2017 - 2018 Nerd House Coffee Talk
Home of Ms. Smalling's Strong Brewed Crew, Issue 21
Another beautiful week in the books!
In spite of the practice STAAR tests, we had a fantastic week of great learning and growing. I'm so proud of the way the students buckled down and did their very best on Tuesday and Wednesday. The knew it was important to put forth their best effort, and it showed. The endured being quiet and "hunkering down" for four hours, and we made sure they had an extra long recess to show our appreciation. Once again I hope to get across to you how much it is a privilege and an honor to teach these kids. I adore each and every one of them.
Flexible Seating
Many of the students have asked if they can bring bean bags and "cool chairs" from home. I'm completely okay with it as long as you, the parents, are okay with it. I made it clear to the students that if they bring anything it belongs to them, and they are the ones to use it in class. I don't want there to be mass chaos regarding seating...so it will be a "you bring it, you sit in it" situation. When the student brings alternative seating and doesn't want to use it for the day, it will go unused. Sorry if this means I'm a "Debbie Downer," but I want to make sure that we don't have hurt feelings if one person was chosen over another.
Valentine's Day Science Experiments
Thank you so much to those parents who sent in pictures of their children doing the Valentine's Day science experiments. Mrs. Briles and I gave these to the students to complete on February 14. For those that do, and send us picture evidence, we will have a Popsicle party for the kids and their buddies. In order to have more participation, Briles and I have extended the deadline until next Friday. Get those pictures in for a Popsicle with your kinder buddy!!!
Speaking Subject-ively
Our Week In Math
To complete our study of fractions for the moment and enjoy the weather, the students were able to play fraction games in rotations today. We even played "Improper Fraction Bunco." Our own Jake Aurelio reviewed the game and found it to be, "the best fraction game ever." Winning!
Our Week In Science
Weather has taken center stage this week in science. We will use what we know of the Earth's patterns to continue our study of patterning with weather. Next up - The Water Cycle!!
Our Week In Reading
Reading reviews are a success, and the next one is due in two weeks!
Our Week In Social Studies
We finished up with weeks 17 and 18 this week. Because we ran out of time, and who wants to have a Tx History test on Texas Independence Day, I've postponed the test until next Tuesday, March 6. It will be open note.
Our Week In Word Work
Students did really well with the affixes -y, -ily, and -ly this week. Not only did they know how to spell the words (always a good sign on a spelling test) but they understood that using -ily/-ly versus -y largely depended on the part of speech.
This coming week, we will be concentrating on comparative prefixes - er, -est, -ier, and -iest. Below is a video to help explain this concept to the students when I'm not there to remind them. Note: I do not expect this to be used in lieu of classroom instruction. This is only to help when I'm not at home to whisper rules in their ear.
Our Week In Writing
We had so much fun with using marvelous words this week in writing. We played a modified game of Scattergories meets Outburst where the students were given a boring word such as "fun" and were tasked to come up with spectacular synonyms for it. For any words not repeated by another team, their team got the point. We had amazing words produced from this. The students then used these words in their own essays.