Language Arts
This week in reading, we dove more deeply into genres. Last week, we talked about the difference between fiction and nonfiction. This week, the students looked at the subgenres within those categories. For one lesson, the students were given a selection of books and had to decide whether they were fiction or nonfiction, what the books had in common, and had to come up with a definition for their specific genre. The students did a great job finding the connections and coming up with the genres. They made some really great posters that are now hung up in our room. Later in the week, they perused some old book orders and found books that they thought might fit the genres and added those to the posters. They did a great job and have been doing a good job identifying the genres of the books that they are reading in class! For writing, we finished up our first books! The students are so proud of their work! Next week, the students will be reading them to the class at our first Writing Celebration! It should be pretty great! We also started our next writing project, "The Monster Project". This week, the students drew a picture of a monster. When they were complete, they worked to write a detailed description of their monster. We're then going to mail the descriptions of our monsters to a class in Summerville, SC. They're going to send us their descriptions and we're going to see how well they can recreate our monsters based on our descriptions (and how well we can draw theirs)! Most of the kids have their descriptions nearly done, so I'm hoping to get them in the mail early next week! |
Math
Science
In science, we took what we know about adaptations and looked at how scientists group living things based on their bodies. We did a neat exploration through Discovery that introduced the students to lots of great new words like "Phylum" and "Genus"! We also took part in a virtual field trip to an egg farm in Indiana! The students did a great job looking for adaptations and created a paper slide video to show what they noticed. We have a little fact-checking to do about a few things, but I thought they did great! (Ignore my gross voice - I've got a cold and sound like a hot mess!) | |
Social Studies
Maker Space
With the crummy weather, we decided to stay inside for our Fun Friday this week, which was perfect because I wanted to show the students the newest addition to our Maker Space! The PTO generously purchased a 3Doodler for our classroom! It is basically a pen that draws in 3D! It works a little like a hot glue gun, except that it spits our plastic instead of glue. The students were really excited to try it out! I printed off some Halloween stencils for them to use while they get the hang of it and I think they did a really great job. There are still a few students who didn't get a chance to try it because we ran out of time, but I'm hoping to give the rest of the kids a chance next week. |
Looking Ahead
- Vision testing will continue next week, they ran out of time and didn't get to us last week.
- Online book orders are due Sunday. For more info on ordering online, click here.
- Our next Mass will be November 5. It doesn't sound like we'll have to do the All Saints' Day Mass, so I don't think they'll switch the date on us.
Housekeeping
- Our Cardboard Challenge was featured in the Escanaba Daily Press on Tuesday, October 13! (Click here) If you don't have an online subscription, I also have a hard copy that I laminated and stuck outside of our classroom.
- Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather. It is starting to look and feel like winter!
- I received most of the interim reports back, but if you haven't returned your child's yet, please sign one of the copies and return it in the manila envelope.
- Title 1 started this week. The kids seem excited about it and so am I! I'm looking forward to working with Mrs. Studinger and Ms. Pollis this year! If your child came home with the green Title 1 paper, be sure to send it back in his or her folder.
- Fundraiser packets were sent home yesterday. If you have any questions about the fundraiser, please contact the office. Orders are due back on October 26. Please turn them into me (I have a checklist I have to fill out).
- We had a great presentation from the fire fighters and learned some great tips about staying safe! Check out the pictures on the photo page.