What's New in Room 322?
Weekly happenings
October 10-14, 2016
- Students have received their new words and will be practicing them in various stations and activities all week--testing on these words will occur next Friday. Keep practicing!
- We have learned how to use SpellingCity as a resource to practice words. Students can play games, test themselves, or have the computer teach their words! The link to this website can be found on y webpage under my 'All About Me' if your kiddo is interested in using it to practice at home!
- We are learning a lot in our character unit! On Monday, we took our character unit pretest and learned how good readers notice how characters respond to challenges and how to identify character motivations by reading another chapter of Days with Frog and Toad. We read Frog and Toad are Friends to complete a guidesheet and discussions about inferences based on character relationships--what do the actions characters doing really mean to us as readers? We also practiced what we learned about how knowing a character's feeling can help us investigate an unknown word's meaning. We have been further investigating characters and story elements by doing our interactive read aloud portion of the day with Lois Lowry's Gooney Bird Greene. Today we learned an important skill good readers use to track their thinking which is stopping and jotting key details on post-it notes.
Questions you can ask your child while reading to practice this week's skills:
- Who is the main character?
- What challenges does he/she face? How did he/she respond to that challenge? Can you show me where she did that in the text?
- Does this character have a relationship with any other characters? (Like friendship) How do you know?
Math
- Welcome to the official start of our problem solving unit! We took math unit post and pretests. We have gained an understanding of the key vocabulary words of this unit (for example: addition, subtraction, time, money, problem solving, and words related to these categories). We have been adding mental math strategies to our toolbox like: counting up/down/back, making ten, doubles, doubles plus one, etc. Encourage your child to use these strategies when they are learning their weekly flashcards for boosted fluency practice. We have learned some keywords that will clue us in on whether a problem is an addition problem or a subtraction problem. Finally we have worked to identify a result unknown word problem.
- Result Unknown: 14-8= ? OR Luke has 5 cookies. John has 4 cookies. How many do they have altogether?
DragonTime
- We have began elements of Dragontime and reviewed expectations and procedures. In the coming weeks we will work towards having all pieces--intervention, instruction, and enrichment--in place for Dragontime!
Writing
- We have been working hard to apply what we know about writing to a personal narrative on a favorite fall tradition--more on this to come later ;)
Science
- Further investigations on the water cycle and how that relates to weather
LIFT
- Students worked with number patterns and finding their rules.
ENCORE
Tuesday: Media (bring library books)
Wednesday: Chinese
Thursday: PE
Friday: Art
Dragon Pride Bingo/Basket Night
- $5.00 donation by Thursday, 10/27 (Mrs. Sylvia will then use this money to purchase themed items for the basket)
- Donation(s) with a baking theme can be sent into the classroom by Monday, 10/31
Suggestions of donations:
Baking mixes (cookies, cakes, brownies, frosting, etc.), baking utensils (spatulas, whisks, measuring spoons, muffin tins, etc.), apron, cupcake liners, sprinkles/other decorative items, non-perishable baking ingredients (chocolate chips, sugar, etc.), blank recipe book, oven mitts, cookie cutters, etc.
Let's make Room 322's baking basket the most sought after basket there!! :)
Duke Energy Update
Socktober (Optional Donation Drive)
Every night in the United States an estimated 600,000 people live on the streets. This October, SoulPancake and Kid President want 2 million people to prove that even the smallest acts of love, like donating a pair of socks, can make a big difference in the lives of our neighbors who are homeless.
As the colder months draw closer, we want to help those who don’t have a home stay warm. We are so excited to be participating in a Socktober drive at W.R. Odell Primary!
If you would like to help our cause, please send;
* Socks for children, youth, and adults
* School supplies for a youth homeless shelter
* Hats, gloves, and toiletries
Your donations will be going to:
* The Relatives INC. in Charlotte, a youth homeless shelter for children
* Charlotte Emergency Housing for single parents and their children
Please turn in India Field Trip Money ($4.00)
Wednesday, 10/19 is picture day!
Upcoming Events
10/19: Picture Day
10/21: Teacher Hospitality (theme TBA)
10/21: Coffee with Principal (8:30-9:30am)
10/25: Sweet Frog Night
10/27: Early Dismissal
10/28: Staff Development NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
10/31-11/4: Odell Primary Spirit Week ($1/day) Schedule TBA
11/4: Dragon Pride Basket and Bingo Night (this year $$ benefits our school for R A-Z kits and hands on STEM kits)