Week of September 27

This week we completed a writing piece based on the book When I Was Little by Jamie Lee Curtis.  Students shared stories about themselves when they were "little".  Then each student took one idea and created an illustration to go along with his/her words.  The illustrations will be put together into class book to share with other classes.
Also we have a "bucket"  hanging in our classroom for students to put drops in.  The drops are for a student to write on to share what a nice thing a classmate has done for him/her.  Our hope as a class is that this will spread in our school we will all be a little nicer to each other. 

Click for a video of our Field Trip to Skinner State Park

Click for information on Skinner State Park

Field Trip preparation
Backpack

Water

Lunch

Sneakers

Light clothing- layers

Camera-not necessary but can bring one

Binoculars-not necessary but can bring one

Reminders: 

Field Trip:  Skinner State Park, Thursday, October 3
Early Release:  Tuesday, October 8
No School Columbus Day:  Monday, October 14
Half Day  Parent Conferences:  Thursday,  October 24
Half Day  Parent Conferences:  Thursday,  October 31

Week of September 20

This week we completed the District Wide Fall Writing Prompt as well as a topic test on place value in math.  In science we continued our study of rocks and minerals.  We learned how the three types of rocks are formed through our observations, research and a song.  Students will perform their song next week.

We will be taking a field trip to Skinner State Park in Hadley, MA.  on Thursday, October 3.  This trip will involve a hike to top of Mt. Holyoke where the Summit House sits.  We will complete activities with the educational coordinator of Skinner State Park. 


Reminders:

Students should read for at least 20 minutes a night.

Field Trip:  Thursday, October 3 Skinner State Park

 

Summit House on Mt. Holyoke

Week of September13

This week we continued our study of place value in math.  We compared, ordered and rounded numbers this week.  In ELA we started writing in our writer's notebook.  We are learning to gather ideas for writing a story and our goal is to write a personal narrative at the end of the month.  In reading we continued to monitor our reading by recording our thinking and sharing with the group.  Also on 9/11 we discussed the Statue of Liberty and the poem written on the bottom of this great monument, "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus in 1883.  The Statue of Liberty lights to way to America and welcomes everyone.  We are memorized one stanza from the poem.  (see below)

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Week of Sept. 6 

Welcome Back!

This week we went over routines and procedures along with the daily schedule.

 Also we started the year with the book How Full is your Bucket for kids.  "Through the story of a boy named Felix, this book explains to children how being kind not only helps others, it helps them, too. As he goes about his day, Felix interacts with different people — his sister Anna, his grandfather, other family and friends. Some people are happy, but others are grumpy or sad. Using the metaphor of a bucket and dipper, Felix’ grandfather explains why the happy people make Felix feel good (drips), while the others leave him feeling bad (dips) — and how Felix himself is affecting others, whether he means to or not.  The message of the story is that the way we treat each other has an affect on our lives."   We hope this year we are "drippers" and avoid being "dippers".

We read the poem THEY and made an illustration.   The illustrations are of what we visualized as we read which is a strategy we will work on this year to improve comprehension.  We are learning routines for reading and how to record our thinking while we read.  In addition, in writing we are learning ways to gather ideas for a writing piece. .  In math, we took the math pretest and began the year with place value.  Also students received their Envision Math user name and password information.  They can now go on line to view the math book, assignments and games.   See link below.  Also, in science we started our study of rocks and minerals.   In social studies we will start with map skills.




www.pearsonsuccess.org



Reminders: 
Early Release,  1:15pm, Tuesday, September 10
Open House, 5:30-7:00, Thursday, September 12