Merry Christmas!

Week 16

This will the last week before we go into the Winter Break.

Here's what coming this week:

• On Wednesday, Mrs. Tacconelli will lead a workshop on making wampum. We aim to wrap up our work on Native Americans this week. The kids are working on building a model of a long house. They are working in groups and each group has come up with a list of materials needed for their model. They wrote a list to ask families to help supply the materials. Please look for this in your child's homework folder.
• We will meet our buddies this week for Buddy Physical Education this Friday. Please make sure your child is wearing sneakers for the gym activities.
• This Friday afternoon, we will also have a demonstration of the dreidel game led by our very own Sophie! Children should also bring a treat to share with the class to celebrate the holidays. More details to follow.
• Finally, The answer to the poll question is $100.13 if your bank balance started at $150.00 and you made a $49.87 withdrawal. Great job, voters! Check out our new poll.

Have a lovely weekend and Happy Hanukah!

Week 15

We are gearing up to end 2011, even if the weather has been a bit unpredictable.
Some homework folders are a bit worse for the wear and I've noticed that quite a few families had replaced the folder with a binder. What a fabulous idea!

Here's what coming next week:

• We are starting our Information Text Writing unit. In this unit, students will write as experts on a Social Studies topic of their choosing. The topic can be anything studied in second, third and fourth grade. This unit will require students to write about a topic they know a lot about. Research will help add facts to the students knowledge. It is important that your child reads many nonfiction texts on the same topic. Texts can be magazine articles, internet articles, books and even documentaries. Students have begun the research work in Reading Workshop.  The writing work will center on organizing facts into cohesive paragraphs/ chapters and writing with elaboration. 
• We are going to the Armory on Tuesday.
• Please check out the Multiplication Game link to help practice those multiplication facts.
• Finally the answer to the poll question, If given 8, 5, 8 and 1, write a number sentence that would equal to 24,  the number sentence would be (8-5) * (8*1)! Nine out of ten voters were correct! Check out our new poll question.

Have a great weekend!

Week 14

Sal assists with a magical feat!

First Friday was positively magical! We have to thank Mr.Thompson for the amazing show!

We also want to thank Mrs. Lewandowski and Mrs. Tacconelli for taking charge of the Winter Festival Project! The class is contributing a handsome table cloth with our hand prints on it. We hope it will help bring in a great donation to the school fundraising. There are so many hardworking and talented parents who really make our school special! Our gratitude goes out to everyone.

Bella & Fiona at Old Stone House

Here's what to expect for next week:

• We are beginning Unit 4 in Everyday Math, which centers on decimals and how decimals are used. As we are working on this unit, we are also working on strengthening our multiplication facts. We will work towards the goal of being able to name facts from the one to twelve times table with speed and accuracy. 
• The Math Unit 3 will be returned on Monday. 
• We are also beginning our reading unit on Non Fiction Social Studies research. This builds on our previous unit on non fiction reading by focusing on learning about a single topic by reading multiple books, articles and informational texts. The knowledge gathered then has to be put together. Ultimately, children are expected to become experts on a historical topic. 
• Finally, the answer to the poll question (How many minutes will 570 seconds make?) is 9.5 minutes. Please check out our new question!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Alex captures a balloon with a skewer!