~ SHARING SUNDAY ~

Around the School

October 1st-2nd - Camp Goodfellow (4th Grade - 3 Classes)
October 12th - End of 1st Grading Period
October 12th - PTO Tailgate
October 15th-16th - Camp Goodfellow (4th Grade -1 Class)
October 17th - E-Learning Day
October 24th-25th - Elementary Parent Teacher Conferences
October 26th - Fall Recess

2ND GRADE:  GRAMMAR FUN:
Before starting our novel, we took some time to introduce or review some parts of speech. Our end goal will have the students dissecting sentences throughout the novel.  It works best to review each part of speech before working up to the final task of dissecting the sentences.  This week we looked at a noun, adjective and pronoun.  After having an understanding of the definition of these words the students completed a worksheet to help them identify these items in sentences.  Next it was onto starting our novel.  In class this week we had just enough time to read chapter one together.  We will continue on our journey with Edward next week.

HOMEWORK:  This week the students were assigned to read chapters 2 & 3.
  It is imperative the students stay up-to-date with their reading at home to participate in the class.  If they do not read, they will be sent back to class to complete their reading.  This is due to the fact that the material we will be working on in the room will be centered on their reading and they are not prepared to stay in the room.  

3RD GRADE:  INTERACTIONS THROUGH CHARACTER TRAITS:
This week the students were introduced to character traits.  Character traits are not characters feelings, but defined by actions of the character throughout a story.  To help us focus on this concept, we read a biography on Paul Goble, the author of our next story.  While reading the biography, if a character trait came to their mind we would stop and look at what information led them to this conclusion.  They identified two character traits immediately for him - artistic and creative.  As we read through the biography, we found even more interactions in his life to confirm these two traits.  Next, we read the story The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble.  Next we went back and looked at each page to look for any interactions in the story that displayed a character trait for our characters.  They have been able to identify information on almost every page.  We will continue with this project next week.



4TH GRADE:  PROCEDURES AND SYSTEMS:
This week the students were taught two important acronyms for the revising and editing process: ARMS and CUPS.  As a class, we discussed the steps of these two procedures.  Next, we added in one more step for editing Peer Editing.  


The children were allowed to switch their papers and allow a friend to circle any areas that might need attention.  We briefly discussed how ARMS, CUPS and Peer Editing were procedures we were following in the system of writing.  Next, they wrote their final draft.  We had just enough time for the students to share their reports with the class.  Next week we will begin a new lesson.

2ND GRADE:  MARBLE CRASH TEST:  
This week we looked at the data from each group.  Seeing that each group didn't have the same answers, led us into a class discussion on different variances affecting our results.  Last week, one of our groups had to move their set-up to a different area because the marble kept rolling backwards - this led us to discuss a level floor.  We also saw that the using the special paper to keep the marble straight also affected the results verse just letting it go onto the carpet. 
 This led us to conclude that the different surfaces the marble landed on will affect the data.  Next we had to help Dru and Teller.  They needed our help in deciding who measured right -Dru who had 7 inches or Teller who had 14 half-inches.  After we concluded that they both had the same answer just with different units of measurements, the students explained to our friends the relationship between inches and half-inches.  We had just enough time at the end of class to test out the crash test on the table.  The students saw that the marble kept flying off the table with each level of books.  They concluded that the smooth surface contributed to the speed of the marble.

3RD GRADE:  LINEAR MEASUREMENT:  
This week it was time for the students to learn how to complete a Think Deeply.  The Think Deeply is a writing assignment that the students complete at the end of a lesson.  It is a tool we use to see if the students mastered the concept of the lesson.  The students are given a question to answer and then they must explain their thinking to the problem.  It is a way for the student to teach the lesson back to us in a writing assignment.  In math, if a child can explain and teach the lesson to another than we know that they have mastered the concept.  Although some of the students have completed these in the past, we completed the first one together.  From 2nd to 3rd grade there is a change in the way they are completed, which require more independent writing on the students part.  It is important that they understand how to complete them properly now, so they can complete them on their own throughout the year.


4TH GRADE:  EQUIVALENT FRACTIONS:
Some students needed a little more time to complete their Think Deeply.  If they finished their writing, they were asked to complete a worksheet making equivalent fractions using the identity property of multiplication.  The worksheet also showed the students that they can create equivalent fractions using the identity property of division.  To end the day, I started to see to how much information they know about adding fractions.  

This is something they will need to know going into our next lesson, so I like to make sure they have the foundation before moving forward.  Adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators was okay for most of them.  When I asked them to add two fractions with unlike denominators was when I saw a struggle.  Next week we will learn about common denominators before moving onto our next lesson.

Have a Great Weekend,

Ms Losinski

~ FOOTBALL HOMECOMING FRIDAY ~

Around the School

September 22nd - Homecoming Hustle
September 24th-28th - College Go Week
September 24th - PTO Meeting 3-4pm
October 1st-2nd - Camp Goodfellow (4th Grade - 3 Classes)
October 12th - End of 1st Grading Period
October 12th - PTO Tailgate
October 15th-16th - Camp Goodfellow (4th Grade -1 Class)
October 17th - E-Learning Day
October 24th-25th - Elementary Parent Teacher Conferences
October 26th - Fall Recess

Around Duneland

Tonight is Homecoming!

  Come out and view the parade and stay for the football game!
Parade starts at 4:00pm
Football Game starts at 7:00pm

Are you ready for some fun?  Then, join the Duneland Education Foundation's 2nd Annual Homecoming Hustle on September 22, 2018.

The Homecoming Hustle is a Fun Run/Walk event and is one of the Foundation's biggest fundraisers.  Events such as this race make it possible for teachers and schools to receive grants for educational initiatives. 

This event is for adults and children (parent signature required).

The school with the most participants will receive the traveling Homecoming Hustle trophy.  (Bailly Elementary School was the 2017 trophy recipient)

Pre-registration ($20) which includes race & shirt is due September 12, 2018

Registration ($20) after September 12, 2018 does not guarantee a shirt.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

Shirt Pick Up     DEF Office        5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.

Shirt Pick Up     CHS Stadium     6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2018

Registration/Shirt Pick Up      CHS   7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m.

Race Start                            CHS   9:00 a.m.

Sign-up Today so we can bring that Trophy to Yost!

2nd GRADE:  THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE:

GOAL:  This week the students were introduced to making predictions and the vocabulary map.

 
        On Monday, the students were introduced to a novel study.  As a class, we will read and study connections of the heart with The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo.  To begin the unit the students were first asked to work through a set of 7 questions and make predictions with only the title and for the last question the cover of the story.

  I had to remind them that it was okay if their prediction were wrong because at this point we do not have a lot of information to utilize for our predictions.  The students were also introduced to another tool we will use throughout the novel study - the vocabulary map.  As a class, we defined the word journey together. This gave them a mini-lesson on how this chart should be completed.  Then we ended the week by writing a reflection to the statement:  "If a journey is to be miraculous, what are certain events that must occur during this journey?"

Next week we will begin to read our novel.  

GRADE 3:  INTERACTIONS AS COMMUNICATION: 
GOAL:  The students were introduced to their interaction journals.

This week we finished our lesson on interactions as a form of communications. They put the finishing touches on their charts.  Then they completed an activity where they summarized a training tip and then had to answer the questions of how it met the generalizations to an interaction.  To end the lesson, the students completed an in-class writing assignment on an interaction they were involved in outside of school.  This was completed in their interaction journal.  After each lesson, the students will complete a writing assignment in this journal reflecting on different interactions.  They were invited to share their interactions with the class.
Next week we will begin a new lesson.

GRADE 4:  PROCEDURES:

GOAL:  For the students to write out a sequence of events for a procedure.  

We ended class last week with a list of procedures to Do Our Best in School.  This week the students were asked to select one from our list or use one they came up with on their own as their topic.  Then they were asked to write out the sequence of events to their procedure.  

This was a perfect time to introduce transition words.  We looked over a list of common transition words to help them while writing their order of events.  After completing their organizer, they shared their steps with the class.  If the class was able to guess their procedure, they were on the right track.  If not, that would have meant they may have missed some important steps.  

We were able to figure out each student's procedure.  Luckily, no one selected the same topic either.  Next, it was time to turn their organizers into a formal piece of writing.  We looked over the rubric for our writing assignment.  This week we focused on the first two steps in the rubric:  Evidence and Organization.  
 After reviewing the rubric, the students needed to turn the steps into a paragraph and add an introduction and conclusion sentence.  Another requirement for the assignment was to explain how the procedure was a part of the bigger system - to do your best in school. We focused on this being stated in their conclusion statement. 

 Next week we will look conventions, which is the last piece to their rubric.

2ND GRADE:  LENGTH - MARBLE CRASH TEST: 
GOAL:  For the students to see the relationship between inches and half-inches.
We completed one more worksheet together.  This one introduced the relationship of inches and half-inches.  This worksheet taught the students that they can double the amount of inches and they will get the amount of half-inches.  They saw that for every inch we have 2 half-inches.  
They also flipped it around and thought of a double fact to reduce down from half-inches to inches.  We concluded that the larger the measurement the smaller our answer will be and the smaller the unit the larger the answer.  To continue working with this new idea, the students conducted the marble crash test and presented their answers in inches and half-inches. 
 We will wrap up this lesson next week.


3RD GRADE:  LENGTH - INCREDIBLE ME:
GOAL:  For the students to utilize a benchmark while making an estimate.


This week the students continued working with the project incredible me.  It was great seeing them utilize the different benchmark strategies to find the estimations on the worksheet.  Some students used the width of their pinky, others used the top of a pencil and others would look at a previous measurement to help give them an idea.  


Their estimates were getting better and better with each guess.  We had 5 guesses off by only 1 centimeter and 4 perfect estimations!

Next week the students will be introduced to the Think Deeply question to conclude our lesson.

4TH GRADE:  EQUIVALENT FRACTIONS:
GOAL:  For the students to define and develop a strong understanding of equivalent fractions.


This week we started with a review on how to find equivalent fractions.  This led us into a discussion on the identity property of multiplication.  They completed a worksheet to practice this method of creating equivalent fractions.   We had enough time to introduce our first Think Deeply question of the year.  Most of my students are returning and familiar with this step in our lesson. 

 It may not be there favorite part of the lesson, but it is an important step in becoming a great mathematician.  This helps the students work on explaining the steps and math concept they mastered rather than just putting down an answer. 


 It is a great tool in letting us see that they mastered a lesson and are ready to move-on if they can explain what they learned in their own words.  As a reminder for how to complete these, we completed the first one together.

We will finish the Think Deeply question next week.


Have a Great Weekend,

Ms Losinski

~ SHARING SUNDAY ~ 

Around the School

September 4th-17th - Candy Bar Sales - by the PTO

September 14th - PTO Craft Night 5:30-7:30
September 22nd - Homecoming Hustle
September 24th - PTO Meeting 3-4pm
October 1st-2nd - Camp Goodfellow (4th Grade - 3 Classes)
October 12th - End of 1st Grading Period
October 12th - PTO Tailgate
October 15th-16th - Camp Goodfellow (4th Grade -1 Class)

Around Duneland

Are you ready for some fun?  Then, join the Duneland Education Foundation's 2nd Annual Homecoming Hustle on September 22, 2018.

The Homecoming Hustle is a Fun Run/Walk event and is one of the Foundation's biggest fundraisers.  Events such as this race make it possible for teachers and schools to receive grants for educational initiatives. 

This event is for adults and children (parent signature required).

The school with the most participants will receive the traveling Homecoming Hustle trophy.  (Bailly Elementary School was the 2017 trophy recipient)

Pre-registration ($20) which includes race & shirt is due September 12, 2018

Registration ($20) after September 12, 2018 does not guarantee a shirt.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2018

Shirt Pick Up     DEF Office        5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.

Shirt Pick Up     CHS Stadium     6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2018

Registration/Shirt Pick Up      CHS   7:30 a.m.-8:30 a.m.

Race Start                            CHS   9:00 a.m.

Sign-up Today so we can bring that Trophy to Yost!

2ND GRADE:  ELDORADO:  We continued on our journey with Eldorado.  This week we focused on the feelings box, the main idea box and the images box.  When we worked on the main idea it was a perfect chance to utilize our focus wall and discuss theme.  We discussed that this box is not a summary of what you read, but instead what the author was teaching the reader.  We decided that the lesson for today was to never give up on a dream, no matter how hard or long it may take to achieve it.  

We looked back at our focus wall and discovered that the word perseverance is a common theme when a character never gives up.  The last box we worked on was images.  This is where the reading analyzer asks the students to make connections.  It asks them what description was used and to connect that with what that makes you think of while reading the story.  Some of my friends were struggling with this box, so they closed their eyes and I reread the poem.  Then I asked them to explain what images were in their mind while I read it.  If they still needed some guidance, we discussed what they connected a knight with while they heard the story.  This was a big help to a few of my friends.  To end the day, they were asked to revisit their journals and to now write what this poem is all about.  This time around it was much easier after completing the reading analyzer.

3RD GRADE:  INTERPRETING INTERACTIONS:  

We briefly reviewed how are interactions with are pets become a form of communication between the two of us.  Then we looked back at the directions to our chart and the students independently completed this activity. The chart looks for and identifies whether an interaction was positive or negative, the specific behavior of the dog or cat, and what the interaction is requesting. 

 Next, the students were given the option to continue on with How to Speak to a Dog or they may switch to How to Speak to a Cat.  It was great seeing the students select the book based on the pet they have so they can learn more about their language they have with them.  We will wrap this lesson up next week.

4TH GRADE:  DETAILING A PERSONAL PROCEDURE:  


We started out with a discussion on Thunder Cake.  We looked at the author's purpose of the story - how to calm a fear.  We identified two procedures that were a part of the bigger system of conquering a fear of storms:  counting the thunder and making the cake. 

We also discussed the relationship between the child and her grandma.  This brought up the idea that a family is a system because they support one another.  We then looked back at how the author organized our story.  This was presented to the reader in two ways problem and solution and sequence.  The students are going to focus on the importance of sequence of events for the remainder of the lesson.  As a class, we brainstormed different parts of a system for a student to do their best in school.  They listed off study habits, rocket math, writing, and a good morning routine.  This was a great start - I told them to think of which one they may want to outline the steps for as a writing project next week.  

We will continue on with procedures next week.

2ND GRADE:  LENGTH - MARBLE CRASH TEST:  

 We have been using several sheets to help us review how to measure with inches and half-inches.  This began to introduce the relationship between the two measurements - one student quickly caught onto the idea it was doubling.  


The students also faced a challenge of measuring items longer than their ruler.  Some students were using their finger to mark the location.  This strategy had a few problems. The first problem we noticed were fingers moved while marking the location..  

Another error we caught was some friends were leaving the gap of the finger width, as they marked it and were not starting back at the right location.  Other students marked a line on their sheet to know where to continue measuring again.  We concluded that this method gave us the least amount of errors.  We will continue exploring the relationships between inches and half-inches next week.

3RD GRADE:  LENGTH - MEASURING ME!: 
 This week we reviewed our answers from measuring around the room.  We observed a problem right away none of their answers matched up and were usually off by 1 centimeter.  We quickly found the error - to measure you align the first tick mark not the edge of the ruler.  Now they were ready to master measuring with our next project!  For the activity of Measuring Me, we brainstormed a list of items we can measure on ourselves.  Then they needed to list the tool they would use and explain the steps to measure with it.  We came up with several examples: height, weight, shoes, temperature,  our eyes (& vision), clothes and the circumference of our head. We will continue with this project next week.

4TH GRADE:  MORE FRACTION STRIP FUN!:  

Last week we focused on folding our fractions strips in half, which we discovered was doubling the pieces of our fraction.  We started this week by creating a strip with 5 pieces - this one tends to be trickier for the students, as there isn't really a trick, but more eye-balling it up as you fold.  This always presents as a challenge for my perfectionists!  

After we created our fifths, the students could double it to tenths easily with a half fold - giving us our two new fractions of fifths and tenths.  Next we changed  gears to our ninths and fifteenths.  Our half fold would not give us a multiplication fact to get to those two numbers.  Some students quickly remembered the S-fold will times a piece by 3.  The students were challenged to create these to strips on their own.  After creating all of our fraction strips, it was time to change gears again and discuss equivalent fractions.  They placed their strips in order starting with the whole and ending with sixteenths.  This allowed them to see where equivalent fractions line up with one another.  They quickly were able to identify all the fractions equivalent to one whole and one half.  Then they looked further and were found 1/4 = 2/8, 1/5 = 3/15, and 1/3 = 2/6 as some more examples.  We will wrap up equivalent fractions next week. 

Have a Great Weekend,

Ms Losinski