The Weber Weekly

I apologize for the late post.  I was at a Common Core meeting on Tuesday afternoon, out sick yesterday, and then spent the whole day today trying to play catch up in the classroom.  I must say, upon returning to school, I was completely overwhelmed with the apple tree and science donations.  I don't know how I was lucky enough to end up with such a wonderful class this year, but I am so extremely thankful for all of you.  We already put many of the donations to use during science today.  The children learned the difference between mixtures and solutions during a tasty science experiment.  Ask your child to explain the results to you. 

In writing this week, we continued working on letters.  The children should understand the five parts of a friendly letter as well as correct comma usage throughout.  I'm very impressed with the quality of writing the children are producing. 

We continued a nonfiction big book this week called Putting on a Play.  We focused on using punctuation clues, such as commas and question marks, to read with expression. 

In math, we've been working hard on place value, comparing numbers, and odd/even numbers.  We have a lot to cover this quarter, and to save time, I've decided to stop giving daily math quick checks.  Unfortunately they hadn't been as "quick" as I had hoped and we were losing out on too much instructional time.  Instead, the kids will take a topic test at the end of each topic and those scores, combined with their outcome test score, will determine their math grade for each quarter.  Our math resource provides a great reteaching piece which will be used for any child who does not score well on the topic tests.  Your child's graded Topic 5 test will be coming home next week.

Please mark your calendars for our next GP Family Dinner Night which will be on Wednesday, November 20th at Buffalo Wild Wings in Shorewood.  Mr. Weber, Keaton, and I will be going early and we hope to see many of you there.  Even if you can't dine in, you can still call ahead and 10% of your order will go back to our school.  Please remember to take your BWW flyer with you. 

Do you personally have a Facebook account or know someone who does?  If so, GP could really use your help.  Adrienne Mann, a special education assistant, entered our teacher's lounge into a makeover contest.  We are currently in the lead, but have been in a very close race with a breakroom in Arizona.  If you could take a minute and vote for us, we would really appreciate it.  If we're the lucky winners, our lounge will be updated with all new appliances including a coffee maker, espresso machine, blender, Panini maker, and more.  Please, please take a minute to vote for us!  You can vote every day from your computer, laptop, tablet, and/or phone.  I sent the link for the contest through email earlier this week.  Thanks for your help!

Have an awesome weekend!           

      

The Weber Weekly

It's been a short, but very busy week! I really enjoyed seeing all of you at parent-teacher conferences. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with me. Thanks also to those of you who picked apples off of our "Giving Tree". Your donations really mean a lot!

The kids worked really hard on friendly letter writing this week. We've learned the five components of a letter (date, greeting, body, closing, signature) and practiced writing to several teachers throughout the building. Your child will be bringing home a published and graded letter next week.

Our shared reading block got cut very short this week due to a fire drill, library, and the five hour days. We started a new big book, but due to time constraints, we didn't finish it. We will continue the book into next week, which means your child will not be bringing home a shared reading quiz today.

Second quarter math is off to a great start! We've been working on place value, focusing specifically on the hundreds, tens, and ones place. The children have been learning how to use place value blocks to model numbers in many different ways. Please remember to continue working on basic math fact practice. The goal is for children to know all of the basic addition and subtraction facts with automaticity (2 seconds per problem) by the end of second grade.

Our science unit on solids, liquids, and gases is also off to a great start. The children will be learning the properties of matter, the states of matter, and how matter can change. We will continue this unit over the next several weeks.

Fifth Grade Student Council is currently selling taffy apples. If interested, please return your order form and payment in a sealed envelope by next Friday. Student Council is also collecting gently used shoes and non-perishable food items for Grand Prairie families in need.

Now that the cooler weather is upon us, I encourage you to dress your child appropriately. The children go outside for recess and need to have a coat. If your family is in need of a coat, hats, or mittens for the winter months, please contact our school social worker, Paula Wrobel, for assistance.

Next week your child will need gym shoes for Health/PE classes on Monday and Wednesday.

Please mark your calendar for our next GP Family Dinner Night on Wednesday, November 20th. This month's restaurant is Buffalo Wild Wings...YUM!!!! BWW will give 10% of sales back to our school.

 

Enjoy the long weekend!   

 

The Weber Weekly

What a spook-tacular week we've had!  Even with the rain, the kids had a blast at the party and parade yesterday.  We couldn't have done it without the wonderful planning and organization of our volunteers.  BIG thanks to Mrs. Baikie, Mrs. Butusov, Mrs. Neilis, and Mrs. Offerman.  The kids had a great time playing games, making spider crafts, and eating lots of yummy treats.  Thanks to all of you who donated goodies for the party; I don't think anyone left hungry yesterday!   I can't wait to share pictures of our Halloween fun with all of you!

We made Cheesy Spider Webs for our recipe books today.  I am amazed at the dedication the kids put into their handwriting on the recipe cards.  These books will be a real treasure at the end of second grade.  Thank you to the Butusov, Eassa, and Ebner families for being our Snazzy Snack shoppers this month. 

The class worked really hard in writing this week.  Everyone learned how to use transition words to sequence pictures to tell a story.  Sequencing puts events in order from first to last and it allows the student to visualize what is happening in the story.  This important skill crosses over into all curriculum areas, especially science and math, so we will be revisiting this in the future. 

Shared reading was jam-packed with mini-lessons this week.  We read an historical fiction book called The Ox-Cart Man.  This beautifully written story tells of how a family long ago used an ox-cart through the seasons to sell goods for money.  We reviewed compound words and also focused on plural nouns and compound sentences with conjunctions. 

Everyone did an excellent job on their math outcome assessment this week.  I'm excited to share the results of this test with you at conference next week.  I'm so proud of the hard work and perseverance displayed during math in our classroom.

I'm really looking forward to meeting with all of you next week for your child's conference.  Don't forget to bring your son/daughter along with you.  The students have so much exciting work to share!  Please let me know if you need a reminder of your conference time.

Enjoy the weekend!