November Fall Fun!
A big thank you to our room parents for the wonderful Halloween party last week. Lots of food, fun and dancing was shared by all. We appreciate all the work you did to ensure a safe and fun Fall celebration. If you have any extra candy that you would like to get out of the house, send it to school. I am collecting extra candy to send overseas to the troops.
CONGRATULATIONS ROOM 258! We won the Ivy Hill Smart Stepping competition and earned an extra gym class. What a tremendous effort by all our lunch recess smart steppers. Keep moving and stay healthy!
We have a lot of changes happening in the classroom in the next few weeks.
* Mrs. Galazka plans to return to the classroom on Tuesday, November 13th!! I am sure you are all as excited to see her as she is to meet all of you. What a wonderful treat we had when she came to visit us during the Halloween party.
* Kyle is our star student this week. Great looking trophy Kyle!
*Conference confirmation notices went home this week. Please confirm your appointment and return the note to school so we can plan accordingly. If you are unable to attend the conference time selected, please let me know what time would work best for you. Mrs. Galazka and I will both be at the conferences to answer any questions or concerns you may have regarding your child's academic progress.
* We will take our Unit 3 Math test on Wednesday and prepare to start Unit 4. In Unit 4 we will cover decimals. We will take a look at decimal place value, basic decimal concepts, and compare/order decimals next week. We will continue our mad minute multiplication practice tests. Please encourage your child to study their facts at home and don't forget to review the addition and subtraction too.
* We completed our science unit on Matter with a BANG! Be sure to ask your child how our mixture of baking soda and vinegar went. Did you have fun making Whatzit? Is it a solid? A liquid? Just a lot of fun. We will have a final quiz on our Matter unit this Thursday and then start our Social Studies study of Native Americans on Friday. An exciting field trip to Mitchell Native American Museum has been planned for Friday, November 16th. Please be sure to get those permission slips in.
* In reading, each student used their knowledge of nonfiction comprehension strategies to create their own nonfiction page. Each student chose a topic, researched it and then organized their most important information on a nonfiction page. Then, each student had a chance to read and review a classmate's page. I was amazed at how much the students learned and also impressed with their creativitiy in presenting their knowledge to the class. This month's book report actually covers both November and December. The theme is Historical Fiction. Our Ivy Hill librarians have a section of Historical Fiction books on display for checkout. Keep up the wonderful work on those reading logs!
* We continue to work on our personal narratives in WEX. The students chose one of their favorite writings from this year to turn into a personal narrative. We have been revising our work by adding more details, creating strong introductions that grab a reader's attention and writing clever endings that wrap it all up. It has been a great experience watching each student's writing skills become stronger.
* Book Orders are due Friday, November 9th. Remember, you can also order online for your convenience.
* In celebration of Veteran's Day November 11th, I have asked the students to make cards or write letters that will be sent to the troops fighting overseas. This is not homework and is up to the student if they want to do it. Please return any cards or letters to school by Friday, November 9th so we can get them sent out right away. I plan to have them sent out with the extra Halloween candy and the troops should receive the packages in about 5 weeks.
As you can see, we continue our busy schedule in room 258. If you have any questions or concerns don't hesitate to contact me.
Marybeth Buck 11/6/12
