UPCOMING EVENTS

Thurs.  Oct. 28:        Trick or Treat at CHS 5-7pm

Mon. Nov. 1st:          School Board Meeting

Tues. Nov. 2nd:        E-Learning Day 

Wed. Nov. 2nd:        Parent-Teacher conferences 

Nov. 24-26:              Thanksgiving Break!

LANGUAGE ARTS

1st Grade: We are continuing our study of ciphers. On Monday, the kids learned how to decipher the telephone

code.  They worked with a button buddy to break the code and each group passed with flying colors!  Then on Tuesday we began learning the secret language of Pig Latin!  We started off with a worksheet that required the kids to mark the first vowel sound in multiple words.  Once that was completed, I placed a list of words on the board and asked them what they noticed. Examples included; dog = Ogday and hello = ellohay.  We pointed out connections and then moved on to

learning how to speak Pig Latin.  Next week we will learn an entire song using only Pig Latin.  You can thank me later when your children are singing this incredibly catchy song around your house :)

2nd Grade:  The girls came prepared this week so thank you parents for helping them remember to read.    We continued our discussion of Despereaux focusing this week on the meanings behind the author’s use of light and dark.  The girls read quotes that incorporated these elements and were asked to give their opinions about what the author meant.  We continued our discussion of the quotes on Tuesday when the girls shared their thoughts.  

3rd Grade: We continued to explore the similarities and differences between the genres of Folklore.  This week we focused on myth and used a Vocabulary Map to further break down this genre.  With help from the internet, we found its origin and word families along with more.  Once we finished the story map, I gave the kids a worksheet with an excerpt from Iduna and Her Apples.  They were asked to go on a noun hunt to locate different types of nouns in the story.  The kids broke up into button buddies. I walked around the room to help and once they finished, we went over the entire worksheet.

4th Grade: The kids finished writing the Change Papers and then typed them up in google docs.  They added a picture and then shared the doc with me.  Next week I will work on printing out copies to send home.   They all did a great job and I know it helped to reinforce change generalizations!  I want to thank all of you for your help!  On Tuesday we moved on and started a Latin and Greek word study.  We are discussion how language has changed over time and how English words often have roots in either Latin or Greek language.  The kids split up into button buddies to complete the worksheet. We will continue with this worksheet next week.  

MATH 

Due to having Friday off this week, I only got to see my Math friends one day.   

1st Grade:  My first graders continued to look at shapes and we focused on composing new shapes out of other shapes.  Examples include two triangles to make a rectangle or square.  Then we figured out the number of sides and the number of vertices within these new shapes.  We also further discussed vertex and how it is the singular form of vertices.  I placed a shape composed of a rectangle, square and triangle on my board and then asked them to find the number of sides and the number of vertices.  A few had difficulties and wanted to call the point where the rectangle and square met a vertex. I discussed that it cannot be a vertex since the line does not change direction.  After modeling this giant shape on the board and discussing it, the kids were asked to make their own shape using the shapes that they prepared last week.  The main rule was that they could use as many shapes as they wanted but each side had to match up exactly with the side of another chosen shape.  If a shapes side stopped in the middle of a rectangle it would not work.  Some kids had trouble with the matching.  They made amazing shapes, but they just did not follow that rule.  After a gentle nudge to show why that would not work, they all managed to get on track.  I was so impressed with the shapes they made.  One kid even made a dodecagon!  We will finish up classifying their home-made shapes next week.  

2nd Grade:  My seconds graders completed a think deeply.  They are beginning to understand the expectations for writing in Math.  We walked through it together and I told them it will get easier as the year goes on.  Once completed, we started a worksheet classifying angles as acute, obtuse or right.  We modeled the angles with our arms starting at acute and moving to obtuse.  When we do this we also talk about the angles degrees.  We will finish up the worksheet next week.  

3rd Grade: We continued our worksheet on patterns within tables.  The boys have struggled with this some but no worries we will keep at it.  On Monday I plan to teach them the trick to finding the function of patterns and sequences. On Thursday they will start a chapter check up.  

4th Grade: We almost finished our worksheet exploring the inner workings of the Math magic trick!   

When we left class last week some kids thought they knew how to do the trick and others were still mystified.    

However, by the end of the day Wednesday, they all figured out how it worked.  The kids made up their own cards and I am pretty sure they plan on trying the trick out.  It was such an enjoyable lesson and I cannot wait to hear that they mystified friends and family!