I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break and that those who traveled made it back safely!  We had a wonderful break in Helena, spending time with both sides of our family.  My husband hunted and I was able to work on some fun Christmas crafts with all the ladies in my family.  

We are jumping in for three and a half weeks now until Christmas break.  

In reading this week we are on week three of unit 3.  This week we will be reading the story Tops and Bottoms and we will be focusing on the skills of monitoring our comprehension, recognizing homophones, sequence of events and noun suffixes. 

In writing this week we will continue working on our reports.  We will learn how to write our conclusion then spend the rest of the week focusing on getting our drafts done and working on editing and revising. 

In math this week we are switching from whole group math instruction to a workshop model.  The kids will be in 3 groups and I will teach each group a lesson for about 20 minutes.  Then I have some wonderful volunteers who are coming in each day and one of the groups that is not with me will be with them working on a math game.  The last group will be working on independent work at their seat.  Each kiddo will go to all three stations each day.  I am hoping this will be a way for me to better meet the math needs of all the kids and differentiate for them!  Wish us luck this week!! We are still dividing this week. We will focus on dividing by 8 & 9, 1 & 0, and 10. We will end the week working with writing story problems.  

We are finishing up our unit on Earth's Water this week in science.  We are looking at pollution and what we can do to help save water. In social studies this week we are looking at how people can become a part of our country.  We will be studying immigration and Ellis Island this week. 

Homework: December poem, division review, multiplication quiz.  Starting this week and going for the next 6 weeks we will be working on memorizing our multiplication facts.  Each week I will send home a list with 5 facts on it that the kids need to work on memorizing.  They will take 4 small practice quizzes throughout the week and then end the week on Friday with a test over those facts.  We will start this week.  This will really help to improve our fact fluency.  Thanks for your help working on these facts!  

Upcoming Events: 

• November lunch bunch will be this week.  I am trying for tomorrow, but it depends on if we get back in time from Helena to make a treat, so it could possibly be Tuesday. 
  
• Reminder that the book order is due on Tuesday, December 2nd. 
• Barnes and Noble Night Thursday, December 4th from 4-8.  Come support our school, get some great books, and listen to teachers read (I read at 5).  It should be a wonderful night, I hope to see you there!  
• Christmas Program: Friday, December 19th at 10:00 and 1:30. 
• Last day of school for 2014, Tuesday, December 23rd. 

Code Word:  SNOW!!!

We had quite the divided classroom today with our Cat and Griz fans!  It should be a fun game to watch!  Check out some fun photos from art under the photos tab.  

This week is very short,  but we will still be focused on learning.  Tuesday is an early out day, dismissal is at noon.  We will not have lunch, so your kiddo can pack a larger snack that day.  

In reading this week we will be reading a couple fun articles about Thanksgiving and learning how to do something called reciprocal teaching with these articles.  When we do reciprocal teaching the kids get a chance to take over and lead their individual groups.  We will start whole group and work toward more independence.  We will also use some reading time to work on our inquiry projects.  The kids chose their new questions this week, the questions are focused under the theme question of: how does geography shape a community?  

In writing this week we will be working on a short writing project about what we are thankful for.  The kids started their brainstorming today in Kidblog, be sure to check it out, many of them were thankful for their family!! 

In math this week we are continuing to work on division with dividing by 6 and 7.  We will also be doing a quick assessment on telling time to the nearest minute and elapsed time.  

In science this week we are finishing up our unit on Earth's water by looking at how our water gets cleaned through a water treatment plant. 

It will be a very nice short week.  I hope that everyone is looking forward to Thanksgiving.  I know that I have many reasons to be thankful this year, 22 of those being your children.  I feel so blessed to spend my days with them, they truly are wonderful and I have quickly grown attached to them.  Thank you for sharing them with me!!  

No homework this week, enjoy your break. 

Code Word: Thankful

Welcome to winter!!  We were sure reminded that we live in Montana last week!  This week we are looking at above zero conditions so we should be outside all week, remember all your warm weather gear!! 

I hope you all had the chance to thank a veteran on Tuesday, know that your kiddos talked about what they would say to a veteran. We read the story America's White Table, and it always brings tears to my eyes.  We shared a wonderful moment in class on Tuesday, when I could no longer read the story the kids volunteered to keep reading for me, what a wonderful group of kiddos.  It truly warmed my heart. 

On Friday we gave our unit 2 inquiry presentations.  The kids did a great job with their skits.  I hope to have them up on the website at some point this week.  I will let you know when I get them there!  

This week in reading we are reading chapter 3 of Living on the Land.  We are exploring how geography shapes different communities such as coastal, mountain, desert, and plains.  We will be discussing how based on each communities' geography jobs, hobbies, and much more could be different. The skills we will focus on this week include: questioning, using context clues, paraphrasing, and inflected endings (ed and ing).  When we question with reading we can ask questions to clarify something or about something that makes us curious.  This can be done before, during, and after reading.  We will use our context clues to figure out the meaning of unknown words.  Last week we started paraphrasing and we used the STP strategy where after reading a passage we Stop and cover up the passage, Think about what we read, and Paraphrase it by putting the ideas into our own words.

In writing this week we will continue research for our report.  Last week the kids chose a place or natural disaster that they wanted to research.  This week we will research, organized our research, and begin to write our first draft.  

In math this week we are briefly revisiting area and then moving into division.  We will start by looking at division as sharing.  For example if I have 12 erasers and I want to give the same amount to 3 friends, how many will each friend get?  I have 3 friends, so 3 groups and I can share the erasers or divide them out to each of the groups. Each friend will get 4  erasers.  We will then look at division as repeated subtraction: 12-3=9, 9-3=6, 6-3=3, 3-3=0.  How many times did I subtract 3? 4 times, so 12 divided by 3 equals 4.  By the end of the week we will start learning division by thinking of our multiplication opposites. For example I know that 3x4=12, so 12 divided by 3 must equal 4. Check out this learnzillion video to get an idea of what we will be doing with division this week. 

In science we will investigate how the taste in drinking water can vary based on where it comes from and we will learn about how water gets to our homes.  In social studies we will finish up our brochures and present them to small groups.  

We are so excited to welcome a new student to our class on Monday!  Hudson will be joining us and we are beyond excited!  I met him on Friday and I think he will be a wonderful addition to our classroom and fit right into our small community!!

Homework: Reading log with a summary, multiplication practice page.  If you have flash cards at home it would also be wonderful to start practicing those every night for a couple minutes!! 

Friday is Cat/Griz spirit day (no money needed) just support your favorite team by wearing Cat or Griz gear!! We all know what I'll be wearing....GO CATS!!!! :)

Code Word: Cat/Griz 

What a wonderful week of conferences last week!  I really enjoyed getting the chance to talk to all of you and celebrate your wonderful kiddo!  It will be nice to get back to a normal week this week!

In reading we are starting unit 3: The Shape of the Land.  We will be looking into the theme question: How does geography shape a community? Our vocabulary words this week are geography, community, and business. We will be focusing on the skills of questioning, multiple meaning words, and paraphrasing. At home you can be practicing questioning by asking questions before, during, and after reading.  Questions can include something that doesn't make sense, or just something you are curious about.  

In writing we are going to be starting our next project, a report.  For this report the kids will get to pick either a place that they would like to research such as the Grand Canyon, or Yellowstone National Park, or England. Or they can choose a natural disaster like hurricanes, tornadoes, or tsunami's. Then this week we will be focusing on researching and gathering information.  We will also be reviewing plural nouns and looking at possessive nouns. 

In math this week we are going to be learning how to tell time.  We will start with telling time to the half and quarter hour, then we will move to telling time to the nearest minute, and end the week with elapsed time.  With elapsed time we will use the number line shown below to help us find the time between two events. 

In social studies this week we will be working on our Billings brochures and we will also use that time to practice our skits for our unit 2 presentations.  We will present on Friday morning (I will make sure my i-pad has enough memory to record them this time)! 

Homework: Reading log with a summary and area and perimeter practice.

Coming up this week...

• On Monday the 4th and 5th graders are singing in a Veteran's Day program and we get to listen at 10. 
• Donuts with Dad is Friday starting at 7:15 a.m. 

Code Word: VETERAN'S DAY 

Wow, what a week last week!  Red Ribbon week was a success.  We talked a lot about how people with good character say "NO!" to drugs!  Check out our fun pictures under the photos tab!  Friday was the end of quarter 1, I can't believe how fast it went!  Conferences are this week, I am excited to get the chance to see you all again.  Report cards will come home on Tuesday, and just a friendly reminder that with the new grading system implemented last year students might not receive 3's until the end of the year, especially in reading.  For many of the standards we do not expect mastery until the end of the year, as we are learning how to use different skills and strategies all year long.  I have no doubt that students who receive 1's and 2's in a standard will grow, that's what I'm hear for!  

The kids will be released at noon Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday so that we can conduct parent/teacher conferences.  Lunch will not be served on those three days, but make sure your kiddo has enough of a snack to get them through noon!  

In reading this week we are on week 4 of our unit: Science All Around.  We we be looking back at our two selections and rereading and reinforcing the skills of: predicting, similes, idioms, and contractions. We will also be finishing up our Unit 2 inquiry projects.  This unit the kids are writing scripts and putting on a performance for the class that still must answer their inquiry question.  We will be practicing this week and preparing to present next week. 

In math this week we are learning how to multiply by factors of 8.  To do this we break it apart into a simpler problem and multiply 4x the other factor and then double it.  For example: 8x7, multiply 4x7=28, then add 28+28=56, so 8x7=56.  We will also be looking again at area and introducing perimeter. 

With the short days this week we don't have a lot of writing time, but we will be sharing our opinion pieces about an activity that we think everyone should try.  

In science we are looking at water pressure in pipes and reading day 4 and 5 of Do we drink the same water as the dinosaurs? In social studies we are working on our brochures for Billings with the physical geography, climate, and natural resources of our city! 

Homework: Reading log (make sure you are reading at least 15 minutes every night), multiplication practice, November poem. **On Monday I will be sending home a little questionnaire for you (parents) to fill out before conferences.  Please fill it out Monday night if you can and send it back with your kiddo on Tuesday so I have time to answer any questions that you had before meeting with you for conferences!  Thanks so much!  

P.E. this week has been moved to Monday, so please remember your gym shoes tomorrow! 

The book fair is going on this week during conferences.  Mr. Casey will also be there before and after school starting Monday if you would like to purchase any books.  The kids were pretty excited about all the awesome books!

Happy Birthday today to Liam!! And Happy Birthday Tuesday to Caleb! Let's have a wonderful week!

Code Word: Conferences 


Check our our cute Halloween Luminaries from art on Friday! 

Friday we also did a fun Halloween STEM challenge.  The kids were to try and make the tallest, freestanding structure they could with 30 toothpicks and 15 pumpkin candies.