Hic or Treat

Character Counts



                                  



Teachers performed funny skits to teach us about what responsible kids look like.  Mrs. Lange!  Responsible kids do not throw fits at the lunch table!!  Mrs. Knapp, slow down & be a good friend!  :)





New reader in our room!

Miss Cedar is our student teacher!  She will soon be a UNI graduate looking for a full time teaching position.  We are having fun learning new things from her!

Thoughts on Homework

Homework: 
1. Word Journeys
2. Poetry
3. Read aloud take-home books
4. Read personal books




I spoke with many families at conferences about the importance of studying Word Journeys words each night.  Take the time to sort and spell each day.  Fridge pages come home every Monday, or in some cases stapled to the test on Fridays.  Hang it in an important spot all week & practice, practice, practice. 



I don't send additional homework home with students, however they already have a lot on their plate.  They are checking out take-home books & repeatedly reading poetry to increase their fluency and comprehension skills. They are supposed to be reading their own personal books for fun.  I do expect that kids practice their Word Journeys at least 3 times each week.  This would amount to 30-60 minutes of "homework."  Please encourage your child to keep at these daily activities.  They will make a tremendous difference in their reading!

Yum....oranges!

What are those ants doing?  We added an orange...they went CRAZY!

Fun Moments on a Rainy Day



We started our day thinking about smart ways to estimate a group.  Then we counted by 5's and calculated leftovers to get our total.  We will chart and graph our findings as a class.



Ugh.  Rainy days mean no outside recess.  Adventures to Fitness to the rescue!  We climbed, ran, & jumped while learning about Yellowstone National Park.  Bison stampede!

Katie van der Linden, Buena Vista County Naturalist brought her turtle in today to help us learn about habitats.  Perfect this week, we are learning about our goldfish habitats.

Character Counts

http://youtu.be/cyVzjoj96vs

"What I Am" by Will.i.am  Our official Character Counts theme song!!

New Assignment

Edmodo

To log in:

skylern712

Here Fishy Fishy!

Close observations were taken today.  Students wrote and drew what they were seeing. 
What was the goldfish's behavior? 
What body parts did you see?
Did his behavior change when you fed it?

Over the weekend....

Use the link below to access Edmodo.  Remember your username is your first name with your last initial + 712.  Like this:

melaniel712

You'll have to remember your password on your own!  :)

Answer the math question that I posted about the number 35.

What is happening on Monday?

Adventures in Fitness!

Today we tried a new website, Adventures in Fitness.  It really got us up and running!  Check it out at home on a rainy day (tomorrow).

Math

Students worked independently today to sort different kinds of buttons.  They needed to clearly write each into a catagory.  Then they worked as teams to share their ideas. 
1.This is what I think...
2. What do you think?
3. Have a discussion about how your ideas were the same & different.

Following team time, students shared what their PARTNERS told them.  The kids did a great job making their partners proud of their thinking. 

Prairie Heritage Center

Please take a day soon to visit this beautiful place!  Take your whole family and a picnic.  It is open every day but Monday/Tuesday.

Prairie Heritage Center



What an amazing day!  We learned about many types of Iowa animals that are living here today and even one that is extinct.  Students were able to see live bison from the window of the bus.  We did a mystery hike through the prairie and even came upon a pioneer cemetery with over 40 people burried there.  A beautiful pond was a fun surprise at the bottom of a steep hill.  The sun shined on us all day, we were so lucky!

Ask your child what this was.....AMAZING!