and revisions, and move into their final drafts.

Upcoming Week:

There is a Parent Night on December 6th at 5:30pm on how a Montessori Class runs and what expectations your child should be applying.  It will go over what makes a Montessori school different from other public schools and what student life at a Montessori school is like.  Please check out the Montessori Monday Moments that was just sent out.  The flyer is located on there.

Ms. Clarissa, our music teacher, is hosting a Winter Concert on December 17th at 5:30pm.  The flyer for the concert is also on the MMM that was just sent out.  Our child has been practicing for weeks in music class! Mark your calendars!

Please note that on December 10th, next Monday, is an early out.

This week I am going to create a sign up on Track It Forward for our annual Holiday Feast!  Our classroom feast will be December 19th at 12:00pm.  Immediate family members are invited to join your child.  The sign up will be for food.  Part of the sign up will be for each level to make something for the feast.  I should have that sign up out by the end of the week so that gives about 2 weeks of preparation.  Our feast will go until about 1pm.  Some years it has gone over 1pm by just a little bit.  The students also present Winter holidays in December from around the world.  We’ll see if we continue that or we change it up some.  Students are welcome to be checked out after the feast.

December Challenge!  Now that we are in December I have a challenge for the students!  If everyone completes their Spiral Maths, Word Works, Text Times, and writings before recess on Fridays in December then we can watch a Christmas movie in the afternoon.  Help encourage your child!  Spiral Math is only 1 column a day.  I tell the students to complete it right after circle time in the morning.  Word Work is also a few language exercises each day.  Text time is the shortest.  It is a short passage and then there are 3-4 questions about the reading.  If everyone followed the exercises then everyone would be done by the end of Thursday (All the exercises in Spiral Math and Word Work are Mondays-Thursdays).

Have a great upcoming week and rest of your weekend.  Happy December and for anyone who celebrates or that you know celebrates Hanukkah!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha