Week 3

Can you believe our first break is already here?! I hope the students have enjoyed the first couple weeks of school, the fun is only beginning!

This week in math we studied pictographs, bar graphs and line graphs. We read two neat stories called "The Song and Dance Man" and "Through Grandpa's Eyes" that really opened our eyes to what life was like when our grandparents were young. The kids couldn't believe that once upon a time TV, the internet and video games didn't even exist. We had some great discussions about stories that are worth telling over and over again. Another story we read talked about floats so we made rootbeer floats in class -- the kids loved it! We also had school pictures and a neat Israeli dance assembly where the kids were able to get up and perform with the dancers. It was a fun week.

If your child is doing the REDO chart for Soaring Eagle please remind them that the first due date for reading 5 books is September 3. I hope everyone gets a chance to relax and read over our break!

FYI -- I got an email from PTA saying the Fun Run for C track is Friday September 16 from 8:30-10:30 am. Mark your calendars!

Just a heads up, we'll be starting current events when we come back on track and will be presenting them every Friday for the rest of the year. I'll send home a paper with more information.

I hope everyone enjoys their last bit of summer! Thanks for a great first 3 weeks!

Week 2

This week was our first week of our "regular" schedule. The kids did great! Each day we did different grammar, spelling and vocabulary activities then we had a test on Friday. In math we learned about place value, greater than - less than - equal to, and number patterns. We played a fun game with where I had two numbers up on a powerpoint on the board and the class was split into two teams. The teams raced to see which team had their shark eat the larger number first. I think this really helped them understand place value and, for example, the difference between 3456 and 3465 or 0090 and 0900. We also played a jeopardy with number patterns. I'm trying to teach the kids that learning can be fun!

We also started guided reading this week. Because of library on Thursday I wasn't able to meet with two of my groups -- I'll make up for that next week. Please encourage your child to read their reading assignment, so far everyone has done great!

We'll be typing our grandparent narratives this week. Thank you for helping your child with the interview. We plan on revising and "publishing" (aka typing and illustrating) these narratives this week. After I grade them the students will be able to take them home and give them to their grandparents!

We've got an Israeli dance group coming to perform this Thursday. Other than that it should be a pretty normal week. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks the kids will get used to the daily schedule and will know what to expect for each subject. I hope they are having fun!