Happy Tuesday!

The children have been working very hard this month and it's only just begun.  We have been busy in 4M. We are currently finishing up our rock cycle and soil chapters in Science.  The children have created rock cycle illustrations then wrote about the rock cycle using our 3/5 writing method-5 paragraphs introduction, description of igneous rocks paragraph 1, description of metamorphic rocks and how they fit into the rock cycle, and paragraph 4 sedimentary rocks and how they fit into the rock cycle, and finally the conclusion.  They are currently creating acrostic poems on the rock cycle.

In reading the children have begun the next story, Lewis and Clark and Me, one of my favorite in the book.  The children are always encouraged to look things up at home and bring in what they find.  This topic is on the exploration of Lewis and Clark.  We all would love to see what the children can find out on their own and share with the class.  In our writing, we have created our fall vocabulary and the children are creating original concrete poems.  I am really enjoying what they have to say.

Last week was our Week of Respect and the children had a blast creating positive chalk graffiti on the school property.

Math we have started our second chapter, which consists on algebraic thinking and number operations.  Please make sure to have the children continue to practice their multiplication facts as well as review their notes from class each night.  This chapter takes multiplication and introduces it in a new way of thinking for most of them, so it is very important to review notes on a nightly basis and jot down any questions they may have which they can share with me the next day.

Our reading logs are going to be done a little differently this year.  I have used kidsblog in the past for reading comprehension.  The blog is located to the left on my page here under Important Sites.  The children were given passwords.  Each night after they read they log into kidsblog and create a new post.  Here they will summarize their reading for the night. They also need to ask one question which is to be incorporated into their summaries that they have about what they read.  Ex. I wonder why Zinkoff ran ahead to school without his mother?  or I couldn't imagine being in Zinkoff's shoes when the 3rd grader took his giraffe hat, why didn't he get upset about that?  They need to reflect on what they are reading.  I provide written feed back on the summary in the kidsblog.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.  Email is the quickest and it is up and working :)

Have a great week,
Hugs and Smiles,
Ms. Mayer