Highlights from a Whirlwind Week!

Hi again folks!

This short week flew by! Book buddy groups have been working on reading the plays fluently together by doing "table readings." Some students are even memorizing their lines already! Have you been practicing at home? Next week we'll add in motions and acting into the mix. I've talked with each child about what they want to wear for a costume. Please check in with your child about what clothes to be looking for. Send them in anytime in a bag. Don't forget to label the clothes please so we can easily get them back to you!

We've begun to do some opinion writing and learned the parts of this genre of writing. This week we wrote about our favorite foods. Check out the bulletin board across from our room to read the many opinions about favorite foods in our room! We also started to use a word wall on the SmartBoard during writing time to help make sure common words (i.e. the, of, you) are spelled correctly.

In science we finished our class experiment and discovered that plants truly do need sunlight and water to grow. The bean seed that just had water got moldy. The bean seed that just had sunlight got super dry. The bean seed that got sunlight and water grew tall and with big seed leaves! Table groups also planned their plant experiments--choosing a variable to test something about plant growth. Thanks for all the baby spider plants--we have enough for each table to have a control and a variable plant to do a true scientific experiment!

On Friday the 1st graders had a wonderful time getting books made just for them at the U-32 Book Buddy event. They also saw cool experiments in the Physics Museum. Meanwhile, 2nd graders reflected on their time in the Primary Unit with Ben. They made books about Kindergarten, first, and second grade. They talked about things they'll miss and things they're looking forward too. They also talked about things that they might be nervous about for 3rd grade next year. The second graders really had a special day with Ben!

Thanks for getting the field trip slip back to me so quickly. Next Friday is our Primary Unit Beach Day at Wrightsville. We'll leave school at 11:30. Don't forget that chaperones must either meet us there or carpool from Rumney--the bus will be chock full of kids! Also, don't forget a lunch, swimsuits, towels, sunscreen, sand toys, and a dry set of clothes. Please leave water toys and electronic toys at home!
 

Dates to Remember:
Friday June 5 - K-1-2 End of Year Celebration @ Wrightsville Beach  11:30-3:15
Thursday June 11 - 1/2 T Plays  1:30-2:15
Thursday June 11 - All School Meeting 2:30-3:15
Friday June 12 - K-6 Field Day @ Wrightsville   9:30-3:30
Wednesday June 17 - Last Day of School - 1/2 day dismissal at 12:30

Highlights of the Week 5.22.15

Dear Families,

It was wonderful seeing so many of you yesterday at our Author's Tea. I can't celebrate these amazing first and second grade authors enough! Not only did we get to share our reports with all of you but we also read them to the Kindergarteners on Tuesday.

On Monday we did our last seasonal daylight observations and then compared data to see what happened to the length of the days through the seasons as well as the position of the sun in our sky. Did your child show you his/her daylight journal and explain this to you?
We also began our last science unit on plant life. We read Bean by Barrie Watts to look at the life cycle of a bean plant. We also compared the bean plant life cycle to that of carrots. In one of our classroom gardens we planted green bean and carrot seeds to see how far into their growth cycle they'll get during our school year. We also talked about how plants make their own food in the process of photosynthesis. We learned a song about Chlorophyll to help us learn more about photosynthesis, too. During this plant unit we'll be doing some plant experiments, too. We started to learn the steps of the scientific method to help us with our experimentations and tests. Our first test as a class is to see if it's true that plants need water and sunlight to grow. We planted 3 green bean seeds in soil: 1 gets only water (no sunlight), 1 gets only sunlight (no water), and 1 gets both (this is the control plant). Every day we look to see if there has been any change.

Most of our read alouds now are related to our science topics. We've finished up reading about different body systems and are diving head first into plant life. Along with Bean we've also read Plant Secrets by Emily Goodman, Our Tree Named Steve  by Alan Zweibel, and A Tree Is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla.

Honi came on Friday and we did a 4Winds class on clouds. Coincidentally we read a book Cloudette earlier this week--a fictional book about a little cloud who dreamed big and found out she could do things other clouds and people had always said were impossible for such a small cloud. We've had a science filled week! Hopefully next week we'll get our hands dirty in the garden, too!

In book buddy groups the exciting activity this week was choosing plays. Each group will be working together on short plays. Next week during literacy they'll choose parts and do "table readings" to work on reading fluency for their lines. Keep your eyes peeled for notes coming home about needs for costumes, too!

Thanks for another great week. Enjoy the long weekend!

Dates to Remember:
Monday May 25 - Memorial Day (NO SCHOOL)
Thursday May 28 - Book Orders Due
Friday May 29 - 1st graders to U-32   9:15-1:00
Friday June 5 - K-1-2 End of Year Celebration @ Wrightsville Beach  11:30-3:30
Thursday June 11 - 1/2 T Plays  1:30-2:15
Thursday June 11 - All School Meeting 2:30-3:15
Friday June 12 - K-6 Field Day @ Wrightsville   9:30-3:30
Wednesday June 17 - Last Day of School - 1/2 day dismissal at 12:30

Highlights of the Week 5.15.15

Hello families!

We were so excited this week to see our typed reports! Ms. Caitlin and Ms. T bound them into hard covers and we worked on writing in the page numbers so readers can find the information in our books. We also worked on careful illustrations to add detail to our reports.

Our writers have been working on the research, writing, editing, and publishing feverishly since March. I hope you're planning to attend our Author's Tea next Thursday so we can celebrate their amazing work! Thanks for all the food offers--now we have 2 batches of cookies (thanks Jocelyn & Honi), 1 bottle of juice (thanks Honi), iced tea (thanks Ursula), cups (thanks Dina), and napkins (thanks Dody). We already have plenty of plates.We are all set. Now we just need you to come be our audience!

Second grade mathematicians continue to be story problem detectives and are working on comparison problems. They are also learning about rows and columns. First grade mathematicians are looking at place value to help them as an adding strategy.

We wrapped up our maps unit this week with a penny scavenger hunt around our classroom. Students first made maps of our classroom then hid pennies all around and used each others maps to find the hidden pennies. This was an energetic and fun activity--a fantastic culminating event. On Wednesday students brought home the Map Skills workbook we were using for some of our map work. There are some geography pages left that they can do at home if they want to. Next week we'll switch gears to look at plant parts and help out in the Rumney garden. In the coming weeks we will be spending some time getting the garden ready for planting so don't be surprised if your child comes home a little dirtier than usual!

On Thursday the final book order of the year came home. Orders are due Thursday May 28!

On Friday Ben and I sent home an end of year event calendar. Here's the info again:

As we approach the last weeks of school there are many special events and trips planned. We’d like to tell you about some of the special things happening in our ½ classrooms in these weeks.

Forms will be coming home for each field trip, but here is some of the general information in advance:

• ·         One of the 7^th grade writing projects each year is to write a children’s book and present it to an elementary student for “book buddy day.” This year the 7^th grade class is much smaller so while both first and second grade have gone to this event in the past, this year only the first graders are able to go. So, on Friday May 29^th, all first graders will go to U-32 with Ms. Theresa. We will attend the 7^th grade book buddy event as well as visit Randy Brown’s AP Physics class’ “Physics Museum.” Meanwhile, all second graders will stay back with Ben and have a special activity day all together with him.

• ·         The Primary Unit (K/1/2) will be celebrating the end of our year together on Friday June 5^th. We’ll be spending the afternoon playing, building, and swimming together at Wrightsville Beach. Plentiful parent chaperones are welcome, but all parents will have to drive separately as there will only be enough space on the bus for students and teachers.

• ·         The whole school will also take a trip to Wrightsville for our end of year celebration on Friday June 12^th—but this time there will be many more planned activities so beach time is limited. This will be a whole day event and more information will come from the office as we get closer to this date.

• ·         Ben’s class will perform their plays on Thursday June 4^th (more info coming from Ben closer to that date). Ms. Theresa’s class will perform their plays on Thursday June 11^th (more info coming from Theresa closer to that date).

• ·         The last day of school is Wednesday June 17^th. This is a half day with dismissal at 12:30.

We also sent home a field trip slip for the first grade field trip to U-32. If you have a first graders, please look for this and send it in by Thursday!


Dates to Remember:
Thursday May 21 - Author's Tea   2:30-3:15
Friday May 22 - Four Winds
Monday May 25 - Memorial Day (NO SCHOOL)
Thursday May 28 - Book Orders Due
Friday May 29 - 1st graders to U-32   9:15-1:00
Friday June 5 - K-1-2 End of Year Celebration @ Wrightsville Beach  11:30-3:30
Thursday June 11 - 1/2 T Plays  1:30-2:15
Thursday June 11 - All School Meeting 2:30-3:15
Friday June 12 - K-6 Field Day @ Wrightsville   9:30-3:30
Wednesday June 17 - Last Day of School - 1/2 day dismissal at 12:30

Highlights of the Week May 8, 2015

Hello families,

What wonderful spring weather we've had this week! I hope you've been enjoying it at home, too. I was happy to see so many students bringing in water bottles to stay hydrated. Kids are free to keep a water bottle at their tables all day to help us all drink enough as the days get warmer. Our north-western exposure room gets a lot of afternoon sun so it's toasty in here after lunch!

Students finished up the writing and editing process for their PLPs and on Thursday our sixth grade buddies help us type them. I'll finish formatting and printing them and we'll be ready for the last few steps next week! The first and second graders have been working tremendously hard on this long writing project so I'd love to celebrate their accomplishments with all of you. Please mark your calendar with the date of our Author's Tea--Thursday May 21 2:30-3:15. We'll read our PLPs in small groups and enjoy some iced tea & cookies! I hope someone (parent, sibling, family friend) can make it so each of our author's has someone special to them to read their PLP to. (We have 1 bottle of juice already but can someone make a pitcher or two of iced tea? Also, please let me know if you can bring in some cookies to share.)

We practiced moving in the cardinals directions all over the United States in our NEWS game on our US rug. We reviewed some map skills and made maps including land and water, looked at maps of the whole world, North America, and the United States. On Friday we also made block buildings and practiced drawing maps with a "bird's eye view" instead of map symbols.

In math second graders have been working with geometry, fractions, subtraction, and addition. They've also been dissecting story problems--being detectives to look for clues about which part is unknown (start, change, or result).

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend. Happy Mother's Day!

Highlights of the Week 5.1.15

Hello families,

Here's a quick snapshot of our week:

• In writing students finished organizing their notefacts, wrote introductions with a hook to get readers interested in their topic, wrote conclusions to leave the reader with the big idea, found words readers may not know and defined them in the glossary, and created an index for readers to look up details from the report. Many students worked on editing all their writing to get ready to be typed next week. It was a busy and fruitful week!
• Book buddy groups have been going nicely during literacy. Many students are developing their verbal and written response to literature during these groups.
• In social studies we are learning about the cardinal directions. We came up with a few mnemonics of our own:
• ·       Never ever say what
  ·       Never eat sour wheat
  ·       Never eat sour watermelon
  ·       Never ever sever watermelon
  ·       Never eat soggy watermelon
  ·       Never electrocute stupid wigs
  ·       Never ever say watermelly
  ·       Never electrocute snowy wheat
  ·       Never eat snowy watermelon
  ·       Nocko eats simple wheat
  ·       Never eat soggy wheat
  ·       Never eat stinky walnuts
  ·       Never eat smelly wheat
   
  

•  We read a few more books about human body systems, this week focusing on the nervous and circulatory systems.

We've had a busy, fun week together. It's amazing how focused these students can be and how much they accomplish each day. Writing this week has been a special highlight since we're all so excited to be nearing the end of the writing process for this project. Next week we'll type but there's still a little more to do. Once I get a better idea of when we'll be done I'll send out news so we can celebrate our authors and share these wonderful reports!

Have a great weekend!