From now until the holiday break, we will be working heavily on addition and subtraction skills.  I want all students to have a good grasp of basic skills so we can move into multiplication in January.  Here is the summary of where we are headed in the next 3 weeks.

In Class:

• Pearson Successnet
  
• Dec. 1-4... Topic 4.0-4.4
• Dec. 7-11... Topic 4.5-4.8
  
• Dec. 14-18... Test w/Topic 4 + fun math magic and games
  
• Fastt Math (every day)

At Home:

• complete any unfinished homework
• flashcards w/basic + and - facts
• study for Topic 4 test

Remember, you have access to the Pearson Successnet program from any Internet connection.  Online you can find the following resources:

• Online version of the textbook
• Online instructional videos for each lesson
• Access to additional practice, remediation, or enrichment activity sheets
  
• Quiz scores from all your student's work
• Math Glossary
• Digital Math Tools (eTools)
• Practice test

After the holiday season, I will plan on having several 'technology' nights where parents can visit the classroom and learn more about our iPods, audiobooks, web page, Pearson Successnet, and how to best use these electronic resources at home.  More details to come.

2.     Order online @ http://www.scholastic.com/parentordering

Class User Name: kurtusu            Password: kurtusuebls

Return orders/place orders online on or before:  December 4 (Friday) @ 3:15 pm

Now, for Mr. Johnson’s recommendations from this month’s book order…

·       Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

·       The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

·       Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

·       A Series of Unfortunate Events (books 1,2,13) by Lemony Snicket

·       The Great Fire by Jim Murphy

·       The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

·       The Giver by Lois Lowry

·       Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

·       Skippyjon Jones Lost in Spice by Judy Schachner

·       A Wrinkle in Time by Madaleine L’Engle

·       The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set  (all C of N books)

·       Harry Potter and … (all)  by J.K. Rowling

·       Magic Tree House… (1-28) by Mary Pope Osborne

·       Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

• Old Yeller by Fred Gibson.  Only $1.  A classic that will bring a tear or two.
• Al Capone Does My Shirts/Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenkol.  Historical fiction. What would it be like to grow up at Alcatraz Island as a kid.  Nothing out of the ordinary if you father worked at the prison… except for hanging around with Al Capone and other criminals.  Excellent reviews on both these books.
• Calvin and Hobbes Pack by Bill Watterson.  Have a reluctant reader?  Why not try a comic book.  Calvin’s world of childhood still makes me laugh daily.

• Words are CATagorical Pack by Brian P. Cleary.  Do you remember learning how to diagram sentences in jr. high?  This series provides a more enjoyable introduction to parts speech used in the English language.
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl.  The most famous children’s author of all time.  This book is being released as a movie in November.  Roald Dahl’s wife says that the movie beautifully captures her husband’s vision of this whimsical story.

Dear Parents,  
                                
After tracking students spelling test scores I feel the need to make a few changes in our spelling program.  Spelling is one of those subjects where we see improvement with practice.  There isn’t enough time during the school day to add in more spelling practice.  The biggest change will be that your child will need to practice at home.

Starting this week your child will have spelling homework Mondays through Thursdays.  On Mondays they will bring home a homework paper that outlines what they are doing in class and what is assigned for nightly homework. Spelling/WOW (Words Our Way) homework should only take 10-20 minutes a night.  They need to return the homework paper every Friday.  We will take spelling tests on Fridays.  It is important that the homework paper is returned on FRIDAYS.  I would like to record your child’s test scores on them for you to see their progress.

There are ‘check off’ boxes for your child to check off to make sure that they have finished all the activities for each day.  There are also ‘Parent initials here’ lines for you (or for whomever helps them with homework). 
Spelling City will still be used and your child can still practice/play games with their spelling words on spellingcity.com.  You can get to the website by using the classroom link.

Please look over the paper with your child.  They should be able to tell you what everything means but if not, please feel free to contact me.  My email address is shunn.mitchell@gmail.com.   (I have attached the Word Document file of the homework paper if you may need it in the future.)

Thank you for your support,
Missy Mitchell

Theme:             Biography/Autobiography

Project:            4 Scene Diorama

Due Date:         December  16 (Wednesday)

Description:

You will choose and read a book(s) about a person.  It may be either a biography or an autobiography.  This project is designed to help you understand the lives, dreams, and challenges of other people. 

You will complete the project by making a diorama that depicts four scenes from your person’s life.  We will build the diorama base in class.  You will complete the four scenes for the diorama at home.  The finished diorama will hang in our classroom or the library to encourage other students to read these books. 

Guidelines:

• You may not choose someone you already know a lot about.
• Your scenes may be created using drawing, sculpture, paper folding, objects, or any other methods you choose.

Your diorama…

•  Must prominently display the name of the person you choose.
•  Must include the title of the book/books you read.
•  Must include the author of the book/books you read.
•  Must include 4 ‘important’ scenes from your person’s life
•  May include pictures, short descriptions, or passages from the book.

Choose someone you want to learn about.  Maybe someone who did/does something your are interested in.  A hero, an explorer, your ancestor, or someone unique!

A wonderful thing about a book, in contrast to a computer screen, is that you can take it to bed with you. ~ Daniel J. Boorstin

 

What a great month for reading… Every student now has, at school, their own iPod loaded with over 197 audiobooks and several hundred learning videos.  There are several books in this month’s order that have audio versions available on your student’s iPod.  You may want to consider some of these titles, especially with struggling readers or those who want to read more challenging material but need a bit of help.

 

There are two ways to place an order:

1.     Send it directly to me at school.

2.     Order online @ http://www.scholastic.com/parentordering

 

Class User Name: kurtusu            Password: kurtusuebls

 

 

 

Now, for Mr. Johnson’s recommendations from this month’s book order…

 

• The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements.  Any Adrew Clements book is high on my list.  He has such a great writing style for students becoming independent readers.
• Gordon Korman Trilogies Pack by Gordon Korman.  We have Island on audio book.  Last year, it was one of my 4^th graders’ favorite reads/listens.  They loved the action, suspense, and survival story of children trying to survive a boat accident.
• Jean Fritz History Set  by Jean Fritz.  One of the ‘definitive’ authors for children’s biographies.  She once visited EBLS to talk to teacher’s about the research that goes into her well written, engaging biographies of famous Americans.
• Calvin and Hobbes Pack by Bill Watterson.  Have a reluctant reader?  Why not try a comic book.  Calvin’s world of childhood still makes me laugh daily.

• Amelia Earhart Pack  I love the adventurous spirit exemplified by Amelia.  Find out more about her life with these two excellent books.
• The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl.  The most famous children’s author of all time.  This book is being released as a movie in November.  Roald Dahl’s wife says that the movie beautifully captures her husband’s vision of this whimsical story.

 

·       Gordon Korman Tilogies Pack… Island, book 1, 2, & 3

·       The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set  (all CofN books)

·       Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows  by J.K. Rowling

·       Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone  by J.K. Rowling

·       Magic Tree House (1-28) by Mary Pope Osborne

·       Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

 

As always, thank you for your support.  If you have any questions, would like book recommendations, or just want to chat, please feel free to contact me.

Monday, your child will be bringing home the Indicator of School Quality Parent Survey.  Please read the information on the back of the survey. It is extremely important that it be returned either Tuesday, Oct. 27  or Wednesday, Oct. 28. The purpose of the survey is to examine the strengths and weaknesses of Edith Bowen School in order to improve our school.    The School Community Council  will use the results to formulate a new School Improvement Plan.  It is important to get as much confidential feedback as possible.  Last year the number of responses were low, which made it difficult to determine positive feelings and/or concerns. If you have more than one student at EBLS, please be sure to indicate their grades on item #32.  The office is requesting a quick return on the surveys.  Please do your best to complete and return it Tuesday or Wednesday. It can be mailed directly to the address on the back of the survey, as well. Thanks for your interest in keeping our school responsive to parent and student needs.

If your child is absent, please do your best to get it back as soon as possible.

The Social Studies curriculum this year focuses on environments and communities and how they change over time.  One of the significant changes we have seen in Cache County is from an agricultural environment to a more industrial/commercial community.  To help us “turn back the clock” a few years and get a glimpse of agricultural life we are planning an Apple Harvest Celebration on October 22nd.  This will be an all day event at the Staheli’s apple orchard located 2 miles north of Smithfield (we are also working on a visit to a chicken ranch but haven’t finalized that yet).  We will be leaving first thing Thursday morning (8:45) and return in time to go home (2:45).  Since we will be picking apples, pressing apple cider and making apple sauce over an open file please be sure that your child is dressed in “work” clothes (long pants, t-shirt, jacket or sweatshirt and lace up shoes).

Also, Dr. Wallin will be demonstrating how to harvest/dress pheasants and students will have the opportunity to try it.  If this is something you would rather not have your child participate in, there will be plenty of other things to do.  No one will be required or expected to be a part of this demonstration.

If you can join us for this celebration we would love to have your help/supervision.  Even if you are not able to stay the whole day you are welcome to come and go as your schedule permits.  Additionally, If the weather does not cooperate we will reschedule for another day.  We don’t mind cloudy but we don’t want to spend the day in the rain.

We would like to use parents to drive to/from Smithfield.  If you can drive, please contact me.

We have started Words Our Way, also known as WOW.   WOW will help students recognize spelling patterns in words.  By recognizing patterns in words students will be able to read new words because they will know how the pattern works.  Students will work with a list of words each week.  With these lists we will do the following activities.

1. The word list will be introduced in small groups.  The students will identify the patterns in their list of words.
   
2. Students will cut out their own set of words and sort them. 
   
3. During the week we will engage in various activities with our word sorts.
4. When we are finished with a word list we will have a spelling test.

One of the resources we will be using for WOW is Spelling City  http://www.spellingcity.com/kurtusu/  The word patterns are grouped into lists and organized by numbers. 

Example:
WOW 14 Short -o and Long -o CVCe and CVVC 
(In this list students are learning about words that have Short -o and Long -o 'consonant-vowel-consonant-silent -e' patterns and 'consonant-vowel-vowel-consonant' patterns.)

On Spelling City students will be able to:

• Review their spelling words
• Play games with their spelling words
• Print out their spelling list
• Take their spelling test

Students are encouraged to use Spelling City at home.  From our class website  http://kurtj.usu.edu  click on 'Learning Links' and then on the link for Spelling City.  http://www.spellingcity.com/kurtusu/

I finally had a few minutes to get a calendar up for SEP conferences. My schedule allows me time from 1:30-3:45 on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday next week. To get a specific time for you and your child to visit, Please do the following:

1. Check out available times @ our classroom calendar
2. Email me with a desired time(s). (kurt.johnson@usu.edu)
   
3. Look for a confirmation email from me OR look for an update on the calendar.
   

If needed, I could fit some conferences in the following week.

At the conference I will quickly share some insight into your child this school year. We will then make 3 goals to work on from now till January. Feel free to come prepared with goals in mind. Usually I have the student decide on goal #1, the parent decides #2, I get #3.

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” - Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!"\

What a great month for reading… Thank you to those who purchased books from the last book order. With the bonus points, we added several new books to our classroom library as well as bought a reading group set of Charlotte’s Web and No Talking.

News from the reading front…
This month’s book order features the NEW Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days. I decided to send this order out early BECAUSE… if we place our order by Oct. 6, Scholastic will send the books directly to EBLS during the week of the 12th! It will be great to read the new book with everyone else in class. If you are a Diary fan, pre-order with us!

More news…
We have ordered the new iPods for student use. Within a few short weeks, every student will have use of an iPod loaded with over 140 audiobooks and several hundred learning videos. There are several (over 12) books in this months order that we have audio versions available for students to listen. You may want to consider some of these titles, especially with struggling readers or those who want to read more challenging material but need a bit of help.

Remember, if you are considering starting a personal library for your student, book orders are a great place to start. Not only can you purchase books at a great price, but for each dollar $ you spend, the class receives ‘bonus points’ which I use to purchase books for the classroom library and birthday books for students.

There are two ways to place an order:

1. Send it directly to me at school.
2. Order online @ http://www.scholastic.com/parentordering

Class User Name: kurtusu
Password: kurtusuebls

Placing your online credit card order is completely safe and secure. I used it numerous times last year and found it very safe and easy.

Return orders/place orders online on or before:   October 6 (Tuesday)

Now, for Mr. Johnson’s recommendations from this month’s book order…

---

Scholastic Arrow

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney. Book #4 will be released on October 12! You can pre-order it and Scholastic will deliver it directly to our classroom during the week of Oct. 12! Funny, great illustrations, and 3rd grade humor to engage reluctant readers.
• Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George. Rosine’s (in our library) favorite author. We have been reading this book aloud in class. The first in a trilogy, this book is delightful, full of action, charm and adventure. This Utah author might visit our school later this year!
• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. This book reminds me a lot of the Velveteen Rabbit story. It is touching, entertaining, and carries a great message about the importance of other people in our lives.
• Scholastic Children’s Thesaurus I use this thesaurus in the classroom because of it’s simplicity, illustrations and organization. A great resource tool.

Scholastic Lucky

• A to Z Mysteries Spooky Pack This series is very popular with 3rd graders nation-wide. Easy reading with engaging mysteries to solve.
• John, Paul, George, & Ben by Lane Smith. This IS NOT the Beatles. It is one of my favorite author/illustrators. It looks like his newest book should be a fun look into famous figures of the American Revolutionary War.

Books that have audio version in our classroom audiobook library

• The Witches by Roald Dahl
• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
• Harry Potter Boxed Set (all HP books)
• The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop
• The Tale of Despereux by Kate DiCamillo
• No Talking by Andrew Clements
• Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
• The Invention of Hugot Cabret by Brian Selznick
• The Chronicles of Narnia Boxed Set (all CofN books)
• There Was an Old Lady Who… (all)
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & the Olympians series)
• Magic Tree House: Revolutionary War on Wednesday by Mary Pope Osborne

As always, thank you for your support. If you have any questions, would like book recommendations, or just want to chat, please feel free to contact me.