Happy Thanksgiving!

We are busy, busy in Room 3. We have started our new unit in Open Court called "Kindness". The stories are very engaging and the students are enjoying them very much. Our play ties in so well with this unit. The writing focus is letter writing. We learn how to write thank-you notes, postcards, and even business letters. Students learn the 5 parts of a letter: date, greeting, body, closing, and signature.

Students are practicing for the play. We are so excited. Please remember that the date has been changed to Nov. 21. It is the Tuesday before vacation. I know the room mothers are working hard on the costumes, sets, and props. Thanks to all of you that are helping for all your hard work.

In math we are learning how to regroup in addition and subtraction. It is a very difficult concept. Some students are having difficulties completing their work because they have not yet mastered their math facts. PLEASE get flash cards if you haven't already. I see so many students using their fingers to add and subtract. It gets so confusing to count on fingers when crossing out numbers and regrouping. If your child is getting below 20-25 facts correct on their Mad Math Minute, then they need to practice, practice, practice!!

We have suspended Science and Social Studies for the next two weeks until after the play. We will complete our units before Winter Break.

Finally, I just want to thank all of you for your understanding of my sometimes late emails and homework (memory journal) woes. Driving back and forth to San Diego is taking its toll on my organizational skills. So many of you have passed on such kind words. I knew in August it was going to be a difficult time. My father is just so up and down. He is one tough guy. I appreciate your understanding.

October Awards

Student of the Month

Erin

Citizen of the Month

Rajvir

Principal’s Award

Christopher

Congratulations to all award winners. 

We are so proud of you!

Well we are well on our way to a terrific year. 

In Language Arts our theme is Sharing Stories.  Our anthology is filled with stories that include the genre study of realistic fiction, fantasy, and folklore. In grammar we are reviewing nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives.  We are also reviewing how to write complete sentences.  Our writing focus is narrative writing.  Our writing prompt focus will be learning to write about an experience.  Students will learn how to use time/order words to describe events and experiences that they have had.

As part of our Sharing Stores theme we have begun preparation of our musical, “Character Counts”.   This will also work into our next Open Court theme of “Kindness”.  Casting took place last week.  All students that wanted “roles” got some sort of speaking part and song.  A few students asked not to be featured.  They will still be able to participate and have been given chorus roles. We have plenty of time to practice.  Do not feel rushed to have your child memorize lines and songs.  This is a long process and will only take up a small portion of every day. 

We will be beginning our second Math unit the first week of October.  Our emphasis is on place value. Students will demonstrate an understanding of ones, tens, and hundreds.  This is a very important concept.  They must master this standard before they can learn double and triple digit regrouping in addition and subtraction. Our October 31st Math Spooktacular will be an exciting event filled with activities concepts and games that reinforce standards in number sense.

We have begun our study of Balance and Motion in Science.  Science is completely hands on.  Each week we will be conducting experiments using the scientific process.  Students will learn how to make predictions and conclusions based on their evidence resulting from their experiments.  It gets plenty loud during our experiments, but students have a wonderful time making new discoveries.  Ask your child about what they did in Science every Thursday.  Hopefully he or she won’t say the typical student answer of “nothing”!

Students have learned about landscape painting and drawing in Art.  We will begin a study of Georgia O’Keefe the first week in October.  We will be getting a lot of music in through our play.  We will also begin learning some Halloween themed songs. 

Ms. Simkin is teaching Social Studies to the students on Mondays.  They are learning about family history, timelines, what life was like long ago compared to today.  She will be sending some extra projects home on occasion.  Please look for them in the homework folders.