Class Update 9/18/16

Important Reminders:

There will be no school on Friday, September 23 due to a teacher professional development day.

School Picture Day is coming up on September 28th.

Please help support our LPTO fundraiser, which is currently underway. The next coupon day is Tuesday.

We are at the halfway point in first quarter. I will be sending home mid-quarter reports with your child at the end of this week. The reports are intended to give you an approximation of how your child is doing so far this year, both behaviorally and academically. Please make sure to review the report and return it to school signed. As a reminder, you can log in to SIS at any time to check on your child's grades as well. Thank you!

Class Updates:

Math:  We will be having our Chapter 1 test on Tuesday. Students have a study guide that we completed together in class. If they study using the study guide at home and get it signed by an adult, they can earn extra credit on the test. In addition, I have provided students with review videos and an online quiz via Quizizz on the Google Classroom site. I highly encourage the children to play the Quizizz game to help them prepare for the test. Our next unit will cover multiplication concepts. Check out some of the projects the students completed below. Students designed robots and then calculated the area and perimeter of their robot. Decimal concepts were reviewed by calculating the decimal represented by the children's initials on hundreds grids. We have also been webbing numbers in all three forms.

Reading: We have used some familiar books, such as Mr. Peabody's Apples to examine the story arc that occurs in narrative texts. Students are learning about the important elements of plot, including an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. We have also been learning how to write written responses to questions about reading that include specific details and examples from the text, as well as an explanation of how that text evidence supports the answer. Take a look at the wonderful inferences students made about the book, The Gardener:

Writing: This past week in writing the students have been working hard to revise and add on to their personal narrative drafts. They have been adding strong leads, making sure their piece follows a story arc, and are elaborating more on the most important parts of their narratives. Up next, we will be crafting endings that leave the reader with a lasting impression.

Social Studies: We have finished up the lessons from the first unit. Students have been learning different ways regions can be grouped in a country, as well as some of the things that are unique to the Midwest Region. We have a Chapter 1 test on Wednesday. All students have a study guide to help them prepare. In addition, a vocabulary game is on the Social Studies Google Classroom site. We will also begin a My World Project this week to review the concepts from the first chapter.

Class Update 9/5/16

Important Reminders:

Miss Scalise and I will be using Google Classroom this year with students. Google Classroom allows us to post useful links, videos, practice quizzes and other tools that students can use to enhance the learning that is done in the classroom. We have emailed all students with invitations on how to "join" the classroom. Please remind your child to join if they have not already done so. There are three sites: one for science, one for social studies, and one for reading/writing/math combined. You can check out our Google Classroom sites by logging in with your child's Lindbergh gmail address.

Class Updates:

We had an amazing assembly last week where we were privileged to watch the Zuzu African Acrobats. The children had a blast watching the dancing, limbo, and many acrobatic moves.

In math, we have been exploring the place value topics of writing whole numbers in standard, expanded, and word form. The students have also been working on comparing numbers and putting them in order. We will be having a quiz over the first four lessons of Chapter 1. A practice quiz is posted on the Google Classroom for students to help them study. A study guide was also sent home with students last week. This week we will also be taking a closer look at decimal place value.

In reading, the students have been making entries in their reading journals about the independent books they read. We have explored different things we can write about, including asking questions, examining story elements, and writing down big ideas. We are reviewing the strategy of inferring, and will be learning more about using text evidence to support our thinking.

In writing, the children have now started several small moment stories about important people, places, and objects from their lives. Soon, they will be choosing one of these ideas to work through the writing process with for their personal narrative.

Last week in social studies, we learned about human, natural, and capital resources. Children also explored how these resources aid in the production of goods and services that are important to the economy of the United States.