posted Mar 30, 2012 12:18 PM by Damien Corsetti
Where did this month go? Where did this term go? Today was the final day of the 3rd term and I have to have report card data in by April 5th. We've been extremely busy. I apologize for not keeping up with my Friday messages. I am however experimenting with a new website options and my try to pilot it in the 4th term.
The class concluded our Solar System unit this week. The presentations were outstanding. Please look for achievement certificates sometime next week. Reading has proved to be a great success this year. The students have been progressing steadily at their own pace and there are signs of great improvement across the board. I to plan to start giving the class muliple choice reading test to prep them for assessments that may see in third grade. The importance of these assessements are to get them into the habit of looking back into the reading piece if they do not know an answer. So many of the times students do not re-read to find answers.
In Math we are continuing to practice subtraction, addition, telling time, and counting money. Next term we are going to introduce multiplication concepts, and add the hundreds place in subtraction and addition.
The students continue to enjoy using the nook. Thanks again so much for your contributions.
Have a great weekend.
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posted Mar 2, 2012 8:00 PM by Damien Corsetti
That was a quick week back. The snowday certainly sped things up. We had a great week and the students just love the classroom Nook. It is a beautiful piece of technology and the students were extremely excited when it arrived on Monday. I loaded 9 Read to Me books and the class has been enjoying listening to them all week. Thank you so much to all the parents who donated. This week we continued to write sentences using describing words, writing with outlines to organize our ideas, studying landforms and bodies of water, and continuing our Solar System unit in Science.
In math we began counting money with the dime, nickel, and penny. We will introduce more currency next week. In addtion, I concluded the subtraction unit with a test on Friday. Have a great weekend and enjoy the snow while it lasts.
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posted Feb 17, 2012 12:09 PM by Damien Corsetti
An end to a busy week. I concluded my instruction on cause and effect. The students seem to have a strong understanding of it. I plan on reviewing it upon their return and assessing them. This week we continued using describing words to expand sentences. We concentrated on words that describe color, shape, and size. In Sceince we began to learn about the properties of the Sun and how big it actually is. Our field trip was a great success. The students seemed to enjoy their time together in a new learning environment. In Social Studies, we continued to identify the different landforms and related the landforms to a landform map that was colored and cooridnated to a corresponding map key. The class did very well on this lesson. We also began classifying islands, peninsulas, gulfs, lakes, and bays.
In Math we continued to practice, practice, practice subtraction problems may have regrouping or may not have regrouping. It seems that most are able to identify this properly, but some are still not looking carefully enough at the problem and thinking before writing.
You should have received a pink sheet with information about the Solare system project due March 13th. Please contact me if you did not get the sheet. Have a wonderful week off.
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posted Feb 10, 2012 12:58 PM by Damien Corsetti
Fantastic week! The students did wonderful work in reading. I concentrated on identifying the cause and effect in reading and how they can use it to help them comprehend a story better. Next week I plan on making an emphasis on the key words that they can look for to find cause and effect events in a book. The class also engaged in a great Social Studies activity where they made models of the different landforms that the earth has. We will continue to study the landforms and why they are important for survival. We started our Solar System unit in Science. The students will be getting information about their projects next week so they can get a jump start on doing them over the vacation.
In math we are just about finished with two digit subtraction with regrouping. The students will be assessed on this skill next week. We will continue to work on strategies for problem solving. I sent home a "cheat" sheet that we use in class to help the students decided which problem solving strategy they should use when reading problem. Please keep this sheet is a place where students can easily reference it. If misplace it, just let me know and I'll send home another.
Next week is a busy one. Valentines Party on the 14th, Field Trip on the 15th, and Open Mic Lunch on the 17th. Have a great weekend. Can't believe how fast the year is going. |
posted Feb 5, 2012 10:50 AM by Damien Corsetti
We had a great week last week. In grammar we started identifying pronouns and how to make our writing sound less repetitive when we use them properly. In reading we focused on making predictions and using clues in the text to figure out what may happen next or later on in the story. We continued to work with outlines and filled one in together about the importance of brushing our teeth regularly. The class also attended a DVD author visit in the Library of David Gutmann. They enjoyed it very much. The class won the "Casey" the character reward for being the best behaved during morning program and we contiued to work with maps, using a map grid, and making a puzzle of the United States of America.
In Math, the class continued to get comfortable subtracting two digit numbers and began using addition to check their subtraction
We are still in need of Donnors for the Barnes and Noble Nook. The link to the website is on the left or you could paste the link onto your facebook page. It is going to be a very busy two weeks. We have our Valentine's Day Party on the 14th, a field Trip on the 15th, and Open Mic on the 17th. Have a great weekend and enjoy the game. |
posted Jan 27, 2012 8:11 PM by Damien Corsetti
The weeks just keep flying by. I can't believe we are three weeks away from winter recess. In reading this week, I concentrated on asking who, what, when, where, how and why questions based on material read to the whole class and in guided reading groups. As a whole they did well, but when I asked them to come up with their own questions it was a bit challenging. In social studies, I gave an assessment to find out how much material was retain since the beginning of the year. For the most part the class did well, but there are still a few areas that I will continue to reinforce for the remainder of the year. In addition we started, studying location and maps.
In math, the students worked on problem solving strategies and learned a new math game to reinforce counting by ten beginning with numbers other than 10, 20, 30, 40, etc... They also took a term two exam so I could determine which skills have been mastered since the beginning of the year and which ones may need more teaching and review. We didn't do any science this week, but continued to work on organizing our writing by providing supporting details in outlines when given a topic sentence, and writing a concluding sentence that clearly indicates an ending to a paragraph.
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posted Jan 20, 2012 2:02 PM by Damien Corsetti
We had a great week back after a long weekend. The marking period is drawing to a close and it is hard to believe that our school year is half over. The class continues to do extremely well in reading and the students are advancing at a good pace. This week we worked on expanding sentences in our writing, filling in an outline to better organize their writing, and writing sentences with possessive nouns. We wrote a non-fiction piece about trees after hearing many interesting facts in the book "Secret Life of Trees." We reviewed how the water cycle works and I gave the class a brief assessement on the process. The students also learned about maps and how to use a map key.
In math we concluded our unit on adding two digit numbers with and without regrouping. Have a great weekend!!! |
posted Jan 6, 2012 11:57 AM by Damien Corsetti
Happy New Year everyone!!! We had a great week back. It took a few days, but the class seems to be back in the swing of things. We continued our guided reading groups this week with an emphasis on setting, character, and the lessons that great books can teach us. I introduced possesive nouns and their proper spelling. In social studies we learned about the three branches of the United States Government and learned what each branch is responsible for. The students did ver well on their spelling quizzes and will have another quiz next week.
In math we began two digit addition without regrouping. Next week we will tackle problems that have regrouping. Have a great weekend and I'll be posting messages now on a weekly basis instead of daily. Please email me if you have any questions or concerns. Thanks.
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posted Dec 19, 2011 4:46 PM by Damien Corsetti
Wow! What a crazy few weeks. Time sure does fly during the Holiday season. Thank you the parent's who attended conferences. I appreciate you taking the time and meeting with me to ensure we are doing all we can to help your son or daughter achieve. You all signed a permission slip so I could make a propossal on Donorschoose.org, but a parent has graciously donated an e-reader for our Listening Station. Many thanks to Mrs. Maki. We started using it today and the students are extremely excited about it.
We began learning about the Water Cycle today and did an experiment where the students observed water condensing on the sides of a plastic cup and "raining" down onto a desk. Very exciting. In math the students continue to read and interpret graphs and we began stories today about a snowman who visited our classroom. It would be a great help if you could review with your child that the country we live in is the United States of America. The state we live in is New York, and the town we live in is Clifton Park. These basic geograpical locations are important to know.
This could be my last message in 2011. If so, please have a wonderful holiday break and all the best to you and your families in the New Year!!! |
posted Dec 2, 2011 12:44 PM by Damien Corsetti
These weeks are flying by. Hard to believe we are in December already. We had a great week in reading. The groups began readin new and exciting books. We are discussing how to make connections to events that happen the book to our own lives. In addition we are studying the illustrations to help understand events that might happen later in the book. I also introduced the importance of writing an organized paragraph this week and will continue to use "a Quick Outline" as a graphic organizer to help them get their ideas and thoughts on paper so that it makes more sense and can be read easily. In science we continued to come up with examples of matter. The students had to use their sense of touch to try and guess objects while blindfolded. They rather enjoyed it.
In Math, we continued to work on problem solving strategies using manipulatives and then translating those strategies to paper and pencil. We will finish up chapter three next week.
Students continued to work on their books in computer lab and really enjoyed purchasing gifts out the holiday shop. We will not have a spelling quiz next week. Their next quiz will be on December 15th. Have a great weekend. |
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