Reading Project

I just wanted to give all you parents a little heads up for the project we will be starting on Friday.  The reading test, will not be given as a test this week, it will be a take home project that we start in class on Friday and will be due Mon. 9/30.  We have been working up to it all week, and it should be pretty self - explanatory once they bring it home.  The kids will get a paper full of boxes that they need to fill in with certain things.  I am attaching the instructions that will be sent home.  That way you can see exactly what is expected and have time to plan for it over your weekend.  Depending on how quickly your child works and how well they understand the story/directions, it shouldn't be too time consuming.  Blocking out a couple chunks of time might be helpful to them though so they don't feel too rushed.  Thanks!
Penguin Chick Rubric

Week of September 23rd

     First of all, I should let you all know how many compliments I have gotten about your kids this week.  In chapel, they all sat so well and participated that 2 other teachers came and interrupted my lesson to tell them how awesome they acted.  They have been so good and are working so well together.  That's so exciting to me because it means we can do some really fun stuff in class as groups.  This week I'm hoping to get links and pictures up on the Reading and Social Studies pages to show you their hard work.

Here's what we are doing this week:
Math
Money:  Each team created their own store and was in charge of the money.  They had to hand out receipts, total up the amount their store earned, and show what coins to use to make different amounts of money.
Suggestion:  While at the store, have your kids help you count out the correct coins to give to the store clerk.  

Fractions:  We will start looking at fractions, adding them up, and using fraction bars.

Reading
Last week your kids did an investigative project in class.  Please see the Reading page of the blog to find out more.

Social Studies
I will have pictures of the posters they created on the Social Studies page in a couple days.

The next couple of weeks we will be learning about urban and rural communities.  They will be doing a collaborative project with another class from a rural area to show what they learn.  This means lots of technology!  They don't know where the other class is yet, so it will be a surprise.

Science
I am planning on doing Social Studies during 1st quarter and then Science during 2nd quarter.  Some of the things we learn/read about in Language and Reading overlap though.  In order to fully cover topics I thought this would be the smartest way to go with the amount of class time that we have.

Hope you all have a great week!
Miss Besel

Week of September 9th

     In case most of you didn't know already, it is officially Fall in my head (even if the calendar...or weather don't agree yet). Football is on every weekend!  The mornings are crisp, leaves are turning, and the days are getting shorter.  I just love this time of year, especially now that school is in full swing. Our class has become a class instead of just a group of kids.  We've read stories, written stories, played some math games, done art projects, used the chrome books and prayed A LOT together.  They can actually use their Bibles on their own now, and sometimes I catch someone reading it during DEAR time.  All of these things have been so fun for me to see in your kids.  So this week we are going to keep plugging away at learning even more.  Here's the basic run down:

Language Arts 

    Reading:  We are still on the story "Dear Juno" in Reading.  We will be adding some other stories to it, especially ones that talk about writing letters and communicating.  

    Writing:    This week we will actually write our first letters to our 3rd grade pen pals.  The rough draft will be due on Wed.  Thursday and Friday I will individually conference with each of them and their Final Draft will be due next Mon. 9/16/.  If you have a picture to send in their letter that would be great!  Please bring it in or email it to me by Thursday.  

Memory Work and Spelling: Listed on the Spelling and Memory Tabs of the blog.  

Math:  Monday and Tuesday will be lighter because we are having a test.  This is mostly review so they should be fine.

Handwriting: Starting cursive this week!!

Picture Day is Tomorrow  They should wear their school uniforms and bring back their picture packets.

Week of September 3rd

Happy short week!  I'm hoping you all had a great Labor Day weekend.  Of course it never feels quite long enough and there will always be things that need to get done.  This week we are talking about "Keeping In Touch".  Our story is about a boy who writes letters back and forth with his grandmother.  We will be starting to learn how to write a letter next week.  This week there will not be a writing assignment that needs to be checked at home.  It would be a great idea to explore different types of communication with friends or family that live far away.  This can also add to our Social Studies by learning about different communities.  If you have old letters around your house, photographs of people that  live far away, postcards, etc. please show them to your kids.  They are welcome to bring them in to add to our discussion!  Have a great week!