A small favor that all of us teachers are asking, especially with Halloween in a few weeks:  Please remind the kids that if they are bringing a piece of candy or a snack to school then they need to enjoy it in the cafeteria only.  The classrooms and hallways have been a mess and it is becoming a distraction to learning when they are snacking and not focussed on the teacher.  

This past week I have had to spend a lot of time reminding the kids to be kind to one another, please remind them of this message at home.  I have asked Ms. Watson our Monitored SUpport Social Worker to come in and do a lesson on kindness and team building.  

iReady can always be accessed at home for extra reading and math practice.  The link is at the bottom.

• In language arts we completed another phonics/spelling unit working with words with the short e sound.  We read a silly story called Sneezing is Breaking the Law.  We went to the library and got some new books and magazines.  

• In math our unit this week was: Round off numbers to 10,000 to the nearest ten, hundred, and thousand.   This was a tricky unit for many. We did an iReady lesson as a class on the smart board to get some extra practice with our rounding skills.  Next week we will be working on odd & even numbers.  

• In social studies we finished learning about the Tlingit tribe of the Northwest.  The students made a totem pole and had to write about people in their lives that that had similar characteristics of a raven, a butterfly, a fox, and a whale.  We started to learn about the Nez Perce tribe of the Plateau.

• In science class we did our last unit on plants called "Interdependent relationships in the ecosystem: Plants depend on animals for pollination".  We started to learn that animals with a backbone are called vertebrates. and they are then put into five major categories.  We also did another Mystery Science called "How many different kinds of animals are there?"  In this lesson, students examine how scientists organize animals into groups based on their characteristics..  In the activity, Animals Sorting Game, students study animal traits and use these traits to sort animal cards into mammals, birds, reptiles, and invertebrates. Students are then challenged to make decisions about animals that don’t fall neatly into any of those categories.  We will continue to learn about the five groups of vertebrates over the next few weeks.  

During enrichment the kids have been working very hard on their individualized math and reading skills packets.  Every Wednesday during math class (while they are working on iReady math lessons) I take them each individually and we review their math and reading work together.  They get reward certificates and a small treat whenever they make one of their benchmarks!  We will go to the library on Thursday next week to get new books.  We played some Monopoly Junior this afternoon as a group.  It was a lot of fun!

• In language arts we read a story called My Dog Max.  Some of the skills the kids practiced were: recalling story details, sequencing story events, drawing conclusions, understanding word meanings, and pronouns.  We also learned how to complete an assignment in Google Slides!  The kids did a wonderful job dragging and dropping the story events to put them in the correct order and using the line tool to match the vocab to its correct definition.   

• In math our unit this week was: Identify the place value for digits in numbers to 10,000 and use expanded notation to represent numbers.  We played some place value bingo for prizes today.

• In social studies we learned about the Tlingit tribe of the Northwest.  The students will made a raven clan mask to resemble the masks the Tlingit masks worn to special potlatch celebrations. 

• In science class we did a Mystery Science called "Why do seeds have so many different shapes?" In this lesson, students explore how the structures of seeds enable them to disperse, with a focus on seeds that utilize animal structures to aid in their dispersal. In the activity, Seed Travelers, students develop a model of a furry animal (“fluffadoo”) and then use it to test how far seed models with different structures can travel.  

Many parents have been asking what they can have their kids do at home to practice reading and math.  iReady is a great way to have them do this.  I have included the link below.  All of the kids should know their username and password, but if you need it I can send it along.

We went to the library today and checked out some fun new books!  We will go again in two weeks.

There will be a new bell schedule on Tuesday.  None of the students classes will change, just the order that they have the classes in will be changing.  

• In language arts we did another spelling unit with words that all had the short a vowel sound.  Mr. Wood did another lesson with plot  

• In math we completed another unit- Identify the place value for digits in numbers to 1,000 and use expanded notation to represent numbers.  I hung up our math quilt on my door.  It looks awesome, check out the picture.  

• In social studies we took a "field trip" to go see Mr. Carnevale's sports car.  The kids asked him about it and we was kind enough to bring it to school and allow each of them sit and take a picture in it.  I emailed each family their child's picture.  We also started to learn about the Tlingit Tribe of the Northwest.  

• In science we completed a new unit called: Interdependent relationships in the ecosystem: Plants depend on animals to move their seeds.  We will be doing another Mystery Science Investigation next week.  This afternoon Mr. Elliot the Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher invited us into his class to hear from his guest speaker Jonathan Ebba who is a Specialist with UNH Cooperative Extension.  We learned about: 

  • • • Careers in Horticulture

      • Commercial Production of Plants (with a hands-on experience)

      • Developing a care plan for plants

      • Plant Growth Factors