When we get to the point of publishing there will be an at home component. If you would like your child's paper published on the website then either they can type it at home and email it to the professor and he will put it on the website. I will get his email address out to you when we get to that point.
What a lucky group of kiddos today!! We were taught a 6 trait writing lesson from five RMC students. The kids had a blast. These college students will come back two more times to work with our class on writing. They will work through the writing process with them and at the end, if you are comfortable with it, our kiddos writing will be published on the RMC Elementary website. Click this link to check it out! When we get to the point of publishing there will be an at home component. If you would like your child's paper published on the website then either they can type it at home and email it to the professor and he will put it on the website. I will get his email address out to you when we get to that point.
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In reading this week we will start the story Owl Moon and we will be practicing the reading strategy of making predictions. When reading with your kiddo at home you could ask them to predict what they think will happen next in the story, and we always have to give evidence with our predictions. For example, they might say I predict that Owl Moon will be about an owl at night time because the title mentions both an owl and the moon. We will also learn about figurative language like similes and metaphors and continue to practice contractions. In math this week we are working on finding the area using unit squares. We will also relate area to multiplication. When we first start to find the area of an object we count the unit squares, then we start to learn how we can multiply to find the area for many shapes. Click here for a quick lesson on area and square units!! In writing we are finishing up our personal narratives as well as working on our news reports for science. This week we started our reply's to our pen pals in Fargo, ND and the kids were so excited to reply!! Friday is the end of quarter 1 and Parent/Teacher conferences are the week of 11-4-13. Report cards will go home on Tuesday, November 5th. Remember that the grading on report cards is a little different this year than it has been in the past as we are now grading on a growth model. For many of the standards we are not expecting full mastery until 3rd or 4th quarter. Watch this video for a better understanding!! I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend!!
This week in reading we will read the next two chapters in Science All Around and we will work on the strategy of summarizing. This week we will also explore idioms like, "You are the apple of my eye," and review compound words. In math we are continuing to learn multiplication with the factors of 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8. We are still learning ways to find these products, not memorizing yet. For example, the factor of 7 can be pretty hard and we want to find the product of 7x8. To do that we can break up the factor into 5x8 and 2x8, both of which are easy problems and then we can add those products together. The reason we can break it up into 5x8 and 2x8 is because 5+2=7. We can do the same thing with 6's and 8's, just make it into a simpler problem. At the end of the week we will introduce area by learning to count the unit squares. In writing this week we are going to be writing a personal narrative, or a story about our life. We will also be writing in science this week by researching different animals that do not care for their young and then writing a news report about our findings. On Thursday we will also get the chance to respond to our pen pals from North Dakota! Starting this week I am adding a little bit of homework for the kids. We are putting an emphasis on typing this year because coming next year much of our testing will be on computers and the kids will have to type their answers. In order to help prepare them for this we have started a program called Typing Club. They can access this from my Cool Websites and to log in it is just their first name for the user name and then student for the password. I want them to try for 15 minutes a week to start, this may grow throughout the year, but I feel 15 minutes is a good start. I am able to see when I log in how much time they have spent on it and how they are doing on the levels. We have practiced in class and I think they are ready to try at home. If your child does not have access to a computer at home please let me know and I will find a way for them to complete their time at school. If you have any questions please call or email me! This week is also Red Ribbon Week and here is the schedule: Monday (21st) “Sock It To Drugs” Wear Crazy Socks Tuesday (22nd) “Don’t Let Drugs “Tie” You Up” Wear a Necktie Wednesday (23rd) “Drugs Stink” Wear Pink Thursday (24th) “No Drugs, No Alcohol...No Sweat” Wear Sweats Friday (25th) “Team Up Against Drugs” Wear Something of Your Favorite Sports Team AND Kaitlyn's Voice - wear your favorite hat!! Check out this great video explaining the standards based report cards this year!! Sorry I am so late getting this weeks post up, I was relaxing today and almost forgot!!
This week in reading we are going to reinforce the reading strategy of summarizing. We will also continue working on making contractions and identifying antonyms. In writing we are decorating our writer's notebooks on Tuesday, so please make sure all items that your kiddo wants to use to decorate their notebook are to school by then. In math the students will work on multiplying with the factors of 0 & 1, 9, and 3. Right now we are still working on the basics of multiplication such as being able to use repeated addition or draw an array to represent the answer to the multiplication question. Soon we will start memorizing our facts, but not yet. :) Check out this video on array's for ideas of what to practice at home! This week is also MEA conferences for teachers, so there is no school on Thursday or Friday. Wednesday is also an early release day, so the kids may bring a larger snack if they would like. There will not be a spelling test or homework this week. Have a wonderful week! We were going to begin decorating our writer's notebooks today, but we only had a couple kids that were ready with their items to decorate. So I am extending the time until next Tuesday. This will give everyone time to collect a few different items that are special to them to put on their notebooks. The kids that had their items today shared to help with ideas. Some of the items we talked about were: pictures of you and you family, sports teams, pictures of things you like to do from online, drawings of things you like, stickers, cut outs of things you like from magazines or newspapers, and so on. We will use these items to then make a collage on the cover of our notebook.
While I have you here I also just want to remind you (as I already reminded the kids) that homework is always due back to me by Friday. Each quarter the kids get one pass for if they forget their homework, because I know it happens, but after that they have to sign the book if they forget their homework. A few kids last week already used their pass, so I just wanted to stress the importance of remembering to bring their homework in by Friday! Thanks so much for helping me teach them this responsibility!! Please let me know if you have any questions! We are starting a new unit in reading this week called Science at Play. We will be investigating the question, "How does science help us have fun?" This week we will be focusing on the comprehension strategies of summarizing, using antonyms, and identifying cause and effect. We will also be learning about contractions. In writing we are starting writer's workshop and we will begin by decorating our notebooks. I hope you had a chance this weekend to look for some pictures to put on your notebook. :) In math we are starting multiplication!! We will begin looking at multiplication as repeated addition. For example 4+4+4+4=16 or we have 4 groups of 4 so we could say 4 times 4 equals 16, or 4x4=16. We will be looking at arrays and beginning in on the factors of 2 and 5. Click here to learn more about arrays!! This week is also the kick-off for the Believe Fundraiser on Tuesday the 8th, as well as bike and walk to school day
Next week we are starting writer's workshop. As a part of writer's workshop, we are decorating our writing notebooks on Tuesday. I told the kids they can bring in anything they would like to decorate their notebooks with. We talked about family pictures, pictures of pets, drawings they have done, pictures of things they like from the internet (games, places, etc.). The reason that we decorate their notebooks is to really get them invested in what they write IN their notebooks. I hope that you can help them find some things this weekend that they will be able to use to decorate. If you have any questions please email me! Thanks so much!
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All About Me
This school year will mark my seventh year of teaching and I must say I am so blessed to be a part of such a great community at Arrowhead school. I am excited to begin a new year with a wonderful group of kids!! I grew up in Helena and attended college in Bozeman, MT at MSU. Go Bobcats! While there I obtained a degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Reading. In 2016 I received a masters degree in Education Leadership. Six years ago I married my high school sweetheart, Tymon. We also have a five year old adorable mini australian shepherd puppy, Molly. This year we are also welcoming our first child in February and we are so excited to be parents! When I am not teaching I love to be outside enjoying hiking trails or taking in a sporting event. CategoriesArchives
May 2019
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