9-18-09
Dear Parents,
I can always tell that it is State Fair time because it
rains! I hope everyone that want to go has an opportunity to visit the State
Fair sometime this year to enjoy the exhibits and animals-not to mention the
tasty food and the crazy midway.
The class went to our first of many visits to the Rio Grande
Nature Center this past Tuesday. We could not have had more perfect weather.
The air was fresh in the morning and warmed up for a beautiful afternoon. We
collected out data, read a book did some writing and drawing, hiked around, had
lunch and then did an activity from the Aldo Leopold Project in small groups.
Thanks goes out to the wonderful parents who joined us-I hope others can come
out to play next month!
In our reading we continue to read from the books we began
last week. Three groups are working on learning how to write an effective
summary. After reading a chapter silently and with then out loud with a
partner, they then summarize the most important ideas in the chapter. I encourage
them to write between 305 sentences. One of the groups is working to improve
reading fluency by rereading a story several times. We are doing this by acting
out different parts while reading through the story.
In math we are almost finished with the first unit and I
hope to wind this up by next week. We will take an end-of-unit test when all
lessons are completed.
Students are doing quite well with their spelling tests. I
give a pretest on Monday so that they know what words they need to practice for
the week. If your child is missing more than half the 20 words, have him/her
only work on the first 10 or 5. That way they do not get overwhelmed. On
Mondays they should practice writing the missed word(s) 4 times, saying the
letters as they write them to help build up the muscle memory. On Tuesday, they
should write a complete sentence with each word they missed. Wednesday they
need to write the missed words in alphabetical order and on Thursday they
should practice for the test on Friday.
We are holding a volunteer workday tomorrow, September 19
starting at 9:00 AM in the new school garden and outdoor classroom on the north
side of the kinder building on Burton. Bring paintbrushes and tools and wear
grubby clothes if you plan to help. Many hands make light the work! Hope to see
you there J
Thanks,
Mary Erwin
09-11-09
Dear Parents,
It was just great to see so many of you at Open House! If
you didn’t make it, students got to show and share things that we have been
doing this year. Some of things
families got to do were:
·
Parents were asked to share a memory that they
had from elementary school.
·
Students shared a favorite piece of writing from
their journal and a favorite math activity.
·
Students should have shown you the data notebook
that they are using to monitor how they are doing in various subjects. They will
collect their own work that represents their best efforts.
·
Students took their family on a ‘tour’ of the
classroom
Today Kimi Sheerer, the Education Coordinator for the Bosque
Ecosystem Monitoring Program (BEMP) came and taught us about the very important
job we have this year as UNM scientists.
Your student should be able to tell you what BEMP stands for and to tell
you a bit a bout what we will be doing.
Next Tuesday, September 15 we will take our first of many
field trips to the Rio Grande Nature Center to collect data for our BEMP site.
Your child will need a sack lunch, a drink and will need to be prepared for
whatever the weather may be. Sunscreen and hats, no flip flops or sandals and
rain gear as needed (probably not, but watch the weather on the news to make
sure). If you are interested in joining us please be here first thing in the
morning as our bus will leave by 9:30 and return by 1:45.
Reading groups are up and running! Our first genre of study
will be fantasy and we will be working on a variety of strategies to become
better readers. Two groups are reading from a novel by John Reynolds Gardiner called
Top Secret. One group is reading
the first book from a series called Secrets of Droon and one group is
reading a story from our reading anthology called Officer Buckle and Gloria by
Peggy Rathman.
After finishing these various books, we will work in class
to complete projects to share our understanding about what we read with others.
Look for more on this later…
Sorry for the mix up with the math homework this week. It
will go home on Monday and be due on Wednesday.
PLEASE return the Entertainment Book if you do not want to
buy them, or send in the $$$ if you do want one. I have always found that they
pay for themselves in savings for my family. Also, picture money is due asap.
Have a great weekend!
Mary Erwin