DECEMBER 1ST-3RD

SANTA'S WORKSHOP:
Today was Santa's Workshop. Each child as able to make something there and wrap it. I have a few pictures which I will post tomorrow. My battery died so I didn't get everyone! :(

PENNY WAR:
  We will continue the Penny War through Monday December 6th. Monday morning at 8:40 will be the final time to put pennies, etc. into the jars. We will count it all up that morning. The winning class will receive a pizza party. As I stated before, we all win by earning the money for the field trip!

REPORT CARDS and CONFERENCES:
Report cards are being sent home on Friday, December 3rd. If you have questions, please contact me.
The next round of conferences will be January 17th and 18th. A GREEN conference slip will also be in your child's report card envelope. Please mark the appropriate blank. Conferences will only be scheduled if there is a teacher or parent request. If I don't request a conference and you feel you do not need one, I will still send home a progress report.

IXL MATH:
IXL is a math website that is on my blog. Your child received a username and password today. (Students will write this in their planners on Friday.) We will be using this on Thursdays for math RTI. Today we used this program focusing primarily on percents (but not as it ties to fractions at this point.) You can click on the link on this blog, enter the information and use this program at home!

SPELLING/GRAMMAR:
Because of our short weeks, we have not done spelling, so there will be no test on Monday. Don't forget about Spelling City!
We have been focusing on adjectives in grammar this week.

MATH:

We continue in Chapter 4. We have been dividing by 2-digit numbers into larger numbers, dividing by 10'a, 100's, and 1,000's, and practicing problem-solving using these concepts. The test will be Friday, December 10th.

WRITING:
We will be doing mini-lessons on word choice and sentence fluency. We will also be doing mini-lessons and short pieces on persuasive writing. Our larger persuasive piece will be a letter to Santa Clause!

READING:
We began a new genre unit today. It is Adventure/Historical Fiction. The title is Sign of the Beaver. It relates to our social studies unit covering Native Americans/early American History. We will be completing comprehension activities in a packet students have as well as discussing the book in depth to get them thinking about their reading.

SCIENCE:
This week we have been studying how to calculate speed by doing various activities where we measure distance using time in order to get the speed. Students are using the formula
SPEED = DISTANCE /TIME.

SSR- silent sustained reading
Students are expected to have an SSR book to read on their spare time. Today I asked students to write down their book title and the day they begin the book so I can better monitor how much they are reading. At times we have a set period for SSR, but they are also expected to choose SSR as an option at times when they have some minutes of spare time. Students should be able to finish a chapter book in a couple weeks' time. This may require them to take their book home to read at times. I will be giving each student a short assignment to go along with their book once it is completed. I will send this first one home over Christmas break and have it due when they return.

It is extremely important that your child is able to sit and read for a sustained period of time and REALLY focus on what they are reading to understand it. This will help them greatly as they progress through grade levels!