Book Fair

The dates for this year's Book Fair are Oct. 14th - 21st.  As a class we will go and view the book fair on Friday, 14th from 11:35-11:55. You can send in money for your child to spend then or you can come in and go shopping with them. Another option is that they will create a wish list when we visit the book fair, this will come home and you can send in money with a list of what they are to buy and we can do that during the day sometime. 


We earned over 5,000 points from the Scholastic Book Club order. Thanks to all of you who ordered. We should receive the books next week.


Progress Reports will be coming home tomorrow.


The field trip was a huge success....we had a great time and I think there was even a little bit of learning. I hope to have some pictures to share on here shortly from the field trip. Special thanks to Ms. Beena (Nicholas's mother) and Mrs. Ross (Fei-Fei's mother).  


I would also like to thank Susan Peterman (Wren), Karen Hall (Lily), Jenn Cronk (Colby), Rebecca Walker (Leopold), Kirsten Bair (Leo), Elizabeth Crumb (Gabe), and Kathy Lauder (Brendan) for their help in the classroom this week. What a wonderful group of parents this year - but I guess that makes sense as I have an amazing group of students! Thanks to each and everyone of you all!


Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns or would like a conference!

Subtraction

Today in math we began our unit on subtraction. One easy way to present subtraction is as parts of a whole - this also works for addition.  13 can be made up from 6 and 7. So 6+7=13 but 13-6=7 and 13-7=6.


When we use number bonding - those things that look like circles attached to each other - we are really creating a thought of the numbers which works both for addition and subtraction and the students think of 6 and 7 as part of 13. This makes addition and subtraction with those numbers much easier for them. 


However, some students have a difficult time with this concept. Using a pile of 13 paperclips (M & M's also work, except they seem to disappear) is one way of making this idea easier for them to picture in their minds. Putting the paperclips (or any other tangible object) into the two groups after being the whole number makes it easier to put the numbers into the circles.

September 20th, 2011

Here we are - already one month into school.

Next week we have our curriculum night on the 27th from 5:30-6:30. This will be a time for the teachers to review and answer questions about curriculum and classroom expectations. This is a child-free event to allow for less exciting times of communication. Child-care is provided. Pizza and drinks are also being provided by the PTSA for $5 (2 pieces of pizza and one drink).  This is not a time for conferences about your child specifically. If you would like a conference to discuss concerns or questions please contact me to set one up.

On the 28th we will have our first field trip. Genesis Farm is a lot of fun and we always enjoy this field trip immensely. I am sure all of the students will really enjoy the time there. Thanks so much to those who have already said they would like to chaperone. There is no fee for chaperones!

I have already seen an improvement in spelling since we have been using our phonics program. It is so exciting to see how everyone is growing academically and socially.  Handwriting is also improving as everyone is learning how to form each letter in the way it should be written. In journaling, we are  up to three sentences with a picture.  We have four reading groups and five spelling groups. In math we use the Singapore Math which is the same for all students but in our timed math we five groups also.  This is a great group of students, very diverse and very creative.

Thanks so much for entrusting your child to my care,

good night for now,

Heather