Please check out the Decimal Games Link. It requires a free download of Adobe Shockwave but there are three games worth exploring: Place Value Strategy, Decimal Darts and Concentration. The Decimals Fractions Match up link can also be fun.
In addition, please check out any of the Fractions games in the Shepard Math Link. These games can provide excellent review for some fundamental skills with fractions and decimals.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Week 16
Happy Holidays to all! Thank you all for the presents and warm wishes today.
We will begin 2011 with our second trip to the Brooklyn Museum. We have two confirmed chaperones, so if anyone can volunteer for this trip, it would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know when we come back on Monday.
There will be a Math test on Unit 4. Decimal skills and metric units will be the focus of the test.
We will have First Friday on January 7. If anyone would like to volunteer a craft or presentation to the class, please send a note with your child.
The answer to the poll question "What is another name for 0.70 meters?" is 70 cm. congratulations to the children who solved this correctly.
Have a happy and restful recess. Happy New Year!
We will begin 2011 with our second trip to the Brooklyn Museum. We have two confirmed chaperones, so if anyone can volunteer for this trip, it would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know when we come back on Monday.
There will be a Math test on Unit 4. Decimal skills and metric units will be the focus of the test.
We will have First Friday on January 7. If anyone would like to volunteer a craft or presentation to the class, please send a note with your child.
The answer to the poll question "What is another name for 0.70 meters?" is 70 cm. congratulations to the children who solved this correctly.
Have a happy and restful recess. Happy New Year!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday Notes
With this being the final week before the Winter Recess, I'd like to wish everyone a lovely holiday season with the best hopes for a spectacular 2011!
Just some reminders for this week:
* We will have a visit to the Armory tomorrow. Please make sure your child is in secure foot gear such as sneakers.
Whoops! Due to the switches in the Armory schedule, We will have our next Armory visit on January 18th. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
*Our Holiday celebration will be on Thursday. Your child should bring a drink for his/ herself. If you would like to send in an additional treat, it would be fine but please keep in mind that we will have pizza that afternoon.
* An short optional Homework packet will go home tomorrow. It is intended to help your child retain current learning through the break and onto the next year. It is understood that different families have different engagements during the holidays and not everyone can get to do homework. Whatever can be done would be fine and there are many opportunities during seasonal activities to incorporate fantasy, reading, writing, metric measurements, etc. into the day, so please don't worry if your child doesn't get to it.
* In preparation for an upcoming butter churning activity in January, please keep a lidded 8-14 0z. glass jar handy. I will let you know when we will need it in class.
Thanks again and have a festive week!
Just some reminders for this week:
* We will have a visit to the Armory tomorrow. Please make sure your child is in secure foot gear such as sneakers.
Whoops! Due to the switches in the Armory schedule, We will have our next Armory visit on January 18th. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
*Our Holiday celebration will be on Thursday. Your child should bring a drink for his/ herself. If you would like to send in an additional treat, it would be fine but please keep in mind that we will have pizza that afternoon.
* An short optional Homework packet will go home tomorrow. It is intended to help your child retain current learning through the break and onto the next year. It is understood that different families have different engagements during the holidays and not everyone can get to do homework. Whatever can be done would be fine and there are many opportunities during seasonal activities to incorporate fantasy, reading, writing, metric measurements, etc. into the day, so please don't worry if your child doesn't get to it.
* In preparation for an upcoming butter churning activity in January, please keep a lidded 8-14 0z. glass jar handy. I will let you know when we will need it in class.
Thanks again and have a festive week!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Week 15
The green progress report sheet was filled out for the boys this week. Please review it with your child.
Here are some notable events coming up next week:
* We will visit the Armory on Tuesday. Please remind your child to dress for physical activity.
* Thursday will be our last day of school before the Winter Recess. We will watch a movie, so please provide your child with an extra juice or a soft drink along with the usual snack.
* There will be an optional homework packet for the recess.
* Please make sure your child returns the permission slip for the second Brooklyn Museum trip, which will take place on January 5.
* Please purchase an additional two folders for your child. We were asked to provide one for Music class and for Word Study.
Have a warm and healthy weekend!
Here are some notable events coming up next week:
* We will visit the Armory on Tuesday. Please remind your child to dress for physical activity.
* Thursday will be our last day of school before the Winter Recess. We will watch a movie, so please provide your child with an extra juice or a soft drink along with the usual snack.
* There will be an optional homework packet for the recess.
* Please make sure your child returns the permission slip for the second Brooklyn Museum trip, which will take place on January 5.
* Please purchase an additional two folders for your child. We were asked to provide one for Music class and for Word Study.
Have a warm and healthy weekend!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Brooklyn Museum
Our thanks go out to our fantastic chaperones, Ms. Catacutan, Mr. Dumais, Mrs. Gurl and Amanda's Aunt, who helped us throughout our trip. We were able to see a lot in the museum and each child received a free pass to return to the museum with his/ her family.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Monday Notes
*We began our new writing unit, Fantasy Short Stories. Each student used a sentence starter to generate a seed idea: (Character/ Hero) wants (an object, a wish) but (obstacle or problem prevents the hero from getting what the hero wants) so (quest) until (solves problem; changes). Then they live happily ever after!
For homework tonight, your child was tasked with creating two more ideas using this pattern. Have fun and don't forget the magical elements!
* This is the second week of book club meetings. Your child has already made a plan to read a specified amount of pages at home and the jot down an important thought about the reading so that they can bring it for discussion at the meetings on Tuesday and Thursday.
* There are four chaperones for the Brooklyn Museum trip this Wednesday. Each chaperone will receive a letter tomorrow with more information about the trip. If you would like to join us and hadn't signed up, please send a note with your child tomorrow.
* Two Scholastic Book orders went home today. If you are interested in purchasing books for your child, please turn in the order form along with the money by Friday.
* POLL ANSWER: Nineteen and eight hundredths is written as 19.08. Great job, voters!
Have a safe and warm week!
For homework tonight, your child was tasked with creating two more ideas using this pattern. Have fun and don't forget the magical elements!
* This is the second week of book club meetings. Your child has already made a plan to read a specified amount of pages at home and the jot down an important thought about the reading so that they can bring it for discussion at the meetings on Tuesday and Thursday.
* There are four chaperones for the Brooklyn Museum trip this Wednesday. Each chaperone will receive a letter tomorrow with more information about the trip. If you would like to join us and hadn't signed up, please send a note with your child tomorrow.
* Two Scholastic Book orders went home today. If you are interested in purchasing books for your child, please turn in the order form along with the money by Friday.
* POLL ANSWER: Nineteen and eight hundredths is written as 19.08. Great job, voters!
Have a safe and warm week!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Week 14
We were supposed to have a Buddies meeting this Friday but due to the absence of many children, it was postponed to next Friday.
Here are some other notable events for next week:
* On Wednesday, we will be heading to Brooklyn Museum for a guided workshop on the Exploration of the New World. By looking at paintings and artifacts, we will look at the reasons why the Europeans wanted to brave the dangerous journey to the Americas.
* Spelling tests will now be given every two weeks. This upcoming week, we will still work with the words from this past week. Students are continuing their Word Hunts over this weekend.
* Next week's Buddies meeting will be the last one before the holidays.
Have a safe and warm weekend!
Here are some other notable events for next week:
* On Wednesday, we will be heading to Brooklyn Museum for a guided workshop on the Exploration of the New World. By looking at paintings and artifacts, we will look at the reasons why the Europeans wanted to brave the dangerous journey to the Americas.
* Spelling tests will now be given every two weeks. This upcoming week, we will still work with the words from this past week. Students are continuing their Word Hunts over this weekend.
* Next week's Buddies meeting will be the last one before the holidays.
Have a safe and warm weekend!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Book Clubs
Our fantasy book clubs began with the selection of group texts and now we get to the task of becoming more independent in our reading work. Each group has set their own pace of reading and made a plan to read a specified number of pages each night with the goal of finishing a book in one week. Some books are much shorter so that club will be expected to read more books that one.
At home, each child has to jot a post it with an important idea from their reading. These post it are to be placed on the Book Club Schedule sheet and brought to each book club meeting. The goal is to take the ideas/ important parts and through talk, engage higher order thinking skills. To help your child, there was a Fantasy Response Menu placed in the homework folder with eight choices for what to focus on as your child reads. The bullet points give ways in which the reader can write about the book. Each child should chose one choice/ bullet point that best match their reading to focus on for their nightly post it.
At home, each child has to jot a post it with an important idea from their reading. These post it are to be placed on the Book Club Schedule sheet and brought to each book club meeting. The goal is to take the ideas/ important parts and through talk, engage higher order thinking skills. To help your child, there was a Fantasy Response Menu placed in the homework folder with eight choices for what to focus on as your child reads. The bullet points give ways in which the reader can write about the book. Each child should chose one choice/ bullet point that best match their reading to focus on for their nightly post it.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Town Hall
The trip to see The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe went very well thanks to our chaperones, Mrs. Longo, Mrs. Walsh and Mr. Basse. The kids were a great audience!
Monday, December 6, 2010
Monday News
Thank you to the boys and parents who made sure their green reports were signed. I had forgotten to mention it on Friday's post but many of you were on top of that anyway!
*Tomorrow, we are going to Town Hall. We will leave the school at 9:15 and hopefully get there in time to be seated before the 10:30 show. We will return to have lunch either in the classroom or the lunchroom. The bus ride may be lengthy and if your child gets motion sickness, please supply him/her with a sour hard candy which can alleviate some nausea. While we will make every effort to kept a child comfortable we cannot give any child medication like Dramamine so please plan accordingly.
*Test folders went home today. In it you will find last weeks math test on Unit 3 and today's spelling test. You'll notice that due to the new spelling program, your child was tested on only half of the words on their word list. It is still important to study all the words since it is expected that those words will be used correctly in writing pieces.
* We began our fantasy book clubs by assigning groups and picking books with our clubs to read together. The groups met and set a goal for how many pages they will try to read tonight and wrote the page number on a post it attached to the front cover. Some children also took home extra books to read because they did not want to exceed the group goal and get ahead in the story.
We also got a brand new reading log and it is suggested that the book club book be used for the response there.
*Finally, a belated thanks to the parents who came in and assisted with First Friday this past week! We also want to thank the families that donated books to the classroom during the Scholastic Book fair. Those books helped add to our nonfiction work and generated much excitement amongst our readers!
*Tomorrow, we are going to Town Hall. We will leave the school at 9:15 and hopefully get there in time to be seated before the 10:30 show. We will return to have lunch either in the classroom or the lunchroom. The bus ride may be lengthy and if your child gets motion sickness, please supply him/her with a sour hard candy which can alleviate some nausea. While we will make every effort to kept a child comfortable we cannot give any child medication like Dramamine so please plan accordingly.
*Test folders went home today. In it you will find last weeks math test on Unit 3 and today's spelling test. You'll notice that due to the new spelling program, your child was tested on only half of the words on their word list. It is still important to study all the words since it is expected that those words will be used correctly in writing pieces.
* We began our fantasy book clubs by assigning groups and picking books with our clubs to read together. The groups met and set a goal for how many pages they will try to read tonight and wrote the page number on a post it attached to the front cover. Some children also took home extra books to read because they did not want to exceed the group goal and get ahead in the story.
We also got a brand new reading log and it is suggested that the book club book be used for the response there.
*Finally, a belated thanks to the parents who came in and assisted with First Friday this past week! We also want to thank the families that donated books to the classroom during the Scholastic Book fair. Those books helped add to our nonfiction work and generated much excitement amongst our readers!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Week 13
Here's what we can look forward to during the week of December 6:
* We will be going to Town Hall this Tuesday to watch a live performance of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. What a fun way to get into the fantasy genre! Due to the unpredictability of Manhattan traffic, your child will need a lunch as we may not get back in time for school lunch.
*We will have our first spelling test under the new Words Their Way program. Your child has a work book with a list of words to study this weekend.
* We will meet with Ms. Hanson's class on Friday for our Buddies workshop!
Have a warm weekend!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
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