~Freaky Friday~

Happy Halloween!  I hope everyone enjoys all of the spooktacular activities this weekend with Halloween approaching.  

Weekly Quote

     I hope everyone enjoyed their Fall Break!  This was our last week we focused on Hakuna Matata.  Our first weekvwe focused on a little fun and sense of humor from our friends Timon and Pumba.  Then we shifted our focus onto becoming a leader in the classroom.  We also discussed that a little should be a good listener and have patience. Check back next week to see who made it into the Character of the Month Club by being our leaders in the classroom.

Monthly Theme

Here is a  hint to our new theme in the room for character traits!  This month we will focus on Never Giving Up!





     Some of my students were in their cubs gear this week, so we had a little fun taking pictures wishing them luck!  For all my cubs fans - I wanted to wish you luck this week...

         ~ Go CUBS Go ~

LANGUAGE ARTS

1^st Grade:  Caesar Cipher-Cryptographic Connections:  We started the week out with a quick review on some key terms we learned last week.  I was happy to see the children all remembered the terms deciphering and enciphering.  They were also all able to        remind me the proper way to shift our cipher wheels depending on if it would say a plus or a minus.  We used today to practice deciphering a few more words for extra practice. 

     On Tuesday, the students worked independently on a worksheet.  They had to pick one of our words from a previous worksheet and come up with a connection for it.  They then gave a brief explanation and drew a picture for their connection.  I introduced the children to labeling their pictures today and encouraged them to label all the parts.  We ended the day by looking out the window for some connections we see outside.  The children needed to write down four connections.  For our last connection we went outside so they could find their last connection.  They had to keep their connections a secret and we will use them in our next lesson.

2^nd Grade:  The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane:  The kids and I were so EXCITED to begin our novel this week!  We began with a class discussion on our reflection we ended on last week.  “If a journey is to be miraculous, what events might occur on the journey?” – Many students responded with long, scary, and some type of danger.  Then we read chapter one as a class.  After reading the first chapter the students reflected a few notes from chapter one.  Then as a class we discussed some details and many students are already changing their predictions.  The children were surprised to find out that Edward was a rabbit made out of china!  

~ Cubbies ~

     On Tuesday, we began by reading chapter two together as a class.  Then the children completed a reading analyzer on their own – this will help them organize their thoughts from this chapter.  The children were asked to read chapters 3 & 4 for homework – to be completed by Monday.  I also sent them home with a paper to track any thoughts or questions they have to use as a reminder when they return to class for Monday.  They can use this paper to help them in our class discussion.  I also discussed with the children the importance of not working ahead of the group when they take the book home.  We will work through this together as a class and I don’t want anyone working ahead spoiling any parts of the story for the class.

3^rd Grade:  Legends and Tall Tales:  This week we began by reviewing what we know so far to help us define a myth, legend, and a tall tale.  We worked through a list together on the board to help us organize the characteristics to each of these genres.  This will help us better identify our reading materials as we continue through the unit this year.  Then they were asked to pick out a story and begin to read it.  Although they are not finished reading it I asked what their first guess was to what they were reading and right now we think it is a myth.  We will see if their thought changes when they finish their stories.

     On Tuesday, they came in and finished with their reading.  Then we analyzed the story to discover what genre we read.  As a hint the students were asked to go back and highlight any exaggerations in the story.  Our thoughts started to change to a tall tale when we started to mark all of the exaggeration we saw in the story.  We ended the day making a Venn diagram for a myth, legend and tall tale.  I was so excited to see this chart become easy to fill out and the descriptions to each one becoming easier.  We were also able to use the terms fiction and folktale properly as something they all have in common.  It was great seeing the properties to each becoming easier!

Go Cubs Go!

4^th Grade:  Change in One Person’s Life:  We have started a new lesson this week introducing biographies to the group and how they show change.  We started class out with a discussion on Genres.  We focused on Nonfiction and briefly discussed autobiography before a student answered a biography leading the discussion to our focus.  As a class,we came up with a list of components that we would expect to see in a biography.  Then I showed the children a collection of different picture book biographies.  We began reading Odd Boy Out: Young Albert Einstein.

     On Tuesday, we finished reading our story as a class and then discussed the ways we see change in the story.  Then we broke down the different word parts to biography as a class to work on the definition of a biography by using the word parts.  Next the students broke into two groups and started breaking apart words in the word family “bio.”  We will continue to work with this together next week.

MATH

1^st Grade:  It’s Heavy! – Heavier or Lighter:       We started the week finishing up our heavier or lighter centers from last week.  Then we took all the bags and made predictions together as a class - looking for the heaviest, lightest and about the same with all of our objects.  Each student took a turn picking out the item they thought was the heaviest and the lightest.  Then they each picked out two items they thought were about the same and we took turns weighing our predictions.

    
     On Thursday, we received a fax from our friends Imi and Zani needing our help.  They needed us to figure out how we would decide the winner of the weight game for the measurement fair.  As a class, we started to fill out our Think Deeply sheet to help us answer the question.  We will write our response to our friends in two weeks.  I will not meet with my 1^st grade math group next week because of early dismissal.

2^nd Grade:  Length – Marble Crash Test:  It’s Marble Crash Test time!  The kids were so excited because we finally began our marble crash test.  Today they came in and I showed them a brief example of how to conduct their experiment.  Then they worked with a partner and were off conducting their own tests.  Below you can see the pictures from their experiments this week.  On Thursday, they continued conducting their crash tests.  We will look at our results next week.

 

3^rd Grade:  Linear Measurement - Measuring Me:  This week we continued working on our Think Deeply question together.  After completing this assignment  – the kids shared some of their answers that they added onto our group response.  This allowed them to see other ideas they can add to their writing next time.  For our first attempt at writing, we had some great ideas – the students did a great job using their math terms and some even added pictures to explain their steps.

     On Thursday, I wanted the children to try the second Think Deeply question on their own.  We left our math message up for the students to utilize as a tool.  This time they spread out around the room and began to compare their different measurements from Measuring Me – and then they recorded their thoughts.  Then we came back together sharing our responses.  I wanted the kids to hear different samples of writing and assured them this is a process we will continue to work together until they are comfortable on their own.

 

4^th Grade:  The Shape of Things – You Either Have It…Or You Don’t:  This week we are working on summarizing our first lesson.  The children are being introduced to our first Think Deeply question.  A Think Deeply question is how we will end every lesson in our book.  As a class, we will fill out a Math Message Board together discussing what the question is asking and what we know to help us answer it.  Then they will write a response to the question.  To help them with their writing they will have many tools to utilize:  the Math Message Board will stay displayed, the math words will be on the word wall, they may use their glossary in their journals, or they can use their student journal pages to help them with their writing.  As you can see from the list above they have many resources to help in this step.   We also looked at what should be included in their answer and how it will be scored.

     On Tuesday, we began to walk through answering the first question together.  I helped by modeling step-by-step how to answer the question allowing them time to add to each area their own thoughts.  Then we looked at one more question and I asked them to try it on their own.  We will use this question to compare to a sample response our book has shared with us.  Then they will have an opportunity to grade theirs based on the samples we read.

IMPORTANT DATES:

October 28^th: Fall Parties

November 2^nd:  Early Dismissal – Parent/Teacher Conference

November 3^rd:  Early Dismissal – Parent/Teacher Conference

November 4^th:  No School

November 9^th:  Picture Retakes

November 16^th & 17^th:  Camp Goodfellow – Sloan

November 23^rd-25^th:  Thanksgiving Break – No School