February has arrived!  I am grateful for the rain , which we need, but always pleased for those sunny rays breaking through the clouds. . This month is filled with lots of activities.  We have Chinese New Year to ponder,  Valentines to share. Presidents to remember, The Children's Auction our live auction, and of course the Talent Show! This only mentions a few -- look below under "thinking ahead " for other activities and dates.
  
Reading:
The children have completed reading some incredible stories that include folk tales, and fantasy.  Have them tell you about “Dogzilla,” “The Giant of Barletta”, or the little girl in “Raising  Dragons!”  In each story we focused on asking questions, making predictions and of course, made connections.  The students have been doing very well on their independent reading and their “Flip Books” for their book report is due this Thursday Feb. 4th.
 Please make sure they bring their materials to class, as some class time will be provided, even though most of the work is done at home.

Writing:

We were going to focus on Narrative last month, but spent time reviewing writing paragraphs on a single topic with the focus on introduction, details and conclusion. We also work with word choice.  This strategy will continue through the beginning of February.  They also worked on letter writing skills as they composed their letters to their pen pals at John Baldwin. We will move into Narrative writing strategies next.

Math:

As the children continue to work on multiplication mastery packets, they are beginning to understand the relationship with division, problem solving, and multiplication of  2 and 3 digits numbers by one digit.  Through the use of manipulatives the children  explore the understanding of both multiplication and division. By the end of the month they need to becompleted with their 5’s to be on grade level.  Remember this is a nightly assignment that should take about 20 minutes.

Each week we take time to focus in on different activities to strength concepts taught. 
Our weekly center activities focuses on Math and Language skills.
    The Language Centers include:
        •    Mountain Language, which includes most of the grammar skill
                (nouns, verbs, subjects, predicates, plurals, ABC order etc.)
        •    Vocabulary Games: Following Directions, Context Clues, Alphabetizing,
                language
        •    Dictionary and Thesaurus Skills
                    (finding words, parts of speech, definitions etc.);
        •    Teacher Lesson on topic of the week  (antonyms, synonyms, prefixes,
                •    suffixes, index, contents, phonics, spelling);
        Math  Centers include:
        •    Mountain Math
        •    Game to enforce concept of the week
        •    Title Math
        •    Teacher Lessons

Social Studies:

The studying of Local History is exciting for the children.  We have explored the beginnings of the area during the prehistoric area, and are completing the unit  on  The First People in the Valley. Although we have already discussed  where the San Ramon Valley is located we will study the geographical terms of our land formations.  We  are creating a booklet in with this information.  Next we will study of the Spanish Explorers to our region.

PASSPORTS: All students received their passports for the Social Studies/Local History project.  Please keep them in the plastic bag with the directions and rubric.  This project is done at home with you.  Children are welcome to invite a friend to join them on any of the outings.  In the past some of the Brownie troops and Boy Scout troops went on these together as well.  So be creative and have fun!

THINKING AHEAD:
Thursday,  Feb 4:  Children’s Art Auction 6:30 – 8:00 MPR.

Friday, Feb. 5 : Student Council: $1 Candy Grams (for Valentine’s Day) 
          go on sale today proceeds go to Haiti.
Monday,  Feb 8: Read-a-thon forms due to teachers.
Friday, February 12:  Children will celebrate Valentine’s Day
            (All will bring valentines for each other candy grams are available this coming Friday for $1.00
              the proceeds go to Haiti relief)
Monday, February 15:  President’s Day Holiday / no school
Week of February 22 – March 5:  Assessments for End of Trimester
Friday, Feb 26: Greenbrook Talent Show 6:30 & 8:00 pm in the MPR.

Conference Week:  March 15- 19 (sign up on line—more to come)
Mar 15: Father/Daughter Bowling Night 5-9pm.
Feb 17: On line options opens and continues through Feb 27
April 5-9:    Spring Break
April 20– May 18:    Star Testing Begins: (Please do not take children out
             of school during this period of testing.)

Field Trips:
   
     The Little School House         May 11, 2010
     Forest Home Farms                March 26, 2010
     Danville Walking Tour            TBA


If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Warmly,

Ms.  Caldera