The Gower Gazette
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In The News... May 20, 2016
In Writing we are in publishing mode! The kids are super excited to put together their books and are working hard publishing each page. It's a lot of work, but they are turning out great. We can't wait for our Fairy Tale Tea Party. I promise you will be so impressed with each child's story. We have a date for this awesome event; please mark Friday, June 24th on your calendar and plan to attend. This is such an important event for your child. He/she has put so much effort into their book and I do not want one child to go without a family member here to listen to it and support them. The tentative time will be 10:00 am. This is our end of year celebration. Your child has accomplished so much so PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE come!!! An invitation will come home soon.
This week we jumped back into written comprehension and "RAP". Since we are learning about organisms in science, we targeted this with a non-fiction text titled Wiggly Worms. The kids learned about the important role earthworms have for our soil and plants and they worked in teams to respond to a written comprehension question and then we evaluated our responses to make sure they "RAPped". You will notice in your child's reading envelope that his/her book and response sheet looks different this week. The kids are using their guided reading books to respond to a written comprehension question. Attached to the question is a RAP checklist. Have your child read the question independently and then work on his/her response. After they have responded, use the checklist to see if they Restated the question, Answered ALL parts, and Proved their answer with evidence from the book. If they need to add details then guide them through this and remember they CAN use the book! Also, please make sure you return the paper books back to school on Thursday. These books are a part of my collection that I use for guided reading groups. It took a lot of ink and paper to make these and I reuse them every year. I do not want to have to remake them. Thank you for being mindful of that and taking care of them as well as making sure they come back to me!
I didn't get a chance to post to the blog this week (I am sorry). I will have a post linked to our class site by Saturday evening. I will also update the Math Stumper too.
In Math this week we began focusing on double digit addition with the objective being able to use tens and ones to solve these problem types. We will continue to work on this next week.
The kids are super excited about science and learning more about organisms. We talked about seeds this week and the life cycle of a plant. Today they got to look closely at the inside of a butter bean that had been soaked in water. They created a diagram, labeling the parts of the seed. See if your child can tell you about this. Next week the kids will be planting their own seeds and will be recording their observations of how it grows in their plant journal.
I hope that your projects are going well. I am changing the time of our wax museum to 10:00 to 11:00 on June 3rd since there is a lot going on with it being Track 1's last day. We will be inviting other classes to swing in and check these out. It is important that your child have a visual to display and is able to share information about the animal independently (if your child is creating something on the computer as a visual, we will make sure they are able to have it up on our classroom computers to share during the museum). Remember they are suppose to dress up as their animal and when someone pushes their button they should speak as if they are the animal they chose (I am a bee...). This is my first year doing the wax museum so I am excited to see how it turns out. This event is floating so you can stop by anytime between 10:00-11:00 to check out our Wax Museum if you would like.
In Social Studies this week we began talking about changes in our community and environment. The kids learned how we as people and our population causes these changes. They also learned about natural resources and their importance to our world. See if they can share with you some of the things they learned about this topic.
Don't forget that Field Day is next week on Thursday. We will be wearing our class t-shirts that day. I will send the kids to the bathroom to put it on instead of slipping it over another shirt. Hopefully the weather will be good for Field Day. Please make sure that you apply sunscreen on at home as we cannot do that here at school; also send your child with a change of clothes as they often get wet and/or dirty during some of the fun activities. Parents are welcome to come join in the fun.
That about wraps it up for this week. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend... stay dry =)
~Ms. Gower
May Birthdays...
- Addison- May 26th
We Could Use...
- Clorox Wipes
- Tubs from the dollar store (book boxes/chair boxes)
- Green folders (like your child's Friday Folder)
Reminders~
- May 23-25: EOG
- May 26: Field Day
- May 27: Interim Reports for students below benchmarks
- May 30: Holiday/No School
- May 31: Animal Projects Due
- Jun. 3: Wax Museum (10:00-11)
- Jun. 6-17: End of Year Assessments
- Jun. 24: Fairy Tale Tea Party
- Jun. 28th: Meet the Teacher
- Jun. 30: Last Day of School
CONGRATS AR READERS!!!
- Addison- 12 pts
- Ethan- 32 pts
- Allison- 48 pts
- Caden- 15 pts
- Matthew- 20 pts
- Ben- 10 pts
Notes~
- EOG Testing- This begins next week for track 1. Please remind your child to be mindful when walking through the halls. We want to be be very quiet so the boys and girls can do their best job. Also, please try to get your child to school on time that day if they are a car rider so that there will be minimal movement through the school during testing times.
- Wed. Nights Homework- Please make sure your child is completing the written comprehension homework. This assignment is to help them broaden their comprehension with text and to use critical thinking skills when responding to these questions. It is good practice for them and will support them as they prepare for 2nd grade as well as the EOY assessments.
- THANK YOU- Thank you for the many sweet gifts and cards this week for Teacher Appreciation. We were in awe of your kindness. Ms. Weida and I truly love your children and feel very fortunate to have been their teachers this year!
WSES~ Embracing the Needs of Every Child!
Email: egower@wcpss.net
Website: www.msgower.weebly.com
Location: 6800 Dwight Rowland Road, NC, United States
Phone: (919) 557-2770
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/msgower/
Twitter: @MsGowersClass