September 30, 2015

In our Reading block we have been working on a variety of strategies that good readers use.  Throughout the year you may hear your child refer to the acronym “CAFÉ.”  CAFÉ stands for

          C  -  Comprehension (understanding what you read)

          A -  Accuracy (reading the words correctly)

          F -   Fluency (reading accurately with expression)

          E -   Expand Vocabulary (knowing, finding, and using interesting

 words)

We will be using the CAFE menu to learn reading strategies based on the Common Core standards that will help us become better readers.  To date, we have worked on Choosing Just Right Books, Making Connections, Predicting, Visualization, Voracious Reading, Check for Understanding and Summarizing.  Through a mini lesson and mentor text, we learn about and practice each new strategy. 

            In math class we have covered many skills during our focus on place value.  Some of these include:

• Reading/writing whole numbers to the trillions
• Reading/writing decimals to the thousandths
• Comparing whole numbers/decimals using <, >, and =
• Ordering decimals and determining the least/greatest decimal within a list
• Expanded notation
• Adding whole numbers/decimals using the U.S. standard algorithm

 

We continue to watch our monarch caterpillar, recording observations in a journal.  The class has been reading, An Extraordinary Life:  The Story of a Monarch Butterfly by Laurence Pringle.  This narrative captures the story of one monarch’s journey through migration across a continent.  The chapters we have read so far covers the caterpillar (Danaus) from her hatching on a single milkweed leaf in a Massachusetts hayfield and has continued through her metamorphosis into a butterfly. We have also heard about her journey south. 

On Tuesday we watched a short movie about Monarchs and their amazing migration journey.

          Thanks to all that participated in our Solmate sock fundraiser.  We are currently working to organize the sales and place the order with Solmate.  More to come on when we can expect to receive the orders.

Monarch Update

Unfortunately, we returned to class this morning to discover that one of our monarch caterpillars had died.  We now have only one larva left.  Our class learned from Mrs. Gannon that several of the caterpillars in her classroom had escaped from their tank over the weekend!  One had managed to form its chrysalis on the outside edge of her tank.  After observing their class caterpillars, we returned to our room and started working on our Google slide presentations.  We will continue on these projects over the next week or so.

These caterpillars have multiplied their weight more than twenty-five hundred times!

The front of its body curves to form a J shape just before forming the chrysalis.

This larva escaped from the tank before becoming a chrysalis!

Meet a Tree!

Our first session with Karen was an introduction to the observations and recordings we will participate in this year.  Students were asked to find a specific tree and get to know it.  They were asked to describe it, draw it, make a map and include any details that would help them later find the same tree.  We will be testing this by visiting the same spots in other seasons!

September 20, 2015

Dates to Remember:

Fri.,  Sept. 25^th  EMES School Hike (Rain Date Oct. 2^nd)

Fri., Sept. 25^th  Solmate Sock orders due

Tues., Oct. 6^th  Picture Retake Day

Mon., Oct. 12^th Columbus Day (no school)

Tues., Oct. 13^th Teacher in-service (no school for students)

Wed., Oct. 14^th Oct. Nature journaling with Karen Liebermann

Class Photos

Several students have asked why the class photos were not in their packets.  They are currently being reprinted and will be sent home soon.

Open House

It was great to see so many at our Open House this past week.  The children were excited to share our classroom with you.  If you were not able to attend Open House on Wednesday and would like to schedule a time to visit our classroom with your child, please let me know.

Monarch Update

Our monarch larvae are growing nicely.  On Friday, we put them in a tank for their next phase of life – the chrysalis.  This past week we were able to look closely at the cuticle (their tough, waterproof skins) after one had molted on Tuesday.  Through our read aloud, An Extraordinary Life:  The Story of a Monarch Butterfly, we learned that the larva eats the cast-off old skin, which is full of proteins needed for them to grow.  We also learned that in just two weeks, these amazing caterpillars multiply their weight more than twenty-five hundred times!

A larva with its cast-off skin!

In Technology class the students have started learning about Google slide presentations.  During Technology class the students have been creating a “passion” project.  These slide presentations are about something the child is passionate about.  We will begin practicing our new skills on individual monarch slide presentations next Monday.

Math

In Math class we have continued our review of place value, first focusing on whole numbers through the trillions.  The favorite activity was “Building Numbers with M & M’s.”  I assigned a value for each color of these yummy candies (i.e. red = thousands).  Students were given M and M’s and asked to find the value of their candies.  They then practiced writing the number in standard form as well as expanded form.  Next, we reviewed >, <, and =.  This past week we began to explore decimals through thousandths.  On Thursday, we completed the Easy CBM math assessment.