October 21-25, 2013

 Dear Friends and Families,

The fall season, one of my favorite times of the year, is such an exciting time of learning as Earth shows its change of seasons and our senses are heightened! Autumn has begun to show itself as the air brings a crisp breezes, pumpkins are being seen all around, and the Harvest Festival is right around the corner! I can already smell pumpkin spices, apples, and cinnamon! Hopefully, each of you is enjoying the beautiful, outdoor weather and absorbing the beauties of the season!

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

*Library day is Thursday. Please have library books returned by Thursday morning.

*Please remember to return your child’s book bag with book and homework on Friday.

Dates to remember:

October 14:  Student Holiday

October 18:  Hoot Family Picnic

October 30:  Early Release Day

November 2:  Harvest Festival

November 13:  Family Skate Night

November 27-29:  Thanksgiving Holidays

December 4:  Early Release Day

December 5:  Family Art Night

December 9-13:  Book Fair

December 23:  Winter Break Begins

October 21-25, 2013 is Red Ribbon Week!

Monday: “Sock it to Drugs” day – wear crazy or mismatched socks
Tuesday: “Stomp out Drugs” day - wear tennis shoes
Wednesday: “Boot out Drugs” day – wear boots or western wear
Thursday: “Pledge to be Drug Free” day - wear red, white and blue
Friday: “Say BOO to Drugs” day – wear Halloween colors or t-shirt

Math:  Students will collect, sort and organize data in up to three categories as well as draw conclusions, generate and answer questions about the graphs.  They will construct picture graphs, bar-type graphs, and graphs using real objects.  Students will display math concepts using concrete models in problem solving connected to everyday experiences. 

How you can help your child become a mathematical thinker by remembering that mathematics is not an isolated concept. It is seen and used in every-day life.

• Ask children to think about and solve problems that arise in your everyday activities. For example, ask children to help you put the groceries away. guide them in practicing sorting—the cereal boxes and the soup cans—and experiment with relative size and shape and how the big boxes take up more room than the smaller ones.
• Look for mathematics in your everyday life and don't worry about what the particular aspect of mathematics might be. Something as simple as pouring water into different sized cups and thinking about which cup will hold more is a low-key activity that actually involves estimation, measurement, and spatial sense.

Reading Workshop:  This week in reading workshop we will continue our unit with reading and studying nonfiction/expository texts.  So many students are really enjoying this unit and even checking out nonfiction in the library now.  I love the learning that takes place with this unit!  This week our focus will be on reading nonfiction books about bats and using our reading time to research and learn facts that we don’t already know about them.  This unit will extend into writing workshop too.  We will also spend some time on comparing and contrasting fiction vs. nonfiction books on bats.  Take a look in the halls to see our facts about spiders and watch for our bat facts to appear soon!  We are going “batty” over learning about this unit!

 

Writing Workshop:  This week during writer's workshop, we will continue learning about the elements of non-fiction versus fiction. We will be learning all about bats as we practice finding information, taking brief notes, and turning our research into a non-fiction piece of our own.

Social Studies:  This week, we will continue to learn about our National symbols.  We will discuss the vocabulary in the Pledge of Allegiance, and we will learn about the Statue of Liberty and the Bald Eagle.  We will also be creating some wonderful art projects!