Here we are at the last week in January already!  I can't believe it!  

In reading this week we will be on the last week of unit 4.  We will be looking back and comparing our two stories from this unit: Discovering the Story of Earth and Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs.  We will be reviewing the skills of visualizing, using our dictionary, making analogies, similes, and contractions.  The kids will continue working on their inquiry projects for this unit, they have been doing a wonderful job researching. Their project for this unit is a play.  They are working on coming up with their scripts, but during their play they have to answer their inquiry question.  They seem very excited to do a play again! 

In writing this week we will be working on a descriptive essay.  We didn't really get too far into this last week, so we will be choosing our place on Monday and thinking about how we can write about that place using our senses.  We will also be looking at the grammar skills of adjectives and adverbs. 

In math we are working on estimation.  We will be learning about over and under estimates and estimating differences. We will also be looking at story problems and deciding if an exact answer is needed or if we can just make an estimate. 
Make sure your kiddo is still practicing their multiplication facts at home even though we are done with our 6 weeks of memorization.  

In social studies we will be learning about how people can improve their communities.  In science we are using an app on the i-pads to design our gliders.  We will also have a guest speaker in science on Wednesday talking to us about the science fair.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  

Code Word: Learning, Learning, Learning!!!

2nd quarter is done!  How crazy is that!  This year is just flying by! We ended the quarter on a fun note on Friday meeting Addy's puppy, Murry, and oh was he cute!  Last week we did quite a few math assessments to see what we had learned and retained this quarter and overall I was very happy with the results!  We started inquiry projects on Friday and the kids came up with some interesting questions, here's what they are choosing to research:

• What do fossils tell us about the past?
• What role do volcanoes play in the story of Earth?
• What can fossils teach us about ancient plants and animals?
• How can Pompeii teach us about the past?
• What were ancient civilizations like?

Remember there is no school on Monday, ask your kiddos what they have been learning about Martin Luther King Jr.  Report cards will go home on Thursday, January 22nd.  Coming up, the next Arrowhead Family Fun Night is on Friday February, 6th at the Reef!  It should be a fun night and I'm planning on attending to swim as well!  

This week we will continue unit 4 and we will be focusing on the question: how are humans part of Earth's story? We will be reading the story Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs. The skills we will be focusing on this week include: using similes, visualizing, categorize and classify. We will also continue our novel study's and some of the kids have started their small book report project.  

In writing we will finish up our persuasive posters and do author's chair.  Our next writing project is a descriptive essay.  We will be writing with our senses to make sure that our audience can really visualize what we are writing about.  The kids will choose a place that they have been and will describe it using all their senses. 

In math this week we are starting the week with multiplying by multiples of 10, which I think the kids will love! To multiply by multiples of 10 all you have to do is multiply the factors as if the zero's weren't there and then add the zero's back on the end.  For example, 40x30, I think of 4x3=12, then I bring the zero from 40 and the zero from 30 and put them at the end, so 40x30=1,200. We will then move into estimation.  We will start with front end estimation and move into using compatible numbers.  

In social studies this week we will finish up our little unit about Martin Luther King Jr and then we will be writing about it on Kid Blog.  In science this week we are continuing our PLTW unit about flight.  This week we will watch a presentation about gliders and powered and unpowered aircrafts.  

We wish a Happy Birthday to Clay on Sunday!! We will celebrate with him when we all get back on Tuesday! 

Homework: Reading Log, multiplication quiz, multiplying by multiples of 10 practice page

Code Word: Martin Luther King Jr. 

We had a busy first week of 2015 last week!! Sorry I'm a little late getting this up today!  Just to let you know I will be out on Tuesday for a math training, so there will be a guest teacher in my room.  I'll have my computer though so you can still reach me by email if you need anything!

In reading this week we will continue reading Discovering the Story of Earth and we will be focusing on the role water plays in the story of earth.  We will focus on the skills of making connections, distinguishing fact from opinion, and making analogies.  We will start our unit 4 inquiry projects at the end of this week. 

In writing we are finishing up our persuasive advertisement posters.  Once we finish them we will share them with author's chair.  I am excited for the kids to share, they came up with some really creative ideas! We will also spend some time this week on linking verbs, contractions, and adjectives. 

We will not be doing our math rotations this week as we will be doing some end of quarter assessments.  We will be reviewing and then assessing: time to the nearest minute, elapsed time, division as sharing, multiplication and division problem solving, finding the unknown number, and using the properties of multiplication. I sent an email, but just in case you didn't get it, I won't need my math volunteers this week since we won't be doing math workshop. 

In social studies this week we are learning about Martin Luther King Jr. and in science we will be using the i-pads to explore the forces of lift, weight, thrust, and drag that we learned about last week. In art we will continue our artist study of Monet.  

We ended the week with a real tough time listening and following directions, I hope everyone is ready to start fresh on Monday and will come ready to listen and learn!!  

I hope you all had a great weekend.  Mine was wonderful!  On Friday night Tymon and I attended Aubrey's play and she did such a great job!  We then spent Saturday in Red Lodge snowshoeing and is was so nice to get out and enjoy the snow a little bit!  I know basketball season is starting, remember if you bring in a note with the time, place, day, and color of you team if I am around that weekend I would love to come! Enjoy your Sunday!  

Homework: reading log, multiplication quiz, division review

Code Word: Listen

Welcome back and welcome to 2015!!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful break!  Mine was very nice and I found it hard to get back into my Sunday routine this morning!  We spent most of the break in Helena with family and friends and it was so nice to see everyone, but also very nice to get back home!  

We are jumping back into the swing of things this week and I'm excited to get started!  In reading this week we are starting Unit 4: Digging Up a Story.  Our theme question this unit is: What is the story of Earth? This week we will be focusing on making connections, distinguishing fact from opinion, and the skill of using our dictionary.  As part of our reading rotations we are also starting a novel study.  Each group will have a different novel to read and we will incorporate a small book report project at the end. 

In writing we will be working on a persuasive piece this week.  The kids will be advertising a product.  It can be a current product, or they can invent something new, but they will need to persuade and convince us to purchase it!  After we write our persuasive paragraph the kids will get a chance to draw their product and make a poster for it.  

In math this week we will start the week with problem solving and making sure we can choose the correct equation.  We will then move into working on the commutative, associative, and distributive properties of multiplication.  

In social studies we are looking at what makes a community diverse and in science we are continuing with PLTW and investigating the forces of thrust, lift, drag, and weight. 

I also wanted to take a moment and thank you all again for your generosity at Christmas!  I love my wonderful class gift of the TJ Maxx gift cards and Ciao Mambo gift card, as well as all the other wonderful gifts you all gave me, wow I am one lucky teacher!  You are all so generous and made me feel very special!  

Homework: reading log, multiplication quiz, January poem

Code Word: Happy New Year!!