Thursday~Friday

Oh my goodness! I do not ever remember this much snow and ice in December! Nor can I remember a time we did not get to have our Holiday Party! :( So sad!

*Parents: Thank you all SO much for your hard work, especially Mandy L. You have put so much time and effort into planning a perfect party for us! Thank you! I'm so sad we don't get to have it!

*Kiddos: I am going to miss you LOTS over the Holiday Break! I hope you all have a wonderful couple weeks to play, rest, and hang out with your families.  I can't wait to see you in the New Year!! XOXO

Merry CHRISTmas and Happy Holidays! Hope everyone has a happy, safe, and warm 2 weeks!

Wednesday

*Holiday Party is tomorrow at 1:30! IF we are not in school tomorrow we will plan on it being Friday at 1:30. I know that is going to be hard for most of our parents who work - but we will work it out and I am sure your kids will understand!!! :) I can help out in any way!

*I know it is NOT the best timing, but I am leaving half day today because my sister is having her baby! We are very close and I need to be there. I'm very sorry for taking a half day! :(

Wednesday Folders should be coming home today with info from the office and graded papers.

I went ahead and gave my students their gifts just in case - little pencils with their names on them, snow straws, and candy rings! :) The pencils were my favorite gift as a child so I always like to give them to my students as well! Hopefully they will bring them home and show them to you!

No HW tonight.

Have a safe night,

Snow Day & Tuesday!

Well...we've had our first Snow Day! Can you believe it? In December? I hope this isn't a sign for the weather to come!
*FYI:
~If you haven't turned in your Persuasive letter to your child, there's still time! Please try and email/send it in on Wednesday!!
~Holiday Party is on Thursday at 1:30! Hope to see you there!
~Ned and Stella have a safe place to go over the Holiday Break. Thank you to Alex and his family!!
~Just In Case... I checked to make sure I had all the Snow-Day Early Release forms and I do! Thank you! :) Just as a reminder, if we have to do this, I usually have to end up using my cell phone to call you because the school lines get so backed up. So in case you see a weird number and have been watching the news about early release days, please answer!
~Science Fair page due TOMORROW!
~No vocab. quiz this week due to missing school yesterday, half day today, and having to take a Learning Check on Thursday during reading class. We WILL still be learning and using the vocab. so it's listed to the right if you'd like to play one of the new review games I found!
**********************************
I was so worried about my kiddos that walk to and from school today! :(
We were very off  from our regular schedule today with the 2-hour delay! We still have to fit in Specials classes for each grade level but they were shortened. So...that meant we had each subject for a little of the time! :)

The order will be out-of-order today so I can remember what we did! :)

Science:

Reading: Today we read Snowflake Bentley and went over the vocab. words. Students also had about 5 minutes to read from their Lit. books.  All students will take their AR tests on the Lit. Books tomorrow.
HW: finish lit. books if needed

Math: Today we finished our basketball booklets with mean, median, and mode.  We also reviewed mean, median, mode, and range.
No HW
*If you remember from a few posts ago... I stated the Singapore math tests were not that good. :( The kids scored a lot better with the KCCT-like assessment I gave them the next day using the Smartboard and whiteboards.  In the Wednesday folders, students will receive their tests with an extra credit page to do. That is due when we return from break.  The test was already on the mid-term grade, so if your child's grade was lower than expected that is probably why.

Writing: THANK YOU!!!!! I received SO many letters today to your kids. I really appreciate it and your kids LOVED it! Because we missed a day of school, we are still editing ours. I promise to send those home before the break! You will get a copy of the letter to you and I will keep the original one for the hallway and for the portfolio.
HW: complete writing final copy if needed

Have a great night!

*Treasures Reading Series

Look to the RIGHT of this post. I've added a new link. It's called Treasures Reading Series.  It has some pretty fun vocabulary practice games {would be a fun way to study the words each week at home!} as well as the main selection book we read each week to use with our core content skill.

As a guide, next week we will be on Snowflake Bentley.
Hope it helps! :)

Friday

*If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a minute. We did a few in class, but this would be neat to do at home if you can! :)

*Special Thanks to Haley for our yummy mini-doughnut treat!! :) Mmmm!

We had a great day today! We worked very hard to write Mrs. Sharp a letter from our On-Demand prompt. We asked for more technology in the Art room to help us learn about animation, web design, and graphic artists.  The kids were super excited about it! :) However, that took most of the day!  We also played our review games for Science {remember, the test is next Wednesday} and learned more with Geometry to go along with Calendar Math.  Students also learned about rights vs. responsibilities in Social Studies and we learned who is 'in charge' in the local, state, and federal governments.

Below are the science content game from the Earth-Sun Systems Unit:

Have a WONDERFUL weekend and stay warm!

Thursday

Good Afternoon! :)
*New Behavior ~ In an effort to keep the kids on task and giving me quality work until the break, students are working towards EARNING 20 points before next Friday.  If they earn their points they will get to enjoy a movie. If not, they will use that time working on review math and reading assignments.  Students simply earn points by following directions and giving their best effort on assignments. Very easy! :)
*Don't forget to contact Mandy Long to help with the Holiday Party next Thursday! :)

Math: Today we worked for a long time on mean, median, mode, and range. We were in the middle of a UK basketball activity but were unable to finish it so we will on Monday.  The students are really having a hard time with this even with the amount of practice. PLEASE watch/check your child's HW!
HW: 3 pages (all with examples) of mean/median that are stapled together

Reading: Today we took the Vocab Quiz (much better this week!!), our sequence PAS probe, and read in the literature books. We also played a grammar review jeopardy game over grammar skills we've learned so far in reading.
No HW

Science: Students finished up their games on the Earth-Sun systems. The games are SO creative! I'm impressed!
No HW

Writing: Students are almost finished writing their letters! Are you?! :)  Some students even turned in their final draft today.  We also went over one more time the scoring rubric I will be using to grade their papers.  Students know exactly what to do to get an A!
No HW

Have a good night,

Technology Writing Essay for Money! :)

If you are interested in a writing contest with the theme “How does Technology make the world a better place?” Please read below and click on the link )…


The entry deadline is Sunday, January 16. Students can win money $10,000 from Teen/TweenTribune.

We won't have time to do this as a class, but it would be a great after-school writing assignment or something to work on over the Holiday Break!

Click here to learn more: http://tweentribune.com/essay

You can either send in your child's piece to me or mail directly to:

TeenTribune & TweenTribune
726 Yarmouth Street
Norfolk, VA 23510



I'd love to see some of my awesome writers try for this!! :)

**Don't forget to read today's post below!! :)

Wednesday

*Wednesday Folders come home today!
~Mid-Terms will be in the folders.  A lot of grades were low this time due to the Thanksgiving break. If I've seen a major issue I will contact you. Otherwise, we will continue working towards success with all kids!
*Class Meeting:
Today we had a class meeting to discuss a few 'clean up' issues. More and more students are not turning in HW or not asking you to sign their planner. I told the kids I was hoping this was just because we are so close to a break; but I would appreciate the extra words from you on this issue as well! Thank you!
*My Homeroom Parents:
1- I sent an email today to those of you I have emails for and I sent a note home in the Wednesday Folders about a Persuasive Letter activity I would love for you to participate in! :)
2- There is a letter coming in the Wed. Folder about our Holiday Party. Please RSVP to Mrs. Mandy Long about the party next week.

Math: Today we worked more on range, median, mode, and average while also learning to read data from a line plot! We did a lot! The kids were very engaged and seemed to really be getting the hang of it with some help.
HW: a practice page made by me - they are to bring home to examples from class to help

Reading: Today students got into their leveled fluency pairs and read short stories that used our vocab. in the text.  Students did a pretty good job with the analyzing questions but still need work on how to restate.
Students also participated in a sequence activity which they did great on!
HW: vocab. worksheet to help practice for the quiz tomorrow

Science: Students worked on their moon phase games today. They look so good! Some of these kiddos should work for Hasbro Games! :) We will be playing the games on Friday and Monday.  I have the Sun-Earth System test scheduled for next Wednesday.
No HW

Writing: Students had Health with Ms. Timaji.  They set short and long term goals. I was pretty impressed with some of the goals. Ask your child what their goals were!!

Have a good night,

Tuesday

Good afternoon!
*Science Fair page due tomorrow!
*I am here only half-day today due to the Behavior PD I attend once a month.

Dr. Smith is my sub again, but here is the HW the kids do have tonight~

Math: pg. 102 in Workbook - they do NOT need to do the Range question, we didn't get to that in our lesson today!

Reading: practice vocab words (they are to the right of this post) and complete a Sequence WS.

Science: finish (if not in class) pg.'s 113-116 questions from the KCCT science book in their science journals.

No HW in Writing.

*FYI: I'm sorry about not letting the kids go out for recess; however, as stated in our Staff Handbook, we cannot take students out if it's 32 degrees or below! It's really cold out!! :) I promise to take them out once it warms up a bit! I want to do my best to help kids stay healthy, too!

Have a good night,

Monday

Good Afternoon!

FYI:
Holiday Party is next Thursday, Dec. 16th at 1:30.  If you'd like to help and bring in something, please contact Mrs. Mandy Long at along@uky.edu. Thanks!

Today, students had a sub, Dr. Smith.  All 3rd-5th grade teachers had Release Day, which is where we work at school on upcoming lessons and units. We worked on making sure we were teaching rigorous and excelling lessons plans and have the first month of January planned! Now let's hope we don't have too many snow days in there!

The Reading Class vocab. words are now listed to the right of this post. Please use this as a guide to help your child study for the weekly quizzes.

HW:
Reading: finish defining vocab.
Math: I believe Dr. Smith worked on the HW with your child, so he/she shouldn't have any tonight. Take this time to review division!!

*Tomorrow I will be gone the last half of the day. I will try my best to write the blog once I get finished with the PD that will last until 4, so please check later!

Have a good night and stay warm! Our heater broke last night, but luckily it's still under warranty so they fixed it today! Brrr! Would have been a cold night!

Friday

Happy Friday! :)

We had a great day today! Although I love having Mrs. Maldonado's sweet kids, I love having my homeroom all day, too!

We started the day with 5 Math Centers.  The kids were great and working very hard on challenging problems with addition and subtraction with up to 4 digits.  The zero's were giving kids problems, so we will revisit this next Friday as well.

Students also did great on Comprehension today. While I was reading, the kids were acting out the author's descriptive writing. We love reading from good authors!

We also began our new SS unit on Government. Today we learned about the 3 types of government and what it means to be a good citizen.

Students worked with their Math Buddies on reading, writing, and adding money.  This was a great review for my kids, too!

We also worked on our Persuasive letters. They are coming along great! :)

Lastly, students enjoyed drinking some Hot Chocolate while having DEAR time. I think they enjoyed it!

Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!! :)

Thursday

Good Afternoon!
*Would anyone like to care for Stella and Ned over Christmas? My husband's parents live in SC, so we will be there for a week! If you would, please send me an email. I will provide the tank and food! :)
*Holiday Party is December 16th (Thursday) at 1:30. Please contact Ms. Long, our co-homeroom parent if you'd like to help with bringing in food or crafts. along@uky.edu

Math: Today we worked more on average. The students are doing pretty well, they are just forgetting to remember to see how many pieces of data they are working with the divide by.  Students participated in a fun measuring activity to find the average lengths and heights of each other.
No HW
*Weekend HW: they have a 3x5 card stapled to their planner to keep track of the amount of time they spend watching TV this weekend for an activity on Monday

Reading: Today students took a few assessments! Students took their vocab. quiz and their compare/contrast quiz.  Students did a great job "planning" their next Lit. Book.  I let the students have Choice Book this time since it's only 3 weeks. 
No HW

Science: Today we made a shadow diagram.  Have your child show you tonight! :)  We also learned about the sun and moon revolutions.  Students are in the process of making a game about this information. They are being very creative and smart!
No HW

Writing: We worked more on our persuasive letters and got the 3rd paragraph written on our draft.
No HW

Have a great Thursday!

Wednesday

Good Afternoon! We've been very excited about the snow today! :) haha!

*PTA Coupon books are due Friday
*Wednesday Folders are coming home today

*If you would like to help with the Winter Party by bringing in some food items (pretzels, chips, cupcakes, etc.)  please contact Mandy Long at along@uky.edu, or home phone 223-9448. Remember, the Holiday Party is scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 17th at 1:30. I hope you all can join! :)

Math: Today we started a new unit on Mean, Median, and Mode.  We began with finding averages (mean).  Students did very well on their activity in groups of 4 and I was proud of them for working so well together!
HW: workbook pg. 94, problems 3-4. Problem 2 we did together so students can use as a model
*Math Tests are almost graded. Honestly, they weren't great. However, I gave them a KCCT-like test after I gave the Singapore test and they did a lot better on it...

Reading: Today we worked more on comparing and contrasting texts and characters.  Students read together while practicing fluency on different leveled groups.  Then they compared the main ideas of the texts.  We also worked on vocabulary and finding different endings for our words.  Students also had time to practice vocab words.
HW: finish vocabulary page if not finished in class, practice vocab words for test (must be written in a complete sentence with the word spelled correctly)

Science: Today we learned more about shadows and why we have shadows. Ask your child where their shadow would be at noon!
No HW

Writing: We continued with our persuasive letters and wrote the 2nd paragraph today. Students got into writing groups helped one another as well.  Next, students were placed in groups and were given a certain persuasive technique we've learned about and had to present a skit about the same topic. They were hilarious!!The best part, they all performed them well and the students knew what the technique was.
No HW

Have a great night,