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!