Hi there. What a great and very busy Monday. We packed it to the max!!!
In Reading today we finished up our studies on Wildfire and practiced some old and new skills like fact and opinion, compound or simple sentences, words with multiple meanings, synonyms and antonyms, Proper nouns, and vocabulary. Wowzers! All from one little picture book. It was a cool book though!
We also worked on idioms today, with a Halloween twist. Kids were all given an idiom ghost and then had to find the matching monster that told what the idiom means. It was so fun, they asked to play it again. Awesome!!
In language, I put a picture of a very frightened little girl on the screen. Each student had to write a declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentence about the picture. What they came up lead to some great discussions and laughter!
Spelling this week will be pretty much study only. We are going to do some Halloween things instead of book work this week. So, please study, study at home. There will still be the weekly test on Friday.
In math, we went over all the practice 3 by 1 multiplication problems we did last week. Then, we took a quiz. We discovered that kids were messing up with forgetting to regroup, not ADDing when regrouping, and/or not knowing our basic facts. Each student was given a multiplication chart at the start of this chapter. Some have lost it, and are now struggling with the basics. Urg. Organization pays off. Ms. Erickson said to put it on our clipboard for safe keeping. Idiom: I can lead you to water, but I can't make you drink.
We wrapped up the day with science. We began our water cycle tests. Kids were doing pretty well all around. However, when it came to the fill in the blank one with the science terms I can sure tell who read it over and over again at home from practice. It was the exact same test as we filled out together in the beginning of the unit. Kids will finish the test tomorrow if time allows.
For homework tonight, kids need to finish up their final draft of their raindrop story. We started them in class, and now they just need to finish it up. They should also read you the final copy aloud. If they do, write the word READ in the planner for $20 tomorrow. They also need to color their border on their fun weather front page. If kids need to go beyond the paper given, they know to use regular paper for that. You and I should see SIX clear paragraphs all indented. I modeled this in class, and it should not be new to them, as paragraph writing is a third grade writing skill. Some kids also needed to finish up their math coordinate graphing sheet.
Tomorrow is the field trip to the jail. We will leave right away. Those that have bought in need to be here on time tomorrow in order to not miss the bus. Those that did not buy in will have an alternate placement for the morning. We talked again today that they only have themselves to blame for not having the money to buy in. Some tried to blame their parents for not going to the pumpkin patch party on Friday. I put a quick stop to that discussion as I always tell them they should NEVER EVER rely on money outside of this classroom that they can earn themselves. ALL kids can earn more than enough inside these four walls without the blog or outside activities to buy into field trips. The money that you help them earn should all be EXTRA!!!! I know that they will make better choices next time.
Don't forget that bake sale on Wednesday. We have some fun field trips planned for the spring that will be funded partially from this. Please send in your yummy Halloween treats on Wednesday morning with your child. Thanks so much!
Lastly, our box top collection is going great. It is not needing to be rewarded anymore with fake money. Kids are bringing them in daily because they see them making a difference at school. That is awesome. So the $50 reward is no longer necessary. Keep sending them in though! They buy a TON of playground equipment for kids!!! Thanks!
Have a great night!
