2005-2006 Room 302—Newsletter 10 http://room302.blogspot.com
November 4, 2005
Dear Families,
What a great party. Thanks so much to everyone for helping out. If you didn’t get a chance to be here, you can get a feel for some of it on the blog site. I still have a scale and some knives here, so if you’re missing either, please let me know. The next big thing is conferences. I’m hoping to hear from you about what you’ve noticed, and what you’re wondering, because you know your child best.
Here’s what’s going on…..
In reading….
I’m currently assessing the students, and I’ll share my findings at conferences. I’d like you to do the same thing at home, in a different way. I’m assessing for reading strategies and appropriate levels. I’d like you to assess for reading behaviors and attitudes: How often does he or she choose to read, and what types of things? Does he see himself as a reader. Does she have favorite authors, or stories that she rereads? I can get some idea of these things here, but I want to know what happens away from school.
In writing….
If you could see the huge variety of writing that happens every day, you would know why I dislike saying some kids are “meeting standards” and some kids are above or below. Some, but not all, of the things we’ve discussed this last week include rereading, a date on every page, “period-space-upper case” to end a sentence and start a new one, beginning-middle-end, showing and telling details, mixing capital and lower case letters, and using spaces between words. That is a lot to keep in mind, but we’re practicing; and we’re having fun doing it.
In math….
We started the next workbook in the series, which is Building Number Sense. My teacher’s guide says our emphasis will be “Counting quantities up to about 20, developing strategies for counting and comparing the number of dots in dot patterns and strategies for organizing collections of objects so that they are easy to count and combine, and using numerals to record how many.”
Conferences…
Please return the yellow slips as soon as possible, so I know the time I picked is good for you. If not, please let me know so we can plan another time.
Current Chapter Book Read Aloud…
Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
Calendar…
Friday, November 4—Science Fair, Western Dance
Thursday, November 10—No school
Friday, November 11—No school
November 17-November 22—Early release days; conferences
Wednesday, November 23—Early release day
November 24 & 25—No school
November 29—Noah’s birthday
Sincerely,
Jeff
Friday, November 04, 2005
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Week of Monday, October 31
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
Fall Party
When we came in from recess everything was set up, and we were excited. There were black streamers and pumpkins up on the lights. There was a dancing pumpkin about 34 inches high. There was a big spider web in the corner with a spider on it. In another corner there was a hay bale and corn stalks.
There were lots of parents here. Some of the parents were dressed up in costumes. We put on our costumes, too. Then Mr. Kurtz put us in stations and we had to stay there until it was time to move to the next one. The parents were at the stations helping the kids do the stuff.
At the counting seeds station, we got up to 899 seeds, and there were still more. When we took out the pumpkin seeds, our hands were all gooey. We used chalk to decorate wind socks at table 5. We used a scale to weigh the pumpkins at table 4. At station 5 we had to see if the pumpkins would float, and all three of them floated, and you got to get some food. There were some Kit Kats, Oreos, twisty Cheetos, m&m’s, pretzels, juice, chips, cupcakes, carrots and dip, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin seeds. A parent took pictures of everyone sitting on the hay bale, one at a time, and we got to take the pictures home. We also got to take home treat bags that people brought.
By the time it was done, we were tired, full of food (including seconds and thirds for some, with more food to take home), and some people even had stomach aches.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
The Hole Thing
Savannah lost a tooth. She lost it in the bathroom. Then she came back into the room and said, “I lost a tooth!” And then everyone was crowding around the door. It was the second one out on the top left. She likes the hole because she thinks it looks funny. She hopes another tooth will not grow in that spot.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Science Fair
The science fair was in two places. One was up on the stage, and one was in the library. There was a lot of cool science. First we went to the library and then we went to the stage.
In the library, Lukas’s was about “Why Do Barn Owls Puke?” We learned they puke because they eat the animals and the animal have bones inside. So the owls puke out the bones and the fur. It all comes out in a little fur ball. The owls don’t have hands, so they pick it up with their feet, and later they spit it out. There are two places. One is the place where the meat goes, and the other is the place where the bad stuff goes. And later they puke up the stuff they can’t have in their bodies.
We saw things other kids made, too. We saw things like a bottle rocket with an air presser to make it fly off, volcanoes, “what is sour,” a rocket, blue water, this thing that picks up litter, this little car pulling a big wheel thingy, paper airplanes, boats in the water, and a mouse trap with a magnet. All of these things will be on display again tonight for those people who are coming to the western dance. Yee haw!
Fall Party
When we came in from recess everything was set up, and we were excited. There were black streamers and pumpkins up on the lights. There was a dancing pumpkin about 34 inches high. There was a big spider web in the corner with a spider on it. In another corner there was a hay bale and corn stalks.
There were lots of parents here. Some of the parents were dressed up in costumes. We put on our costumes, too. Then Mr. Kurtz put us in stations and we had to stay there until it was time to move to the next one. The parents were at the stations helping the kids do the stuff.
At the counting seeds station, we got up to 899 seeds, and there were still more. When we took out the pumpkin seeds, our hands were all gooey. We used chalk to decorate wind socks at table 5. We used a scale to weigh the pumpkins at table 4. At station 5 we had to see if the pumpkins would float, and all three of them floated, and you got to get some food. There were some Kit Kats, Oreos, twisty Cheetos, m&m’s, pretzels, juice, chips, cupcakes, carrots and dip, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin seeds. A parent took pictures of everyone sitting on the hay bale, one at a time, and we got to take the pictures home. We also got to take home treat bags that people brought.
By the time it was done, we were tired, full of food (including seconds and thirds for some, with more food to take home), and some people even had stomach aches.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
The Hole Thing
Savannah lost a tooth. She lost it in the bathroom. Then she came back into the room and said, “I lost a tooth!” And then everyone was crowding around the door. It was the second one out on the top left. She likes the hole because she thinks it looks funny. She hopes another tooth will not grow in that spot.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Science Fair
The science fair was in two places. One was up on the stage, and one was in the library. There was a lot of cool science. First we went to the library and then we went to the stage.
In the library, Lukas’s was about “Why Do Barn Owls Puke?” We learned they puke because they eat the animals and the animal have bones inside. So the owls puke out the bones and the fur. It all comes out in a little fur ball. The owls don’t have hands, so they pick it up with their feet, and later they spit it out. There are two places. One is the place where the meat goes, and the other is the place where the bad stuff goes. And later they puke up the stuff they can’t have in their bodies.
We saw things other kids made, too. We saw things like a bottle rocket with an air presser to make it fly off, volcanoes, “what is sour,” a rocket, blue water, this thing that picks up litter, this little car pulling a big wheel thingy, paper airplanes, boats in the water, and a mouse trap with a magnet. All of these things will be on display again tonight for those people who are coming to the western dance. Yee haw!