Weekly Update 12/16/11

Important Announcements:

*This year is flying by! I cannot believe it is Christmas break time already. I hope that all of you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you next year!

*Milez Cameron will be celebrating his birthday on Saturday, December 17^th. Happy Birthday, Milez!

*Lucas Watson will be celebrating his birthday on Friday, December 30^th. Happy Birthday, Lucas!

*Starting second semester (when we get back in January) students will be taking their spelling tests using the Spelling City website. I will also begin taking a weekly fluency grade on reading passages.

*Report cards for the second nine weeks will be available online starting Friday, January 6^th.

*There will be NO school on Monday, January 2^nd. The students will be returning to school on Tuesday, January 3^rd.

*The cold weather is definitely upon us! Many students have been coming to school with only a sweatshirt. Please make sure your child is properly dressed with a warm winter coat, hats, and gloves. Thanks!

*Inclement weather is definitely a possibility as we get into colder weather. If there is a two hour delay on a Wednesday, students will NOT be dismissed early. They will be sent home at the normal time (3:35 for car riders and 3:45 for bus riders).

*New Book-It calendars will be sent home on Tuesday, January 3rd. Use the calendar to track the number of minutes your child reads. If he/she reads for fifteen minutes, he/she can color in the date on the calendar. In order to earn the free personal pan pizza coupon from Pizza Hut, your child will need to read for fifteen minutes, four times a week. The calendar is due back on January 31st. The program will continue through March.

*Mark your calendars! We will be doing the Micronauts training at the Challenger Learning Center on Friday, March 9, 2012. For this training, we will need at least ten parent volunteers. We will be leaving school around 9:15 a.m. and returning in time for lunch at 11:30 a.m. Permission slips will be sent home closer to time.

A Look at the week of January 2nd:

Science/ Health
Sun, Moon, and Stars

Spelling

Words with silent letters

Reading
Story: Watermelon Day

Skills: making inferences, sequence charts

Daily Five: Listen to Reading; fluency practice

Math

Graphing data, Number Stories and Diagrams, Subtracting with Base-10 Blocks, arrays

Social Studies

Begin Unit 4

English

Contractions

Writing

Sentences

Weekly Update 12/09/11

Important Announcements:

*Next week is a Spirit Week! Here are the special Holiday Spirit Days we will be having:

Monday – Pajama Day (wear your shoes to school and bring your slippers)

Tuesday – Holiday Socks Day

Wednesday – Dress as your favorite holiday character

Thursday – Holiday Hat Day

Friday – Wear your favorite holiday sweatshirt, sweater, or t-shirt

*Wednesday, December 14^th will be a Student Council Snack Sale for $0.50. Yum!

*Next week we will be reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I have seven copies of the story. If you have a copy of this book and would like to send it in, you may send it in with your child to use next week. Make sure it is clearly marked with your family’s name. Thanks!

*A note about spelling for next week: If your child scores 100% on the pre-test on Monday, he/she will be excused from spelling for the rest of the week.

*We will be having our Christmas sing along on Friday, December 16^th at 3:00 p.m.

*The cold weather is definitely upon us! Many students have been coming to school with only a sweatshirt. Please make sure your child is properly dressed with a warm winter coat, hats, and gloves. Thanks!

*Inclement weather is definitely a possibility as we get into colder weather. If there is a two hour delay on a Wednesday, students will NOT be dismissed early. They will be sent home at the normal time (3:35 for car riders and 3:45 for bus riders).

*Book-It calendars were sent home on Thursday, December 1^st. Use the calendar to track the number of minutes your child reads. If he/she reads for fifteen minutes, he/she can color in the date on the calendar. In order to earn the free personal pan pizza coupon from Pizza Hut, your child will need to read for fifteen minutes, four times a week. The calendar is due back on December 16^th. The program will continue through March.

*Mark your calendars! We will be doing the Micronauts training at the Challenger Learning Center on Friday, March 9, 2012. For this training, we will need at least ten parent volunteers. We will be leaving school around 9:15 a.m. and returning in time for lunch at 11:30 a.m. Permission slips will be sent home closer to time.

A Look at Next Week:

Science/ Health
Your Family

Spelling

Words from the story

Reading
Story: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Skills: compare and contrast, character change, synonyms and antonyms

Daily Five: Listen to Reading

Math

Review, test over Unit 5, adding three numbers, and comparison number stories

Social Studies

Traveling the world

English

None

Writing

Sentences

Weekly Update 12/02/11

Important Announcements:

*Happy Belated birthday to Kendall! She celebrated her birthday over Thanksgiving Break. Her birthday was on November 25^th. Happy Birthday, Kendall!

*Next week is the Santa Shoppe at Delaware Trail. Our class will be shopping during the media center special on Wednesday, December 7^th. If you would like your child to participate, please send the Santa Shoppe envelope back to school with the money you would like him/her to spend. If you write a check, please make the check payable to Delaware Trail PTSG. Thanks!

*Next week I will be administering the middle of the year Dibels test to your child. This is a fluency test that also tests your child’s recall of the material that he/she read.

*The end of the second nine weeks is quickly approaching! It will end on Friday, December 16^th.

*Book-It calendars were sent home on Thursday, December 1^st. Use the calendar to track the number of minutes your child reads. If he/she reads for fifteen minutes, he/she can color in the date on the calendar. In order to earn the free personal pan pizza coupon from Pizza Hut, your child will need to read for fifteen minutes, four times a week. The calendar is due back on December 16^th. The program will continue through March.

*Mark your calendars! We will be doing the Micronauts training at the Challenger Learning Center on Friday, March 9, 2012. For this training, we will need at least ten parent volunteers. We will be leaving school around 9:15 a.m. and returning in time for lunch at 11:30 a.m. Permission slips will be sent home closer to time.

A Look at Next Week:

Science/ Health
Your Family

Spelling

Words with oo

Reading
Story: The Secret Life of Tress

Skills: fact and fiction; following directions

Daily Five: Listen to Reading and administering Dibels

Math

3-D Shapes, Pyramids, and Symmetry

Social Studies

Traveling the world

English

is and are / was and were

Writing

Prompt writing; voice lesson with Mr. Gatlin; Sentences

Weekly Update 11/23/11

Important Announcements:

*Thanksgiving is a time where we reflect upon all the blessings that we have in our life. I cannot express how thankful I am for each and every one of you. I have been blessed with 20 wonderful students. Each of them is so special and brightens my day. I am honored to be a part of their lives. I am also incredibly blessed for the support that you the parents have given me this year. During this time of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for your children and you and what a wonderful school year this has been. Thanks!

*We will be doing the Cheer Drive from November 28^th – December 2^nd. This is a time where you can send in donations for those that are less fortunate to help during this season of giving while at the same time demonstrating our character trait of compassion. Items that can be donated are: bath soap, boxed dinners, canned fruit, canned meat, deodorant, dish soap, laundry detergent, paper towels, paper napkins, pasta, rice, and soup.

*Next Wednesday, November 30^th will be a Student Council sponsored snack day. The snacks will cost $0.50.

*Thanks to Mrs. Angle for organizing a wonderful Fall Party. I would also like to thank those of you that made donations and helped during that time. The kids loved it!

*Book-It calendars were sent home on Tuesday, November 1^st. Use the calendar to track the number of minutes your child reads. If he/she reads for fifteen minutes, he/she can color in the date on the calendar. In order to earn the free personal pan pizza coupon from Pizza Hut, your child will need to read for fifteen minutes, four times a week. The calendar is due back on December 1^st. The program will continue through March.

A Look at Next Week:

Science/ Health
Forces and Motion

Spelling

Words with spr-, str-, and thr-

Reading
Story: From Seed to Plant

Skills: reading diagrams and sequence chart

Daily Five: Listen to Reading

Math

Line Segments, Parallel Line Segments, Polygons, Quadrangles

Social Studies

A Look at Earth

English

Saw, Seen, Went, Gone and Did, Done, Gave, Given

Writing

Sentences

Weekly Update 11/18/11

Important Announcements:

*Spelling note for next week: There will be NO spelling next week. Enjoy! The spelling words for the week of November 28^th will be sent home on Wednesday, November 23^rd.

*Our next math test will take place on Tuesday, November 22^nd. We will be reviewing for the test on Monday, and I will be sending home a study guide that evening for homework.

*I would like to clarify something since there seems to be some confusion. I sent home a letter requesting snacks from each family. This is for a special activity we are doing the morning of November 23^rd. This is NOT related to the Fall Party. Mrs. Angle has been working on donations for the Fall Party as well. I am sorry if this has caused any confusion, and if your family is unable to donate a snack for our special morning activity, that is okay. Please let me know if you have any questions! Thanks!

*Book-It calendars were sent home on Tuesday, November 1^st. Use the calendar to track the number of minutes your child reads. If he/she reads for fifteen minutes, he/she can color in the date on the calendar. In order to earn the free personal pan pizza coupon from Pizza Hut, your child will need to read for fifteen minutes, four times a week. The calendar is due back on December 1^st. The program will continue through March.

A Look at Next Week:

Science/ Health
Forces and Motion

Spelling

None!

Reading
Story: Thanksgiving stories

Daily Five: coaching –vs.- time; individual conferences

Math

Review Unit 4; test on Tuesday; being Unit 5

Social Studies

A Look at Earth

English

Come, Came, Run, Ran

Writing

letter writing