We began the 2nd marking period by changing our morning routine a bit.  Instead of the children handing in their folders and all the contents, they are now going to bring their folders to their desks. They will hand in their homework, which will be checked in by a classmate.  They will separately hand in any dismissal  notes, lunch money, etc.  It will require more responsibility on their part and I will provide reminders for as long as needed.
     Report cards go home tomorrow.  Please sign the envelope and return just the envelope. Inevitably there will be some disappointments but this is only a starting point. Every child can be confident that they will achieve more than they can imagine right now.
     I've spoken to our principal about teaching cursive and I believe she is forwarding the question to our district administration. At this time there are no materials and no time scheduled in our ELA program.
     Our next math test will be next week. There are a few more lessons in the topic and I will do a couple of review lessons before the test.
    We began decorating the classroom for winter by making snowflakes to hang from the ceiling and window display line. It seemed very appropriate for today's weather and the kiddoes had some

Regarding report cards, there were some rapid-fire emails about the report card distribution date. We received a clarification only today to the effect that report cards go home on Wednesday.

Spelling packets went home today and are due on Friday.
We practiced breaking down 3 digit subtraction problems into smaller problems and there is a math worksheet to practice that. Some students received a challenge page of syllogisms, or logic problems.
All students were assigned a reading comprehension page with questions on the back. This whole assignment can be used toward the daily 20 minute reading requirement.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Sometimes life just gets so hectic!


Tomorrow we will hold the Read a thon to raise money for 2 schools affected by the storm.  I have all my holiday books out and I hope the kids will enjoy reading together.  We have one guest reader for the afternoon.  Don't forget to wear your purple and gold.

I will be working on report cards over the Thanksgiving break so they'll be ready to go home on the 28th.

I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!  We will be honoring our veterans at an assembly on Wednesday so please try to wear your red, white, and blue.  The poems we wrote to thank our vets will be given out then.
This coming week and next our math lessons will be good old fashioned addition and subtraction.  There will be lots of word problems in addition to straight computation. The kiddos have asked to have a math challenge folder that they can use when there are a few spare minutes so I will hunt up some "just right"  challenges that will allow everyone to enjoy math!

Following our unit on adding and subtracting larger numbers we are moving into multiplication, but our timed facts tests will not include multiplication until the 3rd marking period.

Well, we finally got the topic 2 math test done!  Tomorrow we begin a new topic: 3 and 4 digit addition and subtraction with regrouping and lots of problem solving with larger numbers.

In ELA we began a non-fiction selection about penguins, practiced common and proper nouns, and practiced spelling words.  Our "big question" is about how plant and animal structures help living things survive.


This afternoon the kids did a wonderful job of writing acrostic or cinquain poems for the veterans who'll be visiting our school on the 8th.

It was great to get back into the swing of things today! We worked on five line poems today and everyone wrote one about themselves.  Our spelling list this week focuses on open and closed syllables. Open syllables end with a vowel and make a long vowel sound. Closed syllables end with a consonant and make a short vowel sound.
We reviewed (again!) for the Topic 2 Math test. The test will be tomorrow.
Our classroom has no internet service for the time being so I'm unable to read emails or listen to voicemail.

Parent Teacher Conferences begin on Thursday. If you haven't already returned your confirmation for your appointment please do so as soon as you can.  If you need to change your apointment please call the main office. They have my schedule and will help you find a time that works for you.

Spelling and vocabulary packets went home today. The homework for tonight is the 3 times each page and to complete the math packet we began in class today.

I hope everyone has power back by now!  Like you, I'm waiting for news from Dr. Bryant about when we can head back to school.  I'm hoping for tomorrow!  Have you tried aaamath.com yet?  Try their rounding and estimating section for some good practice. And don't forget you can get brainpop, Jr at home! The userid is wvcsd100, password is wvcsdkids.  Our next big question is "How do the structures of plants and animals help them to solve problems?"  We also have a subscription to Pebblego.com, for research.  The userid is parkave, the password is school.

HOMEWORK PASSES for the next whole spelling packet to anyone who researches how ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS help an animal find food, shelter, and protect itself. Make a poster about the animal you choose or prepare a 3 - 5 minute lesson for the class.  Bring it to school on Monday (I hope)!