Monday, March 30, 2009

Spring Break is SOOOOOOOOO Close...

And boy are we antsy! We're trying very hard to keep it together for the next couple of days before many of us set off for sunny skies!

LA: We had a busy morning introducing a new story today. Exploring Undersea Territory is a non-fiction article full of great information for us to learn. With this story, we are also learning about adjectives that compare using -er and -est at the endings, spelling words with accented syllables, fact and opinion and skimming and scanning text for important information. It's going to be a fun week! We also started a new writing project this morning, the 15 sentence portrait essay. Not only is this a writing assignment, it's also a task on following directions! I can't wait to see our products! Way to go readers! Watch tomorrow's blog for results of our I Love To Read Challenge!

HW: Writing project is due Thursday.

Math: Today we learned to multiply and divide decimals! We spent quite a bit of time working on white boards and practicing, practicing, practicing!

HW: Journal pages 282-286, 288, study link 9.8 & 9.9 (*35 minutes was given in class to complete these pages!) Unit 9 test will be given on Wednesday.

Health:
Students read chapter 6, lesson 4 today in pairs. It was a great review on reasons and ways to say no to drugs!

HW: Lesson check up for lesson 4 is due tomorrow. Students need to complete 1-4 and write their answers in complete sentences. Tomorrow is the last day of 4th grade Health for my home room class!

Please let me know if your family is going to be leaving early for Spring Break! We will still give assessments on Friday and I would appreciate a "heads up" for those students who won't be here.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

What A Wednesday!

LA: We had a fantastic time "Kicking Back At The Beach With A Good Book" this morning! It was fun to lay on our beach towels and enjoy some good reading! We also worked more with our spelling words, grammar which is articles this week, went to see our reading buddies and last but not least plowed forward in our published books! We're almost done!

HW: Read and record your reading minutes...make this last week really count! Published book forms are due tomorrow!

Math: We had surprise pop quiz today! Most students did very well on the concepts we've been teaching!

HW: Fix any mistakes you had on your quiz and be prepared to turn them in tomorrow.

Health: We had Art Smart today! Special thanks to Mrs. Donati for presenting about our artist and Mrs. Iapalucci for helping out!

HW: None

Don't forget: Rain forest clothing item orders are due Friday!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

It's Been A Couple Of Days...

Sorry about lacking on the Blog lately...it's been a busy couple of days!


LA: Another short morning that was packed full of fun! We worked on "making judgements" this morning and just what that looks like. It was fun to listen to the students reasoning back and forth about why they think certain things apply to people. We also forged ahead in our published books! The entire publishing process has to be done on Friday so we can get them to the Company for the next phase! There will be a bit more time to work on them in class, if your child is far behind, I've encouraged them to bring them home to catch up!

HW: Tomorrow is "Kick Back At The Beach Day" for our I Love to Read Celebration! Feel free to wear "Beach Clothes" (but no swim wear!) The published book order forms are due back on Thursday!

Math: After a quick fix from some confusion yesterday, we got right back on track with percentages today! It's fun to find out just what percent of things are out of the whole!

HW: Math box and study link 9.5 are due tomorrow.

Health: Today was the chapter 5 test!

HW: None

Many thanks for all the special birthday gifts and wishes on Friday. Everyone made my day wonderful!

Don't forget, all Madagascar Rain Forest Items are due by Friday! There are some awesome products you can order that helps save acres of the Rain Forest!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

It's Our Last Full Day of Winter! Yahoo!

Bring on Spring! We're ready!

LA: Another short morning, but we were able to pack in a bunch! We learned about connotation and denotation of words, worked more with onomatopoeia and similes and continued our work to get published books done!

HW: Don't forget that reading calendars are due tomorrow! To avoid homework next week, you must have read your goal of minutes and remember to bring in your calendar! I can't wait to see our updated numbers!

Math: We had a pop quiz today! Be sure to go over this at home so you can see exactly where your child is struggling!

HW: None

Health: Our quiz over lessons 1-3 took the whole time today!

HW: None

Happy Birthday Mrs. Boughner and Sarah B!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

It Was An "Overall Great Day!"

We had a lot of fun sharing our "Overall Good Books" this morning and looking like farmers in our overalls!

LA: What a busy morning. We hit everything from spelling, to practice pages to writing letters to a very special visit by James Whitcomb Riley. Well, not the man himself, but rather a great impersonator that shared a lot about this famous poets life with us! We also had a great time during our I Love To Read Celebration in the ELA!

HW: Don't forget to read and record your minutes. Please continue to do your best at recording the night sky each night at or around 9:30! Letters are due tomorrow if they weren't finished in class today!

Math: We worked more with percents, decimals and fractions today. Our focus today was making decimals out of fractions using a calculator.

HW: Math box and study link 9.3 are due tomorrow.

Health: Today we worked through 2 worksheets as a review. We also read through lesson 3 today.

HW: Quiz over the first three sections in chapter 5 will be given tomorrow.

Don't forget we are still collecting food, personal care items and toiletries for the Penn Food Pantry through Spring Break! The bin in the lobby is ready to be filled.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

We had a green-filled day today!

LA: We squeezed in time for DEAR, spelling practice and published books in our short time together!

HW: Don't forget that tomorrow is "Overall Good Book Day," dress like a farmer if you don't have overalls! Keep reading and recording those minutes!

Math: More fractions, percents and decimals today! These lessons are going very smoothly! Yahoo!

HW: Journal page 271, math box 9.2 and study link 9.2

Health: We had visit from Mr. Glassman today who taught us about soil and Native Americans!

HW: None

Monday, March 16, 2009

It's Almost Spring!!!

We had a fantastic day here at Northpoint today!

LA: We introduced our new story, which is an old favorite of many, Because of Winn Dixie. It's going to be fun revisiting adjectives and summaries this week. We're also introducing proper adjectives and learning more about the figurative language terms onomatopoeia and similes. We also took some time our for our spelling pre-test, which has to do with a lot of double consonants and our unit 4 test.

HW: Read and record tonight! Don't forget that Wednesday is "Overall Good Book Day!" Plan to dress like a farmer and come share your favorite book with your classmates.

Math: We are onto unit 9! Today we spent quite a bit of time talking about fractions, decimals and percents and how they all relate.

HW: Math box and study link 9.1 are due tomorrow.

Health: Welcome back Home Room Kiddos! We are starting chapter 5, which is all about diseases and how to take care of ourselves.

HW: Lesson 2 lesson check up, 1-4 in complete sentences written in cursive is due tomorrow.

Things to look for in blue folders tonight:
  • Conference days and Spring Break Kid's Club Childcare sign ups.
A few reminders:
  • Don't forget, if you are able, you should be charting your Let There Be Night Information each night at or close to 9:30 p.m.
  • We will visit Mr. Glassman tomorrow during content.
  • Report cards will be sent home on Friday.
Happy Birthday Allie M!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Happy Friday The 13th!!!

Another week has gone by...wow...time really does fly when you're having fun!

LA: Way to go readers! I'm so proud of you! This week, with two people missing, we read 11,615 minutes, which brings our total to 18,862! Keep reading so we can continue to rack up those minutes!

We also took all our usual assessments today, as well as worked in our published books! We had great time playing four more games today that were created for this nine weeks reading project! We're anxiously waiting until we've had a chance to play every one's!

HW: Don't forget to bring in pictures for your published books! Also--Read, read, read!

Math: We took a time out today to complete standard assessments, as today is the end of the 3rd nine weeks!

HW: None

Health: Today was Ms. Grannan's class last day for this rotation! See you next quarter

Things to watch for in blue folders:
  • Let There Be Night recording sheets! Don't forget---this starts tomorrow night!
  • Silver Mile information! Plan to be a part of our team this year and help represent Northpoint!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

We Won, We Won, We Won!

Thank you to all you early morning voters! We won the I Love To Read School of the Day! Wahoo! We enjoyed a fantastic visit from Mr. Jim Pinkerton from WSBT, who we even convinced to wear the banana suit! What a sport!

LA: We enjoyed time reading good books during Vocabulary Vine today. We also continued work on possessive pronouns vs. contractions! Last but not least, we spent more time illustrating our published books!

HW: Reading calendars are due tomorrow! Don't forget, in order to avoid fluency and flow homework, you should be reading at least 35-40 minutes a night!

Math: Today was the unit 8 test and we rocked! Way to go!

HW: None

Health: We had a special visit from Mr. Pinkerton at this time, therefore, no content!

Don't forget:
  • Tonight is the Galaxy Gallery! Plan to come see the amazing artwork hanging around and visit the book fair.
  • The Penn Food Pantry has made a desperate plea for help! They are in need of canned goods and toiletries. We will be collecting items to help out from tonight until April 3rd!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Our Favorite Book Characters Came Alive Today!


Payton (Junie B. Jones) Sophia (Wishbone) & Sarah (Junie B. Jones)
Rachel (A ghost) and Katie (Matilda)
Many of us looked great as our favorite book characters today!

LA: We had a great morning this morning with our second I Love To Read activity. We also enjoyed time with our reading buddies, practicing our play and sharing books with our 1st grade friends. We sorted spelling words and used context clues to help us match them with definitions and then took some time to play some of the games that were created for this nine weeks reading project.

HW: Read and record! Book orders are due on Friday.

Math: We practiced for the test today!

HW: Tomorrow is the Unit 8 test!

Health: We discussed the food guide pyramid and its importance to us today in Health.

HW: Poem about a food group is due tomorrow.

Don't forget that tomorrow night is Galaxy Gallery! Come check out all the amazing art that is being displayed around the building. The book fair will be open, too!

Watch for Afternoon Adventures sign up sheets in today's blue folders.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

It's A Great Day...If You're A Duck!

Don't forget the Scholastic Book Fair is open all week until 5:00. It will also be open for Galaxy Gallery on Thursday night!

LA: We had a quick morning, but got a lot accomplished. We had a fantastic time doing a word association activity. When we were done, we had 100 words on our paper, with the help from our friends. Now, we are working on the task of writing a story using as many of the words as possible.

HW: Keep reading those books and recording those minutes! Calendars will be collected on Friday morning! Don't forget to dress like your favorite book character tomorrow! Book orders are due on Friday.

Math: We spent quite a bit of time working on review problems that took us all the way back to the beginning of the year. It was fun to see what we remembered and talk about those things that have slipped our minds.

HW: Unit 8 test is Thursday. Finish the area and perimeter packet before tomorrow.

Health: We are continuing to learn about the importance of keeping our bodies healthy and how proteins, minerals, vitamins and carbs can help us out!

HW: The two sided worksheet is due tomorrow.

Don't forget to come to Galaxy Gallery on Thursday night and check out the amazing artwork all around our building!

Monday, March 9, 2009

What A Great Day To Read With A Buddy!


Our LA class had a fantastic time reading with a special friend this morning! We had everyone from siblings to grandparents to moms and dads! Thanks for making time to make your child feel so special! We hope you enjoyed yourselves! Be sure to check out the pictures!

LA: In addition to our special reading time this morning, we introduced a new story, At Home On The Coral Reef. Our selection this week is a Narrative Nonfiction piece of writing. With this story, we are going to be focusing on comparing and contrasting, using context clues and our spelling skill is vowels. In grammar, we began to talk about the difference between contractions and possessive pronouns, such as its/it's, they're/their & your/you're.

HW: There is no fluency and flow this week as long as the reading minutes continue to increase. For those students not reading or recording minutes, fluency and flow will be assigned to them individually.

Math: We continue to work on area and perimeter. Today went much better than previous! Please continue to work on this skill...the unit 8 test will be given on Thursday.

HW: Finish the area and perimeter sheet and study for Thursday's test.

Health: Today was the chapter 2 test-open book. When students completed the test, they began to read chapter 4, lesson 1.

HW: The lesson check up on page 137 is due tomorrow. 1-5, written in cursive.

Check out our pictures of our time spent reading with a buddy!

Friday, March 6, 2009

What A Friday!

We had a wonderful day today!

LA: We presented our games today--everyone that was prepared was able to present. We had a long discussion about the importance of putting effort into a nine week project. This work should reflect time spent on it and not look or present itself like it was done overnight. Information about the next project will be coming home soon!

We left about 9:45 for the Pops Concert at Penn. We had a fantastic time listening to the musicians and learning all about the different instruments and what musical families they come from.

Yahoo readers! We had an amazing 6,412 minutes of reading this week...and that was only 4 days. I can't wait to see next week's total! I challenge you to break this record next week! Don't forget to read as much as possible this weekend!

HW: Book orders are due next Friday. We're back to a regular week starting Monday!

Math: No math today due to the Pops Concert.

HW: None

Health: We spent today reviewing for the Chapter 2 test. This will be an open book test given on Monday.

HW: Study for the test.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! Go out and enjoy this spring-like weather! Don't forget to "Spring Your Clocks Forward!"

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Finally Finished...Well...Sorta!

We successfully finished this round of ISTEP+! This round proved to be a real challenge, with some hard questions! I'm so proud of the effort all the students showed in doing their personal best on all the sessions! We will have the second session in late April!

LA: We took our two Science ISTEP+ tests and squeezed in time for a quick game of Scattergories before specials! This was a great way for us to chill out and take a break! :)

HW: Games are due tomorrow! Read and record minutes...the bright pink calendars need to be brought in tomorrow with parent's signatures verifying reading minutes from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and today's minutes.

Math: No math today due to ISTEP!

HW: Keep working on area and perimeter problems at home!

Content: We had a special visitor, Mrs. Szabo, in today to talk about dental hygiene! She taught us a lot about keeping our teeth healthy and how that keeps our bodies in good shape too!

HW: The open book test has been moved to Monday!

Please note: The germs are continuing to fly around here! Please review the proper "cold etiquette" with your child! It's important to cover their coughs, sneezes and washing hands is a must! We're doing our best to quit spreading germs and sharing our symptoms!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

2 More To Go...

We have just two more tests to go in this round of ISTEP+, then we'll be done until late April!

LA: We took another ISTEP test today and then had a special Library time since we will miss our scheduled time on Friday. We also took some time out to watch the Book Fair video to learn about the exciting things that will be here next week! We even squeezed in a few minutes to work on our illustrations in our published books!

HW: Don't forget to read, read, read tonight! Play A Good Book game is due on Friday.

Math: We took it easy today and reviewed area and perimeter on Study Island in the computer lab! Mrs. Suddarth made a guest appearance today at the end of math to continue to work with us on those same concepts.

HW: None

Health: We finished up unit 6 today and worked with partners on a worksheet. We will be reviewing tomorrow.

HW: An open book test will be given on Friday.

Things to watch for in blue folders tonight:
  • Market Day
  • Original Works Of Art magnets...if you would like to purchase this, or anything else, please send in order and money by March 18th. If you'd like to pass, we need the magnets back!
  • "Let There Be Night" information sheet.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Sessions 3 & 4...DONE!

HOORAY! We're making progress in those ISTEP+ booklets! We've completed 4 tests and still have two more days!

I hope you're taking this week of no homework to get in as much reading as possible! Record those minutes so we can set a record this year!

Due to ISTEP+ and specials, we really only had math today!

Math: We are still working on mastering perimeter and area. Many of us continue to struggle with both of these concepts and need lots of practice! Going over these terms would be a great review at home!

HW: None


KEEP READING!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Pick Up Those Books...

The I Love To Read contest starts today! Are you reading yet? This is one of my most favorite things we do all year! Let's set a record this year!

LA: We spent the entire morning together and worked through our first two ISTEP+ tests. They were both over math! We also started the illustration part of our published books and spent some time having free play in Computer Lab to relax our brains!

HW: Bring in any pictures or stickers you want to use in your published book. Don't forget to read to reach your goal (or go over it!) tonight and record your minutes on your bright pink paper! I can't wait to see the results of this first week on Friday.

Math: No math today due to ISTEP+ testing. See you tomorrow.

Health: We continued on today learning about growing up and what kind of changes we are experiencing. We took some time out for a fun activity of making comic strips about adolescence and puberty!

HW: None

Don't forget we are ISTEP+ testing until Thursday! Please make sure you are getting to bed early and eating a healthy breakfast! Healthy snacks are a good idea to pack in your back pack!