Third Grade, Room 204

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Happy Valentine’s Day. Today is Tuesday, February 14, 2012 and guess what, I’m was absent today. I wasn’t feeling good today, and therefore was absent. We had a field trip scheduled, a walking field trip to Kenwood High School to hear a choir performance. As of his posting, I don’t know if the children were able to attend in my absence. If not, I apologize. In eighteen years of teaching, I have never been absent on a field trip day.  I’m sure I’ll have an opportunity to make it up to the children before the end of the year.

Thank You’s:

Thank you to those who sent in contributions to support our classroom supplies, especially pencils, tissue and hand-wipes and healthy snacks. Please feel free to continue to send your contribution. They are very much needed.

This week we will be working on the following: Common Core Standard to be addressed: (These standards are what CPS are now using to ensure students are receiving the standards or learning experiences appropriate for their grade level).

Language Arts: CCSS: CC.3.R.I.1 Key Ideas and Details: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

I hope the children have completed or nearly completed their poems about their African-American role models. I sent the guidelines home on Friday. There will be five children selected to read their original poems on Thursday, Feburary, 23, 2012 at 6:30 p.m in Ray School’s Black history month culminating experience. The  African-American in Motion” poetry slam will feature students who have written poems based on their heroes and who serve as an inspiration to helping them to achieve their dream. The poems must be in by February 16, 2012. I hope you will be able to attend this event that will begin with a walk-through of classroom projects, a pot-luck of African-American cuisine, and the poetry slam. If you’d like to contribute one of your favorite “soul” stirring dishes to the pot -luck, please let me know.

This week we will continue to work in our ISAT Practice books to hone our test taking skills. I assign the pages to be completed for homework and we review the answers. The practice pages include the standards required for the third grade curriculum. We have been learning these skills all year and the ISAT Practice book merely focus on these skills.

I will be giving practice appropriate third grade level reading test to determine if the children are able/better able to comprehend text at the third grade reading level.

Writing: CC.3.W.3 Text Types and Purposes: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

We will be working on writing good responses to prompts or questions based on reading material in the ISAT Practice Books or other sources. I model for the children an example of answering questions based on their reading material and then ask the children to write their responses to a extended response question. Last week I wrote about my experience of learning how to dive from a diving board, well actually, I never did learn how to dive. This experience focused on the skill of compare and contrast.

As I have written in previous blogs, it is important that children are learning to convey their feelings in a cohesive composition. In this case, the story we read was about a girl named Rosa who couldn’t fish until her father taught her how. She experienced a few failures at first as she caught everything on her reel but a fish, until finally after a while she caught a fish. The prompt ask the children to think about a time they experienced a situation similar to Rosa’s. They might have experienced things that were alike or different from Rosa’s experience.  Does the writer write clearly and make their writing interesting to the reader? Does the writer include examples from the story and compare/(alike); contrast; (different), to a similar experience they had? Does the writer write a good conclusion, one that makes the reader laugh or leaves the reader with something to think about? Not easy for third graders, but writing is always a work in progress!

Homework: Assigned ISAT Practice pages and extended response wrtiting

I will be asking the children to complete more extended responses in the ISAT Practice books. Please support your child by having them to read their writing aloud to you and offering constructive criticism, i.e. ” I didn’t quite understand that sentence,” “You didn’t spell this word correctly,” etc.

Math: CC.3.OA.7 Multiply and divide within 100. Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of one-digit numbers.

We will also work in the ISAT Practice Books. I assign pages each  night for homework, however I do tell the children they can work ahead if they’d like. We do review the work.

Homework: Assigned pages. Children can work ahead if they want to,

Everyday Math:

We will continue to work on Unit 5. We are learning more about multiplication and division patterns. By now the children should be learning their 6 times table.

Homework: Home Link 5.4-5.8 including extended response writing to explain how an answer was achieved

Science: CCSS: 11.A.1e  Arrange data into logical patterns and describe the patterns.

We will be learning about the “crystals,” (salt), left behind after we observe the earth materials that make up rocks.

Have                A                Great                 Week!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome to this week in Room 204. This week we will be working on a lot of things, including ISAT practice.

A few things we definitely could use in the classroom:

Pencils, tissue, hand wipes, pencils, healthy snacks and pencils! Oh, yes, did I mention  pencils?  Thank you for your contributions.

This week we will be working on the following:

Language Arts:

We will be writing extended response answers in both reading and math. Again, these are answers to text in reading and to problems in math. The main goal is for the children to be able to write well organized paragraphs including details from the story in to support their reasons, to make personal connections to the story if there any,  and to write a conclusion that recaps the paragraph.

Please check the assignment book for homework pages.

We will begin to work on writing poetry. On February 23, 2012, Ray School will end Black History Month with a “walk through” of  Black History projects,  a pot-luck featuring African-American dishes and a poetry slam in which selected participants will recite original poems.

The focus of the poems will be African-American role models that have inspired the writer. These role models could be a famous African-American or someone in their family they look up to. Students should memorize their poems. Participants will be selected based on their overall presentation.  There will be five students selected from each room to recite their poems on February 23, 2012. In class, we will be talking about famous African-Americans and hopefully the children will come up ideas for their poems.

We will be reading a short biography about the famous educator, Mary McLeod Bethune. Through hard work and determination, Ms. Bethune along with the help of her community, built an elementary school and then went on to start a college for African-American students. We will complete activity sheets based on the story.

We will take various reading test to practice the skills necessary to become better readers.

Math:

We will begin Unit 5. The focus of this unit includes identifying place-value with large numbers, comparing larger numbers and fractions. We will also review and cover new material in the ISAT book.

Please continue to help you child to learn their basic multiplication tables, 2-11.Division is impossible without knowing multiplication facts. We can’t always use calculators.

Homework: Home Link 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, Assigned Math Boxes and ISAT pages

Science:

This week we will observe the results of rock material collected and put into vials of water. Does sand drop to the bottom of the vials? Who knows? We will draw what we observe as well as write what we observe in an Earth Materials booklet.

Have                  A               Great              Week!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I hope everyone is enjoying this unseasonably mild weather. Remember last year this time? I DO! We got a couple of snowdays.

This week marks the beginning of Black History Month and Ray School has activities scheduled throughout the month. I will keep you updated on the events.

The third grade has received the ISAT Practice books and we are completing lessons as assigned. We will be honing our test taking skills as we continue to work on our curriculum.

This week we will be working on the following:

Language Arts:

We will work in the ISAT Practice books. Lessons will be assigned for homework. These books are to be used as ways to help support what the children have been learning all year as well as to provide test taking “thinking” strategies. We do review the lessons in class to check our thinking.

Writing:

We will be working on extended responses. Extended responses are written responses to prompts asked after reading a selected passage. For example: After reading a selection about a little boy feeling left out when a new baby brother is on the way and he is asked to think of a name for his brother, the prompt might be, “How would you feel if you were Ted?” “Use details from the story to support your answer.”  Writing the main idea in the beginning of a paragraph, writing supporting details to support your answer, making connections to the text, i.e. tell about anything that you  have experienced similar to the experience, and writing a conclusion that recaps the response, is what we will be practicing in class. You remember, just writing a well developed paragraph/s to a question!

Accelerated Reading:

Most of the children are taking AR test in the classroom after reading a “just right” book for them. These test are mainly used to support comprehension of books that are in the child’s reading comfort zone and interest. Test can be taken in the morning or  during the day when the children have completed their work.

We will be learning about the famous African-American teacher, Mary McLeod Bethune. We will complete activity sheets that accompany the book and reinforce reading skills we have worked on during the year. We will also begin to learn more about poetry as we prepare to write poems based on the theme, Famous African-American Heroes/Sheroes. At the end of the month, Ray School will have a culminating experience which will include a poetry slam. Participants will be selected to recite their original poems on February 23, 2012. Details for the event will be provided as we continue through the month.

Math:

We will take the Unit Four test this week. Please continue to help your child to learn their multiplication tables. I have asked the children to write the set of tables they don’t know five times each each night until they have learned them by heart. For example, if a child doesn’t know their 3′s tables, they should write them every night at least 5x’s each until they have mastered that table. They should not go on to the 4′s until complete mastery of the three time tables. Please use any method you’d  like to quiz your child on their times tables. The computer programs listed on my blog, Ms. Zivko’s blog or Ms. Garcia’s, provide creative ways to learn multiplication as well as other math skills.

We will work in our ISAT Practice books and homework will be assigned. I am allowing the children to continue to work in their books after they have completed the assigned homework. I only require they read the information in the beginning of each lesson that explains the concept in that lesson. I also tell them not to skip around in the book. They should work from lesson to lesson starting from the beginning. We will review the work. The children seem to really enjoy working in these books.

Science:

We will continue to learn about earth materials and what earth materials are found in rocks. We are writing what we observe in our Earth Materials books. Focus, participation and cooperation are very important in these hands on lessons.

Social Studies:

We will continue to learn about communities as well as to use the weekly magazine Time For Kids to support reading or nonfiction text.

HAVE                A            GREAT            WEEK!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We are working very diligently in all subject areas. We are beginning to prepare our minds for the upcoming ISAT test to be given the first week of March. All the learning and experiences we have engaged in this year will have prepared us for the questions on the ISAT. We will be receiving ISAT practice books this week. These books support the skills and concepts we have covered.

We will remain focused on our third grade curriculum. We are reading and exploring the skills that help us to become better readers. In math we are working on our multipication tables. In Science, we are exploring earth materials and in Social Studies, we are using a new approach to learning facts about communities. All in all, we are learning a lot!

Reminders:

January 27, 2012 is staff development day. There will be no school for students.

Our classroom is in need of pencils, xerox paper and hand wipes. I appreciate your contributions.

This week we will be working on the following:

Language Arts:

We will complete our reading and discussion of the selection in our Journey’s readers, Roberto Clemente. The skill that is being taught is cause/effect. The cause is why something happens and the effect is what happens as a result. This biography also  focuses on this great baseball player from Puerto Rico that proved determination can change the way you see yourself and how others see you. There will be a comprehension test on the selection on Monday.

We will begin working in our ISAT practice books as soon as they come in. These practice books are just that, practice on the skills and strategies we have learned. There will be homework assigned in this book.

Websites: I have given each child a password to be used to access Education City. This website is designed to support student learning in all subject areas. In addition to this website the students can practice skills in reading and math on the MAP Math and Reading Practice website. The students know how to access these websites as well as others that should be used daily to support their learning. In other words, no child should say, “I don’t have any homework.”

Math: We will complete Unit 4, Multiplication and Division this week and will take the unit test by Thursday. Please help your child learn their basic multiplication facts. I have sent home several copies of the facts and have asked the children to ask you to xerox these practice sheets for their use. Xerox paper is limited and therefore it is difficult to xerox copies.

Homework: Home Link 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11. ISAT practice as assigned. Please make sure your child is working on the websites assigned for math practice. These include: MAP Math Practice, Education City, Rainforest.

Science: We are examining mock rocks. We are learning what earth materials rocks are made of. Focus and participation is the most important part of Science in third grade.

Social Studies:

Have you heard about our Jeopardy game? We have having loads of fun learning about communities using the Jeopardy game format. We will have a test on Communities on Monday.

HAVE           A             GREAT             WEEK!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Happy New Year to all of you. I hope you had a great New Year’s, complete with resolutions you will surely keep (:), just like me! Today was a day of getting back into the swing of things and I will say I missed the swing several times! The children seemed happy to be back at school and just as happy to share their feelings all day!

The second half of this marking period will move quickly. We will begin to practice focusing on skills that will support our ability to stay on task for the ISAT Test to be given in March. We have been working on skills in all the subject areas this year, but now is the time the students really need to buckle down and realize they have learned a lot. Now it’s just the thinking through the questions that are being asked as well as applying the information they have learned to the questions being asked. We call it higher order thinking. Before the winter break, we played Room 204 Jeopardy. The game was based on the tv game show and many of the questions were generated by the students themselves and based on this year’s learning in all subject areas. Please talk with your child about this experience as I thought,  the children really did a great job acting in the role of game show host, game show responder, and scorer. The objective of this game is for the children to think about what they have learned this year in order to answer questions in a competitive yet constructive way.

Homework:

We won’t be doing the homework packet for a minute as we will be doing a lot of work to prepare for the ISAT. The ISAT Test includes multiple choice questions that cover the third grade curriculum in reading and math. I will be giving practice test or questions to prepare the children with the ISAT format. Writing an extended response answer to a question in both reading and math will be a part of the test. An extended response prompt in both areas ask the children to write a complete, well written response to a question based on text they have been given to read in reading. In math an extended response answer is based on a math problem and then the children are asked to explain how they got the answer and the steps they took to get the answer. Obviously, these things require practice and I will be sending home homework assignments that will get the children use to the format. Remember to check your child’s assignment book for the night’s homework.

This week we will be working on the following:

Language Arts:

We will begin reading the next selection in our Journey’s readers. Roberto Clemente is a nonfiction story about the famed baseball player who overcame the odds to become a role model for his community of Puerto Rico and the world. The skill of cause and effect will be the focus for this biography. The cause of events in a story is the reason something happens. The effect is the result of an action. This skill helps the children to visualize what happened in the story.

Spelling words: The long”i”

slight mild, sight, pie, mind, tie, pilot, might, lie, thight, blind, fight, die, midnight

Vocabulary Words: stands, score, fans, league, slammed, pronounced, style, poslish

*Spelling and Vocbuarly words are assessed within the end of story test given after we complete reading/discussing and completing skill worksheets based on these words.

Math: We will be going full speed ahead on multiplication. I will be sending home practice worksheets to support the children’s learning of their multiplication tables. Even though some of the children know their 2,3,4 or all their multiplication tables, I generally start everybody on showing their ability to do their two,three, four times tables. You’d be surprised at how some of the children make careless mistakes when doing the tables they are sure they know. Please use what I assign for homework to help your child learn their tables as well as rote learning, i.e. writing a particular table five times each, each night until mastery of that table, or any other creative way you and your child can think of to learn a very necessary concept in math.

We will continue to work on Unit 4, Multiplication/Division. We will be moving quickly through this unit and will have homework in Home Link and the Everyday Math Journal as assigned.

Homework: Home Link 4.3, 4.4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, Everyday Math Journal assignments as assigned and written in homework agenda books, Multiplication practice.

Science: This week we will begin our unit study of rocks. We will learn what things make up rocks, i.e. sand,silt,minerals. The focus of this unit is to familiarize students with what geologist do to understand earth materials such as rocks.

Social Studies: We are completing our presentation of our community diorama’s. The children will bring their wonderful projects home after they have presented them to the class. If your child’s project was really big, please make sure you will pick them up on that day to help them carry them. This project is a major part of their Social Studies grade for this marking period. Thank you again for your support. It was great listening to the children explain their diorama’s using the vocabulary they learned to identify main elements found in a community.

HAVE             A          GREAT            WEEK!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The holiday season has come. We are working to wind up this year with past, present and learning experiences to come.  Last week we enjoyed a wonderful holiday concert performance at Kenwood High School. This week will be exciting as the children are all looking forward to holiday celebrations and a two week hiatus from school, (ditto Ms. Jack)!(:)

There will be no major assignments during this time as the community diorama was just completed. I can tell you I was never so impressed with the high level of detail the children included in their projects. The children have been presenting their community diorama’s with their peers and it is clear they do understand the essential elements found in a community.  I hope you enjoyed the project as much as your child. I thank you for supporting your child in their understanding of their favorite community.

Holiday Specials:

The Holiday Assembly will be presented on Thursday, December 22,2011. There will be one performance at 1:30 p.m. Please try to attend as these performances are always spectacular.

Room 204 Holiday Celebration:

We will have a small party on Friday, December 23, 2011. This will happen at approximately 2:00 p.m. I usually order pizza for the children. If the children would like to do this, each child should contribute $2.00. Two extra large size pizza’s usually cost approximately $60.00. Each child can bring their own soda or juice in plastic containers. The money should be turned in no later than Wednesday so I can place the order for the pizza’s no later than Wednesday evening. Thank you in advance.

This week we will be working on the following:

Language Arts:

We will complete the selection, “Pop’s Bridge” this week. We have been working on the comprehension skill of comparing and contrasting elements in a story. We weren’t able to complete the selection last week due to our taking the MAP Assessment.

Math:

We will begin Unit Four, Multiplication and Division this week. Please support your child in learning their multiplication facts.

Homework: Home Link 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4.

Social Studies:

Again thank you for supporting your child in creating the best diorama’s I have seen. The children are sharing them with each other and our kindergarten buddies. Everyone is commenting on how great they are!

We will continue to learn about special communities. We will learn what makes up suburban and rural communities and how they compare to urban communities.

I am wishing you all a very happy, safe and restful holiday. Happy New Year and see you next year!

Ms. Jack

Try our slideshow maker at Animoto.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Welcome to our continued new look on our Room 204 Blog. It’s not easy finding out how to do these techno things, but I recruit any and everybody I can find to help me keep you up to date and entertained! This video shows an integrated Spanish/Social Studies and Math lesson with Mr. Walter and his teacher intern, Ms. Vanderkloot. The children were finding the location of a volcano site in Guatemala using the concept of coordinate pairs. I hope you enjoy the music that accompanies the video. P.S. That’s volcanic ash and not snow you see falling in the video.(;)

On Tuesday, December 13, 2011, we will attend Kenwood High School for a choir performance. We will leave school at 11:15 a.m. and return approximately at 1:30 p.m. Please make certain your child has a bag lunch as we will not be back in time to eat in the lunchroom. I do have three parents who have volunteered to walk over with us. Much thanks to you!

This week we will be working on the following:

Language Arts:

We will finish reading Pops Bridge in our Journey’s readers. We are looking for the things the characters have in common as well as what is different about them. We will take a comprehension test on this story by Thursday.

We have written How To compositions. We are learning how to edit our papers using editing symbols as well as peer editing to improve our writing.

Math:

We will be taking the unit test on Unit Three this week. We will then begin Unit Four. Unit Four will focus on multiplication Please continue to support your child in learning the basic subtraction facts as well as honing addition and subtraction of multi-digit numbers.

Social Studies:

Community dioramas are due on Friday, December 16, 2011. We are looking forward to sharing our projects with one another. Thank you for your support.

Have A Great Week!

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Forgive the late newsletter. I guess I haven’t quite recuperated from Thanksgiving. Here are a few reminders and updates for this week:

December 13, 2011:

We will be attending Kenwood High School for a holiday concert. This will be a walking trip. You don’t have to complete a field trip slip as the one you filled out at the beginning of school confirms your consent for your child to attend all scheduled trips this year.

We do need at least 3 parents to accompany us on that day. I have to confirm what time we will be leaving. Please let me know through a note if you will be able to accompany us. I will take your request on a first come basis. I will let the children know the exact time we will leave and return to school. Thanking you in advance.

International Night:

International Night will be held on December  8, 2011. This celebration has become a tradition at Ray School. I’m sure you will enjoy the festivities. Please check the school calender on the Ray School website for the time.

School Tour: Please check the Ray School website for time.

Holiday Assembly:

The assembly will be on December 22, 2011.

This week we will be working on the following:

Language Arts:

Please support your child in reading at least 30 or more minutes every night. The children are getting familiar with taking Accelerated Reading test after they have read an accelerated reading book they check out of our school library. Your child should be ready to take a test on the book they check out by the next Tuesday. The accelerated reading test can be taken during our computer time on Tuesday. If the book is a long book, it might take at least two weeks to finish a book. Please ask your child what book they are reading and if they can take a test on this book. The key is to make sure the children are reading a book to completion and they understand and hopefully enjoy the book they have selected.

We will continue to hone a “How To”  composition.

We will practice how to identify things that are the same, (compare) and different, (contrast), things in our reading and selection as well as in Social Studies.

We will practice spelling words with the long “o” sound.

We will remember to capitalize proper nouns. I find many of our students are still referring to themselves, “I,” in the lower case. I have coined a saying that I am in the process of copyrighting. Please ask your child to share with you this memory jogger.

Math:

We will complete Unit Three on perimeters and area. We will take Unit Three test on Friday or Monday.

Social Studies:

We will continue to learn about communities. We will learn how to use a map scale to figure out the distances on a map from one location to another. We will also work with Mr. Walter and learn how to plot locations of a volcano site in Guatemala using coordinate pairs, perimeter and area.

The Favorite Community Diorama’s are due on December 16, 2011. I have sent home with your child the guidelines to complete their diorama as well as a rubric. I have explained the project in detail as well as shown the children examples. Please let me know if you have any questions concerning the diorama. I am hoping this project will be a learning experience as well as a creative venture for you and your child.

HAVE          A              GREAT               WEEK!   

Dear Parents/Guardians,

I hope you had a great holiday. I did, only to short. I’d like to start this blog with an oldie but a goodie. With the help of Russ, our CUIP technology support man, I am learning new things every Monday. Today Russ walked me through how to include a video in my blog. Pretty cool huh! This video includes pictures from a Black History project my third grade class did in 2009. The theme of the project was a celebration of Motown during it’s 5oth annniversary. The student’s in my class learned about the artist and their songs during the height of the Motown years, (1960-70′s). They put on a Motown Revue for their parents during the Black History Walk-Through. It was a blast. I hope to include video’s of our class doing exciting things. I will need more time to practice loading our classes pictures onto my blog, but I am determined. Look for our class videos in the upcoming blogs.

Our class will be taking a walking field trip on Tuesday, December 13, 2011. We will need at least 4 parent volunteers to accompany us to Kenwood Academy. Please send me a note stating if you would be able to attend on this day. The field trip permission slip you signed for your child at the beginning of the year gives your child permission to attend all field trips unless something otherwise stated. There will be no charge for this trip. I will provide you with more details about the trip later this week.

This week we will doing the following:

Language Arts:

We will be learning how to write “How To” compositions. These compositions explain how to do something in a step by step process. For example a student might write step by step instructions on how to make a sketch of their community  starting from the beginning to the end. Sound familiar? Just a mention, the first part of the project to show the student’s favorite community was due today and the ones I have seen were great.

We will also continue to work in small reading groups as well as to learn how to work on lessons in our Daily Five notebooks. This notebook provides language arts activites for the children to complete independently.

We will begin to work on our next reading selection in our Journey’s readers. The next selection, Pop’s Bridge, is a realistic fiction story about the building of the Golden Gate Bridge as seen the eyes of a little boy whose father and friend’s father helped build the bridge. The focus of this reading selection will be how things are the same and how things are different. Students will compare, (how things are the same), and contrast, (how things are different) in this story. We will practice using a Venn-diagram. This is the organizer that visually separates things into overlapping circles to show things that are alike/different and what they have in common.

Spelling: The selection’s spelling words are: Words with the long “o” with the “oa”, and “ow” spelling pattern.

load, open, told, yellow, soak, shadow, foam, follow, glow, sold, window, coach, almost, throat

Homework: Will include: Selected pages in the purple Practice Book that accompanies Journey’s reader. Assignments will be in your child’s agenda homework journals.

Grammar: For this reading selection we will learn more about common and proper nouns. Specific assignments will be given and should be written in the homework agenda journals.

Vocabulary Words: Vocabulary words for this selection are:

balancing, tide, crew, disappears foggy, stretch, excitement, cling (We discuss these words before and during the reading of the stories).

Math: We will continue to work on Unit 3. This week we will practice finding the perimeter of a polygon or closed shape as well as the area of  a rectangle.We will also learn how the circumference of a circle relates to the diameter. Remember this from third grade? I don’t! (:).  The circumference of a circle is the distance around the circle and the diameter of a circle is a line segment that passes through the center of the circle and has endpoints on the circle. Your child can bring the Student Reference Book home to help them with all concepts in the Everyday Math lessons. This reference will be helpful for you as well.

We are still practicing automatic recall of the subtraction facts. I am hoping the children will be able to do the practice speed test they bring home in their homework packet in five minutes or less. The goal is for them to quickly know the basic subtraction facts so they know without thinking 16-9 = 7. I always tell the children to add up to get the answer. In other words what number do we add to 9 to get 16? Seven. We will soon be working on automatic recall of our multiplication basic facts.

Homework: Home Link 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, Subtraction speed test practice, Assigned computation, problem solving worksheet.

Social Studies: This weekend your child was given a handout with instructions on how to draw a blueprint or layout of their favorite community. I received some awesome layouts done on poster boards of the student’s communities. The next step will be for the student’s to use these layouts to create a diorama of their community. The children have been asked to use a shoebox or any box that will hold representations of the geography of their communities. These things might include trees, buildings in their community, climate elements such as a sun to show a hot, sunny day, snow in a winter diorama, water that might be Lake Michigan surrounding their community and any other elements the children recognize as an important part of their communities geography,architecture and activities the citizens in their communities participate in.  The diorama’s will be due on December 9, 2011. A handout with directions for the diorama as well as a scoring rubric will be given to the children this week. The key is for the children to create a visual representation of their community in a creative, well planned, neatly presented way. Thank you for supporting your child in the projects we have done so far. They have been awesome!

HAVE    A    GREAT   WEEK!

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Dear Parents/Guardians,

I really enjoyed talking with you on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 during Report Card Pick-Up. I appreciate all your support and look forward to the rest of this school year with you and your child. We won’t be covering new material this week, but we will  working to complete assignments from last week, which like this week is also a short week.

Here are a few things to know and think about:

Picture Re-Take:

If you didn’t pay for your child’s photo on the first photo session, your child can retake their picture on December 1, 2011.

International Night:

Every year Ray School host International Night. This year the festivities will take place on Thursday, December 8, 2011. A flyer was sent home this evening with your child that was addressed to the teachers. The flyer asked teachers to have their students color the flag picture given to the students. This flag was to represent a present day country or a flag representative of the child’s culture or a culture they had studied or know about. If your child works on the flag at home, this is fine. I will explain the flag project to them in class so don’t fret about this assignment. I will keep the children posted as to when this assignment is due.

Homework Packet:

There will be no new homework packet for this week. I do ask that you continue to keep your child engaged in the learning websites on my blog, Ms. Zivko’s or Ms. Garcia’s page which can be found under the teacher contact section on the Ray School website. I also ask that you make sure your child is reading over the Thanksgiving holiday. They should be reading an accelerated reading book as well as other books that hold their interest.

Social Studies Project:

The one assignment that the children will be asked to work on over the holiday is planning for the diorama representative of their favorite community. I will be giving the children the first part of the project on Tuesday or Wednesday. Here they will design a lay-out of their favorite community complete with landscape and landforms found in their favorite community,  architecture found in the community, historical landmarks, places that provide the resources to the community and any other details they might think of to include in a shoe-box, or poster board with creative ways to show features of their communities.

Language Arts:

This week we will take a test on the reading selection, “Destiny’s Gift.” I hope we have time to design a poster representative of a community problem that must be solved and a program or activity that shows the community working together to solve the problem.

Math:

We will continue to work on measuring various shapes or polygons such as squares, triangles and trapezoids, and finding the perimeter of these shapes. We are still trying to learn our subtraction basic facts as well as to learn how to add and subtract multi-digit numbers. Please give your child the basic subtraction speed test included in the homework packet. Automatic recall of basic math facts supports the learning of other math concepts.

Homework: Home Link 3.4, 3.5, 3.6.

I am wishing  you all a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving Day. 

Sincerely, Ms. Jack

Dear Parents/Guardians,

This week is a short week. As you know we will have Report Card Pick-Up on November 16,2011. Pick-up time starts at 12:00p.m.  I sent each child home with a sign up sheet. I asked that you select a time that would be good for you, keeping in mind that this time might not be available. I am trying to coordinate the times as the request forms come in. So far here are the times that have been requested:

ATTENTION  ATTENTION: REVISED AS OF NOVEMBER 15, 2011, 1:15 P.M.

As of today, November 15, 2011 here are some more times that have been scheduled by parents. If you want to schedule a time today, please email me and I will try to accommodate you if possible. Also you might catch me outside at 3:30 p.m. and you can sign up then. If neither works, you can arrange to pick up your child’s report card anytime tomorrow and arrange for a conference at another time. Thank you guys very much

12:00-12:10 – Leslie Woods

12:10-12:20- Ms. Collins

12:20-12:30- Ms. Edwards

12:30-12:40-Ms. Beckert

12:40-12:50 – Ms. Hensel

12:50-1:00

1:00-1:10-Ms. Knox

1:10-1:20-

1:20-1:30

1:30-1:40-

1:40-1:50- Ms. Garcia

1:50-2:00-

2:00-2:10-

2:10-2:20-

2:20-2:30-

2:30- 2:40-

2:40-2:50- Ms. Bohanons

2:50-3:00- Ms. Hung (Peters mom)

3:00-4:10-LUNCH BREAK

4:10-4:20- Ms. Hung (Joo-Chan’s Mom)

4:20-4:30- Ms. Fitzappes

4:30-4:40- Ms. Curb

4:40-4:50- Ms. Darling

4:50-5:00- Ms. Baskerville

5:00-5:10-Ms. Castle

5:10-5:20– Ms. Spears

5:20-5:30-

5:30-5:40–

5:40-5:50-Ms. White

5:50-6:00-

Please send in your request tomorrow. I will send home a copy of this blog so you can check your time.

This week we will be working on the following:

LANGUAGE ARTS:

This week we will read Destiny’s Gift. Due to the short weeks, our lessons will be affected however we do get to the planned lessons. We are still working on the reading strategy of understanding characters based on their actions. We analyze and evaluate the characters in a story by their character traits. Character traits are the things the characters  do and say and their interactions and relationships with other characters in the story.

We are learning about what is/what isn’t run-on or fragmented sentences. I am certain at times you might see one or the other in my blogs. Please excuse!

Spelling: Spelling words this week are taken from the reading selection of Destiny’s Gift. These words are the spelling patterns that are based on the long “a”and the long “e” sound. Please check your child’s purple Practice Book that accompanies the Journey’s readers for a list of the words. There will be homework assignments in this book that will be in addition to their homework packet.

Your child can bring home their Journey’s reading books if you’d like to read and discuss the story we are reading. Sharing in your child’s reading experiences supports their ability to communicate what they are thinking and therefore supports comprehension as they are able to relate what they have “learned” or heard in class.

Math:

In math, we are measuring objects to the nearest inch, 1/2 in., 1/4, in. Please support your child by having them measure things in your home to these units. The children are being taught to select something that reminds them of the particular unit of measure they are working with. These are called personal references.  For example, a small paper clip would remind them of the approximate length of an inch. We will be working on Lessons 3.3-3.5 this week. If I accidently reassign a homework assignment, the children will  let me know. You should  know that we will cover all Home Links in our Everyday Math Journals unless otherwise stated. As a rule we complete Math Boxes in class unless we don’t get to them in class.

Homework: Home Link 3.3-3.4, 3.5. Math Boxes as assigned. Subtraction speed test and word problem worksheet in the homework packet to be sent home on Tuesday, November 15, 2011.

Homework Packets: I really like what I’m seeing in the Homework packets. It’s taking a minute for the children to get adjusted to the assignments, however they seem to really be enjoying having a choice in their homework assignments.

Please look at the links I have included on my blog. The links to great homework helpers are on the right hand side of my blog. As of today I have included the link to Ms. Zivko’s website. This will allow the children to work on activities that will support literacy and other subjects. Your child should never have to say, “I finished my homework!” Please remember to sign off on the homework assignment check-list to confirm you are aware of the type of activities your child is engaging in.

Social Studies:

We will explore our geography and communities for the first five weeks in this marking period. The next five weeks we will return to our science investigations.

We will create a diaorama of our community. I will send home the details this week.

I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday, November 16, 2011. Please remember to send in your time request.

Have             A             Great           Week!

]

Dear  Parents,

You are looking at our community project for the Spanish assembly performed this past Friday. It was amazing and so were our kids. We created a Spanish bull, complete with colorful flowers and flavor! Ms. Sonja and Ms. Mitchell who help us all everyday with school related assignments, continue to lend their support beyond the classroom. They worked with Room 204 and this is the result. This proves what a cooperative community can do. Great job students of Room 204. I’d also like to thank Mr. Russ from the University of Chicago’s CUIP technology department. Mr. Russ helps teachers like Ms. Jack integrate technology into their classroom. Mr. Russ helped me to download this photo of our beautiful Spanish bull from my email. Thank you Mr. Russ. Room 204 would also like to thank Ms.Price, Ms Plaskett and Ms. Craig, all important members of our classroom community, for adding their creative expertise to our project. Last but not least, Room 204 would like to thank Mr. Walter, Mr. Martin, Ms. Zivko, Dr. T and Mr. A, for bringing us a performance that should make all of the Ray School community proud.

We enjoyed our first field trip last Monday to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We were presented with a lesson on predators and prey and then a guide took us to see animals that were predators and those that were usually prey. It was a perfect day for the zoo.

Report Card Pick-Up:

Wednesday, November 16, 2011 is Report Card Pick-Up Day. I will send home a blank schedule of the time slots. I will also send home a half sheet of paper with a place for you to write the time you’d like to pick up your child’s report card. Time for each parent/guardian is 10 minutes. We cannot conference on this day as many parents have other arrangements after their appointed time. I’m not quite sure yet how I will schedule you if someone else selects the same time as you. I will have to confer with my colleagues to see how they are doing it. I will keep you informed, but in the meantime, I will send home the time selection sheet.

THIS WEEK WE WILL BE WORKING ON THE FOLLOWING:

This is a short week. Students only attend school Monday-Wednesday. Thursday only teachers attend and Friday is Veteran’s Day.

Language Arts:

We will begin a new selection in our Journey’s book. Destiny’s Gift  is a realistic fiction story that tells how a little girl can take on the responsibility of helping her friend save her community book store from closing. The focus of the lesson or skill being taught is how readers can make decisions about the characters in a story based on character traits such as their actions, illustrations in the book, their dialogue and their relationships with others. We will have various assignments based on the selection and we will take an assessment on the selection when we have completed all activities.

Spelling: Long “a” long”e” sound spelled ai, a_e, y, ee, ea, y, igh.

Spelling this week will include the spelling words listed on the homework checklist you will receive. Please note the Tic-Tac-Toe menu is a part of the spelling homework and whenever the phrase “pattern words” is used, this refers to the spelling words for the week unless otherwise stated. Also please note a place for you to check off whenever your child uses a website to support spelling/math/reading. As stated in last week’s blog, these websites can be accessed by going on Ray School’s website, rayschool @cps.edu, clicking on Contact the Teachers, clicking on Ms. Garcia, Room 206, and then scrolling down to the various sites, i.e. MAP Math Practice, MAP Reading Practice etc. Your child also knows how to use Ms. Zivko’s website to access many learning sites. These sites are very instructive and support your child’s learning. Please make sure your child is using these sites for a significant part of their homework practice.

Math:

We will begin Unit 3 this week. This unit will focus on measuring things using the standard unit of measure as well as the metric system. We will also practice addition and subtraction skills as well as continue to learn our basic subtractions facts; (don’t forget the math speed test practice sheets. Your child may turn in all three if they’d like).

Homework: Home Link 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, Math Boxes in the Student Journal as assigned, Computer activities, (Please make sure your child writes the name of the site they worked on and then you sign off on the homework checklist).

Social Studies:

We will focus on Social Studies for the first five weeks of the new quarter. We will be working as we have with Mr. Walter, to integrate our social studies curriculum with our Spanish curriculum. We will be making those diaoramas this marking period that will compare and contrast the student’s community with a Spanish community. I will keep you informed.

There will at times be homework in the Social Studies Community workbook. These assignments will be in your child’s agenda books.

Science:

The last five weeks of this quarter we will resume Science. I think it will be better to split the time between Social Studies and Science to ensure we aren’t rushed completing assignments in either area.

HAVE                A                GREAT            WEEK!