Spring has sprung!

Important Dates

May 7 - library
May 9 - early dismissal (12:15)
May 25 - early dismissal
May 28 - no school
June 15 - last day 11:00 dismissal

We have really enjoyed the nicer weather. It's great to be able to go outside with just a light coat or even no coat at all! Hooray for spring!

We had a great time with St. Michael College Professor John Tapper's science museum! Professor Tapper's students created hands-on science activities. I think we could have stayed there all day!

Literacy:
We have started our new reading unit. This unit is all about story elements. We are working more with comprehension and deepening our understanding about how stories work. We will be looking at different book series and looking at themes in books.

We also started a new writing unit. We are learning how to write our own stories! We are having fun created our own characters and having them go on adventures!

Math:
Wow! we had super math thinking this week, including some amazing conjectures as we developing our understanding of part, part, whole in addition and subtraction. More on this next week!

Opinion Writing Videos

Important Dates:

April 23-27: No School

April 30 - Library
May 9: early dismissal
May 25: early dismissal
May 28: No School

Please fill out the family survey.

Our students did a great job working on all their opinion writing during our unit. Mrs. Mormile's fourth grade class came down to help our class make videos about one of their opinion pieces. The fourth graders and first graders did a great job using adobe spark video.

Here are links to all the videos. Enjoy!

Binti - JFK is the best  

Keigan - Tag is the best recess activity  

Ankita - rice is the best breakfast food  

Kaiden - tenrec is the best pet (yes, it’s a real animal)  

Zayd - JFK is the best  

Lilly - JFK is the best  

Mohamed - best pet is the platypus

Aili - best season is summer

Aryan - Chips are the best

Jenny - JFK is the best school

Chace - Cheerios are the best

Bella - indoor recess is the best

Bishara - Rice is the best

Andrew - Baseball is the best sport

Filson -

Lots of fun and learning!

Important Dates:

April 16: Library
April 23-27: No School
May 25: early dismissal
May 28: No School

Please fill out the family survey.



Literacy:

This week we have focused a lot on our opinion writing unit. On Monday, Mrs. Mormile's class is coming in to help our class create their own videos based on their favorite opinion piece that they wrote. I will find a way to showcase the work when we finish. The opinion pieces are fantastic! The emphasis this week has been on writing our hook and goodbye (introduction and conclusion).

 At the end of last week, we did squeeze in a fun buddy read time with Miss Bushey's class! Our class did a great job reading with expression and talking about the books they read with the kindergartners. The first graders also were able to help the younger students with books they brought in to read. Mrs. Lapointe also came in to join in with the fun!

Math:
Our new math unit builds on all the previous units. We are back to solving story problems (addition and subtraction) and learning new strategies.

This week we started exploring fact families. A fact family are three numbers that can be used to create 4 equations (2 addition and 2 subtraction). 2,3,5 can be made into:

2+3=5

3+2=5

5-2=3

5-3=2

The mathematicians have been discovering rules about fact families in small groups and in partnerships. Then, they are sharing their discoveries with the whole class. 

April 1, 2018

Important Dates:
March 26: Library
April 12 and 13: Parent Teacher Conferences
April 23-27: No School

We've done a lot since our last update!

It was great seeing so many students at the Fun Fair on Friday, March 23. Thanks to everyone who was able to come and support the PTO and our end of the year field trips!

We also filled our heart jar and had a celebration out on the big playground. My favorite part of the celebration was watching Jenny coach kids as they learned to climb the rock wall section of the playground. Good coaching Jenny!

Literacy:

We read The Day the Crayons Quit last week and then wrote letters to convince the crayons to come back.  We also read The Perfect Pet and students then wrote opinion pieces about which pet would be the best for them. Mohamed had us all convinced that the duck billed platypus might make a great pet!

We also did buddy reading with Mrs. Thompson's class. Our class is enjoying sharing their reading with others.

Math:
We finished up our place value unit. Everyone took their place value test on Wednesday. I'm impressed with the hard work the class put into this unit. I'll share the tests with you at parent/teacher conferences.

Fun Fair on Friday!

Important Dates:

March 23: Fun Fair 4:30-6:30
March 26: Library
April 12 and 13: Parent Teacher Conferences
April 23-27: No School

I'm updating our website early this week so I can remind families about the Fun Fair. Fun Fair is Friday, March 23 from 4:30-6:30 I hope to see you there!

Don't forget our book order is due Friday also! Here is the link: Scholastic Book Order. Our online code is DZPMV. Please get your order in by Friday, March 23.

Our new School Resource Officer, Officer Jason Ziter, came to our morning meeting on Monday to introduce himself to us and talk to us about school safety. He gave the kids a chance to ask questions and talk about any worries they had.

Literacy:
The writing this class is producing is wonderful! We have learned how to write an introduction and conclusion in our opinion pieces. We are using transitional words and phrases such as: because, another reason is, also The students write and write and write!

During reading workshop, the students are starting to understand what type of books they like to read. From 10:45-11:30, you can find kids all over the room reading their books. Favorite books include atlases, books by Mo Willams, and a new favorite series some students are hooked on: King and Kayla by Dori Butler. 





Math:
Our core math idea has been breaking apart double digit numbers. Now, we are also learning how to add double digit numbers which means the students have to break them apart, reorganize them, and put them back together! Amazing work these mathematicians have done!

March 16, 2018

Important Dates:

March 19: Library
Jump Rope for Heart: March 20

March 23: Fun Fair

I sent home a book order form today. Here is the online link in case you want to do your order online: Scholastic Book Order. Our online code is DZPMV. Please get your order in by Friday, March 23.

We fit a lot into this week!

Sara Raabe came in on Tuesday and talked to the first grade about school safety. The kids asked great questions.

Mrs. Demore's third grade class came down and read their nonfiction books they wrote.

Tracy Towers, the Tooth Tutor came to our classroom on Friday and taught us how to take good care of our teeth. We learned about visiting the dentist, brushing, and flossing. Each child has a bag that they brought home from Tracy.

We also had a whole school celebration! The entire school played bingo and it was a blast!














Jump Rope for Heart will be on Tuesday. We had to change it due to the snow day.

Literacy:
We started our opinion writing unit for writing. The students are learning how to state their opinion and back it up giving multiple reasons. In reading, the students are becoming the Boss of their Reading! This means they are monitoring their own reading to see if what they are reading makes sense. If it doesn't make sense, they are developing strategies to help figure out the hard words.

Math:
Wow! Lot's of great work in math this week! Students are deepening their understanding of tens and ones. We have also introduced greater than and less than signs. We also are working on  telling time to the hour and half hour.

Back from vacation!

Important Dates:

March 11: Daylight Savings Time

March 12: Library

March 14: Early Dismissal

        Social Media Presentation 5pm

March 16: Report Cards Home

March 23: Fun Fair

I'm so sorry I didn't update over vacation. I ended up being super busy and the time got away from me!

It was so good to see all the students this week We had such a great time catching up with each other. We ended up taking 15 minutes during the morning to just chat with friends! We had so much to tell each other.

Literacy:
We finished our nonfiction units in both writing and reading! To celebrate, we invited Mrs. Moulton's class in to hear our nonfiction teaching books that we wrote ourselves.

Then, we invited Miss Bushey's kindergarten class in and we read nonfiction books to them. Our class had prepared questions to ask the kindergartners throughout the reading to check for understanding.


Math:
The mathematicians continue to explore and build on their understanding of place value, using tens and ones. This is a huge leap in learning and requires flexibility in number sense and counting. This week, we introduced clocks and telling time to the hour and half hour.