Smore News from Baker's Backyard
Phonics & Spelling Fun
Self-Assessment
BATS!!!
Parent Teacher Conferences
Buck Creek Fire Department
Fire Truck Fun!
Hose Demonstration!
Climbing out of the big truck!
Going Batty!
Reading: We read a whole class chapter book entitled The Magic School Bus: The Truth About Bats. It was an amazing story with fictional characters who made us chuckle; yet, we learned very factual information about bats too! Once again, text & graphic features helped us to understand the story and often made the story more entertaining for us as well. Our focus for the week was the following:
- comprehension = text & graphic features
- vocabulary words = words related to bats
- vocabulary skill = antonyms/opposites (wild vs. tame)
- grammar = subjects & predicates
- phonics = various review of past phonics concepts using bat related words
Next week, we'll "jump" back into our Journey's series and complete session 8. We'll read a Folktale entitled The Harvest Birds. While we all loved reading about Ms. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus, we are happy to be returning to our Journey's series.
Writing: We have worked so hard this week to publish and illustrate our personal narratives. We even completed self-assessments in order to see where we are doing well as writers and where we can still improve and grow. We can't wait to display our small moment stories in the hallway and share them with you at conferences next week. We promise that you'll be amazed at all of our stellar stories!
It truly is outstanding to see how these children can take a moment and tell an entire story bit by bit. They are real authors who have blossomed, and they now realize what it means to tell a story that the reader can feel in his/her bones. Just wait until you get to the heart of our stories!!!
Poetry: Not only are we becoming master mathematicians and writers, but we are also becoming master poets who read with excellent fluency, expression, and accuracy. Can you believe your amazing poet each time he/she brings home a poem to read to you?!? These children are truly a delight!
In just a little over a week, we'll have our first Poetry Cafe. That's where we'll revisit some of our favorite poems we've read thus far, and we'll pair up with a partner or perhaps even choose to go solo as we re-read and snap our fingers to awesome poetry. Of course we'll enjoy some Poetry Cafe snacks and beverages as we are entertained with such thought provoking and mind blowing poetry! What fun!
Social Studies/Science: We took a break this week from social studies and focused entirely on science as we learned all about bats. We learned about echolocation, vibrations, hibernation, microbats, megabats, habitats, diets, etc. If it had to do with a bat, we learned about it!!! In fact, we learned that bats are highly misunderstood creatures and are actually very helpful and important in our world. Furthermore, we conducted research and took an even closer look at a specific bat of our choice. It was not only fun being a research scientist, but we learned a lot too! See if your scientist can share some impressive things that we have in common with these interesting little (and sometimes even BIG) flying mammals.
Next week, we'll return to social studies and focus entirely on the upcoming election, voting process, government, etc.
Mrs. Mary Cutler presents "BATS!"
Important Dates
Oct. 14: Fire Fighters visit Hershey & Conference reminder slips go home
Oct. 17 - 21: Parent Teacher Conferences & Book Fair
Oct. 24: Fall Storyteller Visit
Oct. 27: Extended Day Field Trip to Conner Prairie (9 a.m. - 5 p.m.)
Oct. 28 & 31: Fall Break, NO SCHOOL
Nov. 4: Family Flag Project Due -- More info coming soon!
Nov. 14: Veteran's Day program
Mrs. Jessica Baker
Email: jjbaker@tsc.k12.in.us
Website: www.tsc.k12.in.us
Location: 7521 E 300 N, Lafayette, IN, United States
Phone: 765-269-8280