Ms. Wertheim's Little Leaders
News and Resources from Room 203
December 7 through December 11, 2015 ❄️
Hi Room 203 families! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. We have just two full weeks of school left before winter break begins. Please be sure to scroll down to see many important upcoming dates for December.
Important Dates and Reminders 📌
- Thursday, Dec. 10: Storytelling Festival all day long at Claxton. This is a wonderful chance for our students to experience the beautiful art of storytelling. Be sure to ask your child about the stories they heard.
- Friday, Dec. 11: Colburn Museum Field Trip (which will be during our scheduled holiday lunch time at Claxton; therefore, we will not be at Claxton for lunch) However, you are welcome to attend the Colburn Museum. The cost for parents is $3.50. Please email me if you are interested in meeting us at the museum.
- Tuesday, Dec. 15th - Thursday, Dec. 17th: Penguin Patch Holiday Shoppe. This is a wonderful way for students to purchase gifts for family members. All items in the shoppe will be very reasonably priced. Please email me if you have any questions about the holiday shop.
- Wednesday, Dec. 16: Winter Dance for grades 3 through 5: 3:30-4:45
- Thursday, Dec. 17th at 6 pm: Claxton Holiday Concert (there was a change to the originally scheduled date). OUR CLASS IS PERFORMING in this concert :) Please bring your child to our classroom by 5:45, dressed in dark/black pants and a white top.
Snapshots of Learning ✏️
Learning about our new composting system from Student Government leaders
We know that background knowledge + text clues = inferencing; reading The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear
Categorizing rights and responsibilities of citizens.
Working on our "All About States of Matter" nonfiction books during Writing Workshop
Mrs. Dechant getting slimed by Miss Lotter, whose class raised the most money from the Fun Run Boosterthon. Way to go, 4th graders!
Using Google Maps to track holiday dances from around the globe.
We had a great time at the Nutcracker Ballet. Our classmate, Cricket, was in the performance. The class was so excited to see her!
What we're learning about this week 📚
- Reading- We are working on making inferences and using pictures and diagrams to help understand the text.
- Writing- We are continuing guided research and All About Books on States of Matter. We will also begin a fun holiday Reader's Theater.
- Math- We are continuing addition and subtraction within 100. This week we will focus on the open number line strategy. Here is excellent number line practice from Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/math/early-math/cc-early-math-add-sub-100/cc-early-math-strategies-for-adding-within-100/e/add-sub-within-100-w-num-line
- FUNdations- We are continuing Unit 7, which teaches a new syllable type: the Open Syllable. This is a syllable which has a vowel at the end, and the vowel is long. Our keywords for the open syllable are: acorn, me, hi, no, pupil, flu, cry. A detailed description of this syllable type and other syllable types is attached to their FUNdations homework packet. For a video tutorial on marking base words and suffixes, please visit the Fundations page on my blog: http://mswertheim.blogspot.com/p/reading.html .
- Science- Students will explore different states of matter and conduct experiments to observe how matter changes through heating, cooling, and evaporation.
- Social Studies- We are continuing civics and economics. Students will learn about governments as well as the roles and responsibilities of citizens. This week we will be focusing on characteristics of good citizens and will be comparing and contrasting the U.S. government to governments of other countries.
Wish List 🌟
- Tab dividers for our Leadership Notebooks
- Snack (healthy options please) We are running low! Pre-packaged snacks such as fruit snacks or granola bars are so helpful to pass out snack quickly :)
Class Dojo, Behavior Assessments, and Homework 📓
Behavior assessments are filled out each day by your child. I am so proud of their self-reflection skills! They've done an excellent job with their self-assessments so far. Please be sure to discuss their achievements with them and sign the assessment each evening.
Homework this week consists of:
- Read each night for 20 minutes and fill out reading log/Bingo board
- Fundations
- Math packet (due Friday)
We will begin reading responses next week.
As always, thank you so much for all you do. It is an honor to teach your child.
Contact Ms. Wertheim
Email: rebecca.wertheim@asheville.k12.nc.us
Website: mswertheim.blogspot.com
Location: Claxton Elementary School of Arts and Humanities, Merrimon Avenue, Asheville, NC, United States
Phone: 828-350-6514