6 Days Till Christmas

Upcoming Events

• Today

  End of the 2nd Grading Period / 1st Semester

• Tomorrow

  NO SCHOOL

• Monday

  NO SCHOOL - Winter Recess

• Tuesday

  NO SCHOOL - Winter Recess

• Wednesday

  NO SCHOOL - Winter Recess

• December 26, 2019

  NO SCHOOL - Winter Recess

• December 27, 2019

  NO SCHOOL - Winter Recess

1^st Grade:

This week the children were presented with a new Cipher message that they had to decode. To decipher “The Over Under Cipher”, the letters in the top row are replaced by the letters underneath, and the letters in the bottom row are replaced by the letters above them. The children were confused initially. Once I explained the over under rule they got to work. They quickly decoded the message.

 I then read them The Disappearing Alphabet by Richard Wilbur. This is a cute book about what would happen if the alphabet began to disappear. How would that affect words? From there we moved on to a reading analyzer. The reading analyzer helps them answer questions about the book, so they can better understand what they have read.

2^nd Grade:

This week we continued reading My Father’s Dragon. We read chapters 3 and 4. After our reading, I explained to the children that we would be using a reading analyzer. They were all very curious about what a reading analyzer is. I explained to them that it is another structure to use to help them understand what they are reading.

 With a reading analyzer they have to state the title, type of writing, write down any important words, write down the character’s feeling, what passages are important, and the main ideas. Since this is their first time filling out a reading analyzer, I will go through it with them step- by -step. We will continue with are analyzer when we come back from break.

3^rd Grade:

This week the children needed to look up the word “activist”, and then write the definition. Using this definition, they needed to write a paragraph on what they think it means to be an animal activist in their Interactions and Me Journal. 

We started reading excerpts from the autobiography My Life with the Chimpanzees by Jane Goodall.  After reading the children then had to state the two interacting in a complete sentence. We did the first three together. I then set up four different stations. From there, they had to read the excerpt and write down their interaction, if it was accidental or on purpose, was it positive or negative, and was it a fleeting or deep and lasting moment. We will continue with reading My Life with the Chimpanzees after break.

4^th Grade:

We started off the week exploring the word “timeline”. I discussed with the girls that timeline is a compound word and that compound words are similar to and different than words built using Latin and Greek prefixes, roots, and suffixes. They then read a biography on Tecumseh. The girls then needed to fill out a time line explaining what happened in history. 

The next day we moved on to the Indiana Territory. They had to do the same thing and fill out a time line. The timeline for both took place from 1765-1814. We will continue with this after break.

1^st Grade:

It was a very short week. I only met once with the children. We had a little holiday fun. We then started a check-up. This is just testing what we have been working on over the last month or so. We didn’t get far. A few of the children came to class late due to testing in their home classrooms. We will finish up after break.

2^nd Grade:

We had a very short week with testing and holiday parties.  The kids finished up their polyhedron ornaments and decorated a holiday gift bag. When we return from our break we will pick back up with our tessellation lesson.

3^rd Grade:

This week in class we started a Think Deeply.  They had to color the multiples of 2 and 3 on their chart using two different colors. They then needed to figure out any patterns. This was cut short due to a couple of the children testing. We will get back to the Think Deeply when we get back from break. The rest of class time the children were able to participate in some holiday activities.

4^th Grade:

Due to a short week and me being out of the building for part of the day on Wednesday, all the math children and LA children had class together. We spent the time finishing up our polyhedron ornaments and decorating our bag. We will pick back up with Polyhedrons when we get back from break.

I hope everyone enjoys their break. I will miss all of the children. Can't wait to see everyone next year!