The First Week of November

Where did October go? We're in to November already and have so much ahead of us. Things during this time of year seem to fly by. Before you know it, it will be Thanksgiving break! Here's a look at the week ahead:

If you haven't sent in your conference slip, please do so by TUESDAY!!!! The teachers will be scheduling our conferences on Wednesday morning before school. I will do everything I can to make sure that you get your first choice, however, Monday evening conferences tend to be the first choice for all, and there are only so many spots I can fill. You will receive the date and time of your conference by Monday, November 5th (at the latest!).

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to our room reps and volunteers who helped make our Halloween party so much fun! The kids LOVED the fondue station for yummy food, the pumpkin game, guessing game, and were even able to show off some of their dance moves with freeze dance. I know a lot of preparation goes into planning for a party and I hope you know how appreciated you are!!!

The kids will begin their UbD unit in the computer lab this week. As you know, this year our computer schedule is quite different than in the past. Rather than having our class go in each week to complete a separate project, this year, our children are working on one project for 6 weeks in a row. During these 6 weeks, the children will be in the LMC 2-3 times a week. We will have the kids learn the next 2 units of their social studies curriculum through technology, research, and team work. The kids will be put into groups of 3 and given a certain Native American Tribe to study. They will focus on the area that the tribe lived, the resources they used, the traditions/cultures they had, and the rate of survival in the tribe. We are excited to work with Mrs. Polito in the LMC during the next few weeks!

We will be finishing up our first unit in social studies which covered geography. The kids will be doing a review over material in class on Monday, and taking their final test on material on Wednesday. The review done on Monday can be used as a study guide. There is also an online review that the kids can do to study for the test. The link is found on our blog under Educational Websites. It is the one titled "History Alive". I have already shown the kids how to access it in class. The test over geography will be on WEDNESDAY!

In math we will spend Monday reviewing for our test. The kids will take a test over Unit 3 on TUESDAY. On Wednesday we will be begin Unit 4. A parent letter was sent home with your child on Friday that explains the unit in more detail. Unit 4 focuses on decimals and their uses. In this unit, the kids will learn to extend the base-ten place-value system to decimals; review and extend basic concepts, notation, and applications for decimals; extend whole-number methods of addition and subtraction to decimals; and review relationships among metric units of length. Quite a filled unit!!! This week our focus will be on reviewing what we know about decimals and comparing/ordering decimals to the tenths and hundredths place.

In reading this week, our focus is on China. The kids will be using nonfiction material to distinguish between fact and opinion. We will also be reviewing parts of a nonfiction books such as the glossary, index, table of contents, and title page. We continue to work with our novels during our guided reading portion of the literacy block.

In grammar, we continue to work with singular and plural nouns. This week our focus is on irregular plural nouns. The kids will work to both identify and write the correct forms of irregular plural nouns.

Our spelling lists this week will focus on words with complex consonant clusters. These consonant clusters are: shr, thr, spr, scr, str, and spl. Students will take a pretest on Monday and they will have their spelling lists in their Home Folders that afternoon to study throughout the week.

Scholastic book orders will be going home later this week. There will be 3 catalogs this time. The kids will receive a catalog for November, December, and Holiday. All of them will be available online later this week. The orders are not due until November 19th! This way I can put in the orders over the holiday break and we are assured to get our orders sent to us before winter break. Shipping tends to take more time during the holidays! If you would like to order some and keep them as a secret for your child, please just send a note or email me. I will put them to the side when the orders come in and leave them in the office for you to pick up when convenient.

I think that covers everything. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that your stomachs are doing okay after all the fun candy! As always, if you have any questions, please let me know! Thanks and have a great start to November!