Monday, April 28, 2008

Week of April 28 to May 2

Important Dates:
*Field Museum Monday 4/28
*Spelling Test Friday 5/2

Classroom Chatter:
Don't forget Monday is our field trip to the Field Museum. Students should dress in comfortable walking shoes. If your child is bringing a sack lunch, please make sure it is a completely disposable lunch. We look forward to a fun day of learning and exploring!

Coming home on Monday will be information regarding an in-school field trip experience. This is similar to Goo-Glob-Guts from the beginning of the year. We are having a scientist from the Field Museum to do a special presentation, Egypt Unwrapped, with the students on Wednesday, May 7th. This is an extension from our Egypt unit back in December. This is such a popular presentation that we had to wait until May for availability! The cost for the presentation is $4.50. Please send it in with your child by May 6th. Thanks!


Spelling
L. 33 this week are words with double consonants plus -le. The test will be on Friday. The list will go home on Monday.

English
We will continue with unit 6 this week. We will be doing some writing with pronouns. Students also will begin to write their pen pals to the 2nd graders. The 2nd graders will be visiting us at the end of May.

Reading
We are learning so much about biographies and the components. Students have selected their biography to read. They should be reading their biography for their 20 minutes. At the end of our unit, students will be making a scrapbook on their person and sharing their scrapbook to the class.

Science
We will finish up animals this week. The test will be next Monday, May 5th. I will send home a study guide on Tuesday for the students to start preparing.

Social Studies
We will continue with our Chicago unit.

Math
Students will begin chapter 9 this week. Chapter 9 teaches us about fractions. This week we will learn about fractions as parts of a region, parts of a set and equivalent fractions. We also will begin division 9 mad minutes.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Week of April 21-25

Important Dates:
*Earth Day Tuesday 4/22
*Early Dismissal Thursday 4/24
*Spelling Test Friday 4/25
*Field Museum Monday 4/28

Classroom Chatter
Friday, 4/18/08, we had the pleasure of Mr. Tom Tiede's band, PLUNKET, perform for our school. It was a great time! Here are some pictures. Also, a PLUNKET CD is available to purchase for $10. Order forms went home Friday.















Thank you to everyone who came last week to Open House. It was good see you all! The students enjoyed sharing our classroom with you!


Spelling
L. 32 words are possessive forms of nouns. The test will be on Friday. The list will be in the Spelling folder on Monday.


English
We will continue with our pronoun unit. This week we will do some writing with pronouns and learn how to use I and me correctly in a sentence.


Reading
This week we will begin a new unit. Students will be learning and reading biographies.


Science
We will finish our unit up by learning about reptiles, animal behaviors, and instincts.

Social Studies
We will continue with our Chicago unit. We will focus on Chicago in the early days and about how Chicago became an industrialized city.


Math
We will finish up Ch. 7 on time and measurement with a test on Friday. Extra practice pages can be found on pages 288-293. We will begin division 8's this week.


Monday, April 14, 2008

Week of April 14-18

Important Dates:
*Downers Grove Field Trip Monday 4/14
*Animal Habitat due Thursday 4/17
*Spring Open House and Book Fair Thursday 4/17
*Downers Grove Test Thursday 4/17
*Spelling Test Friday 4/18
*Field Museum Permission slip and money.
*Spirit Day Friday 4/18 Favorite Rock Band Day

Classroom Chatter
On Monday, I will be sending home a permission slip for our field trip to the Field Museum. The Field Museum is one of the many places we talked about in our Chicago unit. We also will be visiting the Egyptian exhibits to reinforce what we've learned about Egypt. I'm allowed to bring 5 chaperones, so if you are interested, please fill out the chaperone part on the permission slip. Money and slip are due by Friday, 4/18.

Don't forget the Spring Open House and Book Fair is Thursday from 6:45-8:30 pm! We look forward to seeing everyone! Students are excited to share their hard work from the year!


Spelling
L. 31's words are contractions. The test will be on Friday. The list will be in the spelling folder on Monday.

English
We will begin Unit 6 on pronouns this week. This week we will learn about subject pronouns, pronouns and verbs, and object pronouns.

Reading
We will finish up Stone Fox this week by working on our Flap Books and watching the movie Stone Fox. Students will be comparing the book to the movie through a class discussion.

Science
We will learn about the fish and reptiles this week. Students are to bring their animal habitats in by Thursday. If they want to turn them in early they can too. We also will be finishing up our animal reports in school.

Social Studies
This week we will go to Downers Grove. On Thursday we will be having our test on Downers Grove.

Math
This week we will learn about the U. S. Customary units of measurement in length, weight, capacity, and temperature. Students will also be taking a mad minute in division 7's. Geometry projects we're graded and shared. The grade went home Friday. Please take your geometry project home when you leave open house on Thursday. Thanks! Great job everyone!







Monday, April 7, 2008

Week of April 7-11

Important Dates
*Spelling Test Friday 4/11
*Vocab quiz Friday 4/11
*DG field trip Monday 4/14
*Animal Habitat due Thursday 4/17
*Spring Open House Thursday 4/17

Classroom Chatter

Last Wednesday we had an Amazing Animals assembly. Here are some pictures. We enjoyed seeing these real live wild animals and having an opportunity to pet them!







bearded Dragon







Armadillo
Another animal that was part of the Amazing Animals assembly was a cat. What is unique about this cat is that it plays the piano. Here is the website of the cat and others playing in a band. It is hilarious! Enjoy!
http://www.myspace.com/therockcats

Don't forget next week, 4/14, is our field trip to Downers Grove. We originally were going to Girodono's for pizza, but there was a conflict with the accommodations. We will be dining at Home Run Inn Pizza for lunch at 75th at Lemont instead. I plan to arrive at 11:30 am. Please feel free to meet us at Home Run Inn for lunch. If you decide you would like to eat with us, the cost for the lunch buffet for adults is $10. You would just pay for yourself at the restaurant. Thanks!


Spelling
L. 30's words are spelled with prefix re. The test is Friday. The list will go home on Monday and will be in the Spelling folder.

English
We will continue to work on our autobiographies. Students will be typing their final copy in the computer lab.


Reading
We read chapter 8-10 this week. Students will also have a vocabulary quiz on Friday over the vocabulary terms for these chapters. We will continue to respond to the text in our journals.


Social Studies
This week students will be working on researching famous landmarks and places that make Chicago a unique city. We will be making mobiles using the 3 Chicago pictures students brought in. We also will be learning about the Chicago flag and what the stars and stripes on the flag stand for.

Science
We will finish up our power point presentations of the life cycle of the frog this week.


Math
The chapter 5 math test is scheduled for Monday. We will then begin chapter 7's Time and Measurement Unit. This week we will be taking a mad minute is division 6's. Students will also share their geometry projects when time allows this week.