Class Update 1/25/15

Important Reminders:

Our field trip to Sheldon Concert Hall is on Tuesday. There are a few children who still need to return the permission slip and $7.00 fee. Please make sure to turn these items in by Tuesday morning so your child can attend. Thank you!

For students who have elected to participate in PRISM, completed projects need to be at school by Monday, February 9th.  Volunteers will check the projects to make sure they have all of the required components. Projects will be ready for display on Thursday, February 19th.

Some families have been inquiring about the classroom Valentine's Day party. Children may bring in Valentines for the class if they wish. Please know that it is optional. If your child does opt to bring Valentines, please make sure they bring one for every student in the class. We have 22 students, and I will be sending home a class list soon to help with filling them out.  If any type of candy or treats are attached to the Valentines they must be free of nuts or latex due to allergies.

Six Flags Read to Succeed Reading Logs have been sent home with all children. If students are wanting to participate, they need to read six hours at home in addition to their class reading log minutes. As a reward, they will receive a free admission ticket to Six Flags theme park at the end of the school year! A few students have already turned in their completed forms - way to go!

Class Updates:

Congratulations to Spencer and Katelyn on a job well done in the school spelling bee! Both students did an amazing job! Spencer made it to the final round with only four students left, and Katelyn was the school bee winner. I am so proud of them both!

The students have began 2015 with the end in mind! Each child wrote their school goals under the flaps and we have displayed them as reminders on how we can have a successful second half of the school year.

In math, we are close to finishing up Chapter 6 on decimals. The students have been practicing dividing decimals by whole numbers and decimals by other decimals. In addition, we are working on multiplying and dividing decimals by powers of ten. Our next unit will cover fractions.

In both reading and writing we have been learning about poetry. We have been sharpening our close reading skills and digger deeper into poems to understand the author's point of view, the theme, imagery, and emotions evoked by the poems, as well as the use of figurative language.  Students have also been reading a variety of poetry book looking for examples of figurative language, such as alliteration.  The kids are also writing their own figurative language and poems. We will have a quiz on figurative language on Tuesday.

So far, they have written acrostic, haiku, and simile and metaphor poems.  Looking ahead students will try out limericks, free verse, and concrete poems.  Eventually the children will be compiling their best work into poetry anthologies. Here are a few completed text feature posters. The students worked hard to find as many examples as they could!

In social studies, we have finished Chapter 4. We will now begin working on an explorer project. Each student will conduct research on an explorer. Then, using the facts they discover, students will create a variety of ways to display the information, including journal entries, time lines, posters, trading cards, and bio-poems.