Mrs. Stone's Class

Hello families! Here’s what we are working on this week!

ELA- Last week the kids took the (very lengthy!) End of Unit 1 (Personal Narrative) Assessment and a grammar and spelling pre-assessment. This week I will be going over their comprehension assessments with them individually during WING time to review successes and areas of growth.

This week we continue to dive into our second unit, a non-fiction unit on Early American Civilizations. The kids are using non-fiction reading strategies to read for information, paraphrase, and write summary and compare/contrast essays about the information they are learning. So far, the kids seem to be enjoying learning about these interesting cultures/civilizations. We are also working on sentence structures, subject and predicates, run-on and sentence fragments, and prefix rules and uses.

Math: We are continuing through Unit 2 – Whole Number Multiplication

Science/Social Studies: While the kids are still working on completing their 51st state project, we have moved on to our Ecology/Ecosystem Unit! This week we examine the Biosphere experiment in Arizona, and discuss the Mars colonization project. The kids are brainstorming what would be needed to live in a dome on Mars, which asks them to consider food chains/webs as well as social/cultural aspects. Next we will learn about Food Webs, and will play a game called “Eat or be Eaten” where the kids try to make the longest food chain. We are looking forward to adding to our knowledge at PMEC this coming Thursday on our field trip!

I’ve really enjoyed meeting with so many of you, and I’m looking forward to meeting with the rest of you at our Parent Conference this Wednesday!

++Be looking for an email from myself or our Room Parent about the upcoming “Harvest Celebration”- next Thursday- All kids are invited to wear a costume to school for the day.

We have also earned our first behavior reward, so I’ll be sending out a note telling you what they have chosen to do when we have taken our final vote! Fun times ahead!!

Happy October, families!

This week we are working on:

Social Studies: Friday we will take the 50 states and capitals test! This will not be all 50 states mixed up, but instead, grouped together by region. This makes it a bit easier and more in line with how they studied them. They have done a fantastic job taking on this challenge the past month! This week we also begin a two week project where they will collaborate on a “Performance Assessment” to demonstrate their understanding of what they have learned over the past month. With their group, they will create a 51st state. They will consider physical features, natural resources, their state’s economy and tourism, climate and ecosystems. They will also create an advertisement to convince us of why we would want to come visit their state. This project is always a hit, so I’m sure they will come home with lots to share about what they are creating!

Math: We are continuing to learn about mental math strategies to estimate, add, and subtract decimals.

ELA: This week we finish our Personal Narrative unit in CKLA. The kids are working on finding quotes to support their thinking in the personal narratives they are reading. They are practicing “Showing vs. Telling” the audience their feelings and point of view within the narratives they are writing.

Parent Conferences this week! I have 11 parent conferences on Wednesday! I’m looking forward to chatting with you about your child! When you arrive, please knock on the door to let me know you are there. I will try very hard to keep to a schedule, so it is important you arrive on time and we keep to our 15 minutes. If we need more time, we can always schedule another meeting. I’m looking forward to meeting with you all!
Lisa

Happy last week of September!!

Important Dates to Remember:

Monday 9/23 Math AIMSWEB (No math homework tonight)

Tuesday 9/24 Math topic 1 test (no math homework on test nights!)
Reading AIMSWEB

Friday 9/27 Picture Day
Friday 9/27 Midwest States and Capitals test day!

CKLA-ELA We are continuing to read Personal Narratives to learn from the author’s craft. Last week, after reading a Graphic Narrative titled “Hello, My Name Is” by a Chinese-American’s experience feeling different, we practiced writing Graphic Narratives using our name stories as inspiration. This week we read multiple stories written by Rosa Parks about her experiences in the 1950s. We investigate the author’s point of view, tone and use of figurative language. The kids will use what they learn from the author in their own writing.

Math: Tuesday we test Topic 1 (Place Value). Students will begin topic 2 in their flex group math class beginning on Wednesday or Thursday of this week!

Social Studies: We continue to learn about the USA, with a focus this week on the Midwest. We will learn about the Economy, climate, landmarks and natural resources in addition to memorizing the states and capitals! The kids are doing a FANTASTIC job on this beginning of the year challenge!

Welcome to the first 5 day week of school! It was so nice meeting you all at open House! I look forward to discussing your child’s goals with you at our conference in October.

CKLA-This week we are continuing to work within our Personal Narrative unit. The kids are studying personal narratives to learn how authors use personification, vivid verbs and adjectives and dialogue to create strong images. They are then practicing these techniques in their own writing. They are also learning about theme and using evidence from the text when making infererences.

Math: We are completing unit 1 on Friday, and will be testing next Tuesday. We have been working on place value to the millions period and to the thousandths in the decimal. We are ordering and comparing decimals, rounding decimals,and learning about exponents.

Social Studies: Friday will conclude week 2 of our Hooray for the USA 50 States and Capitals challenge! The kids did great on their NE States, so hopefully the tricks that helped them the first time will also help them master the SE this Friday ! We are also doing some Non-fiction reading about the SE Region (Natural Resources, economy, climate, etc). Today we took some time to celebrate Constitution Day, which is Sept 17! The kids watched a video and completed an activity that investigated the significance of the Preamble and the goals of the constitution. We study this more in depth in April and May when we learn about the Revolutionary War

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are enjoying the nice weather! I have been thoroughly enjoying getting to know your children these first few days of school, and am very much looking forward to a great year! We have participated in so many games, activities, and collaborative projects that showcase the strengths and individuality of each student in the class and develop teamwork and mutual respect. I love how this class is willing to take chances, participate in their thoughts and ideas, and collaborate with their classmates on projects! I will be posting here, typically once a week, updating you on what is happening in the classroom. If there are important messages you need to know right away, I will send you a class or individual email.

This week in:

Social Studies: As you have probably seen, we have begun our “Hooray for the USA project” where kids are challenged to learn all 50 state locations and capitals! Each week, students will get a copy of blank maps and flash cards to practice their states and capitals by region. These are tools they can use, in addition to online tools like IXL or other websites/aps available. All of these are tools they can choose to use, and do not need to be turned in. On Friday, they will take an online OR paper quiz (their choice) in which a word bank will be available for all states and capitals. The final 50 states test will be on Friday 10/11! The purpose of this project is twofold; to learn the location of the states we will be studying in Social Studies all year and to learn how to break down projects and use good study habits to memorize. This is always a fun and rewarding project for all the kids, but if your child is struggling in any way, please get in contact with me so we can make it successful for all!

ELA As you will hear more about at Open House, HUES has adopted a new ELA program called CKLA, which integrates reading, writing, vocabulary and word work/spelling. We have started our first unit “Personal Narratives” in which students read and analyze various personal narratives and practice those skills in their own writing. I’ll share lots more about this on Wednesday!

Math Last week the kids practiced their multiplication facts by learning various math games (SKUNK, the Product game, Multiplication top-it (war) that they will use throughout the year. They also took the beginning of the year Math Readiness test. This test will be used as one of the data points that help us place kids in a math class that is appropriately paced for them. We also look at their AIMSWEB, SAS, and performance during Unit 1, which will be in homeroom classrooms. Today we began Unit 1, and reviewed place value and learned about Powers of 10. We use our observations on behavior, understanding of place value/numeracy, motivation and work ethic to also help us make the right placement for each child. For homework, students should all do the practice side of the homework. Although the problem solving side is optional, students are encouraged to do as many problems as they can.

This week students learned about the activities available during CHOICE which will begin next week. Band begins this week, so if your child plays an instrument, they will need to bring it on Wednesday.

I hope to see you all on Wednesday! Be on the lookout later on this week for an email with a sign up for parent conferences. As always, please email any questions or concerns!
Have a great week!
Lisa