Wonderful Wednesday!

We had a wonderful Wednesday!  I hope that you did also!

Fable Week
We have been enjoying reading a variety of fables this week.  Yesterday, we read Mousetropolis (a variation of The City Mouse and the Country Mouse).  We had a challenging two-part word problem to solve in math.  The kiddos persevered and solved both parts in their partnerships!

In writing, we are working on writing our own fables!  I have heard several kiddos say how much they are enjoying this!  We talked about that if we are changing up a fable that it is called a fractured fable.  We read Go, Pete, Go! today which is a fractured from the fable The Tortoise and the Hare.

All the kiddos looked so cute dressed as fable characters today!

Nonfiction Scavenger Hunt
We have been learning about different nonfiction text features.  Your child should be able to identify and tell the purpose of a table of contents, heading, photograph/caption, close-up, comparison, diagram, framed text, chart/table, glossary, and index.  After learning about these we have been going on a scavenger hunt to find examples of these features in books.

Field Trip
We enjoyed our field trip today to Daniel Boone Regional Library!  We learned about all the different parts of the library and some interesting trivia.  We even got to see Brandon's grandmother who works at the library!!  Your kiddo is coming home with a fun heat changing pencil to remember their field trip to DBRL.

Walking into the library from the bus.

Ms. Katie was our tour guide.  She was awesome!!

The floor in foyer of the library is made out of recycled tires!

The orange wall of the library is called "the spine."  Here are our spines against the spine! :)

The students of Lee Elementary school created the art work by the elevator in 2002.

The left side has characters from fiction books.

The right side is based on nonfiction topics.

The owl in the children's section is the mascot of knowledge.

4th graders at Grant Elementary created the Missouri wall - full of famous Missourians.

The "egg" or the Children's room has one red tile.  There are some theories why the tile is there...

We visited the 3rd floor and counted the stairs as we came down.

The winter copy of At Your Library is out.  It is full of information about what is happening at DBRL - check it out!

Visitor
Kaydn's grandmother came and read us a story today after our field trip!

November Book It Form Due 
As a reminder, the November Book It form is due by Friday, December 2.  If your child participated please make sure that this form gets turned in.  I also sent home the December Book It form today - so this should be in your child's homework folder.

Wear a Pair, Give a Pair
The collection of pajamas for The Rainbow House continues through Friday.  As a reminder, if your child donates a pair of pajamas then s/he can wear pajamas on Friday!  The kiddos are enjoying getting to go and see their kindergarten teacher when they bring in pajamas.

Weather
Brrrr!!!  The weather has definitely shifted & you can feel winter in the air.  Please make sure that your child is coming to school with a winter coat, hat, gloves/mitten, etc. The playground is windy and cold without any windbreakers.

Magnificent Monday! :)

We had a MAGNIFICENT Monday!! :)  The kiddos worked so incredibly hard and were SUPER focused today!  We are 2 stars away from a classroom celebration!!

In math, we made a class bar graph of our favorite Thanksgiving food, and then we partnered up with a friend from Mrs. Ross's class.  In the partnerships we made noticings about our graph, Mrs. Ross's graph and similarities of the two graphs.  Ask your child what were things that were similar between both classes.

In reading, we continued our fable unit by talking about  The Tortoise & the Hare.  At the response station, the kiddos wrote about the problem of the story and moral.  We are working on making sure that problem and moral match.  We had a science station today, we sorted different pictures into Solid, Liquid and Gas.  At word study today, we learned that when words have a long a at the end that typically the vowel pattern will be "ay."  Our words this week are: drain, raise, gain, braid, train, stay, tray, gray, clay & play.  We also discovered that all of our "ay" words rhyme.

In writing, we wrote about our favorite Thanksgiving food.  This was a beginning introduction to opinion writing.  The writing had to have 3 reasons why the food was our favorite, and then a counter argument of a reason why we did not like another food.  These writings are displayed in the hallway.  Reading all about yummy Thanksgiving food - made several of us hungry! :)

As a reminder, this week is Wear a Pair, Give a Pair Week.  If you are choosing to donate a pair of children's pajamas to The Rainbow House, please send them in this week.  All students who donate a pair of pajamas can wear pajamas to school on Friday!!

Also, we have a dress up day on Wednesday for Fable Week.  If your child would like to dress up as a fable character s/he may!  There are LOTS of simple & easy ideas for characters.  Have fun & let me know if you have any questions.

Our field trip to the Daniel Boone Regional Library is also on Wednesday (8:50-10:30).

I hope that your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break and I am looking forward to 3 FULL weeks of learning before Winter Break!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It's been a SUPER short week due to Thanksgiving Break.  The kiddos have been absolutely amazing and we have worked SO hard!

In math, the kiddos put their +10/+100 skills to use to make turkey.  We practiced mentally adding +10, +30, +60, +100, +200 & +400 to a number.  After they mentally added, then they had fun designing their turkey.  They turned out really cute!!!

In reading, the kiddos enjoyed reading and summarizing Thanksgiving books, writing Thanksgiving stories, and for Word Study we are practicing Thanksgiving words.  Did you find the theme of our reading stations this week? :)  In our Social Study station, we read 2 books about Colonial America - what they wore and their work.  We made a chart that compared Colonial clothes & life to our life today.  You should ask your child what are a few difference & similarities between clothes and work today and in Colonial America.  You will be impressed in what they know!! :)

In writing, the kiddos pretended that they were turkeys and wrote a persuasive speech about choosing a different food to eat on Thanksgiving besides turkey.  After they finished writing their speech, they designed a poster. I was super impressed by the effort and work that many of the students put into their work & they turned are super cute.  We had a chance to share their speeches at the end of the day! :)

This afternoon, we had our ice cream party for being the grade level that brought in the most money for United Way.  The kiddos worked so hard and they definitely enjoyed their ice cream!!

Just a few reminders:

• No School: November 23-25 (Wednesday-Friday) due to Thanksgiving Break
• November 28-December 2 is Fable Week!! :)
• November 30: Fable Dress Up Day - be thinking about what character your child will dress up as
• November 30: Field Trip to Daniel Boone Library (8:50-10:30) - We will be given a tour of the library and have a short presentation.  We will not be checking out books.  If your child brought back his/her Library Card Application after November 15 - I will turn these in when we go & your child's library card will be mailed to him/her.  Your child does NOT need to bring his/her library card the day of the field trip because we will not be checking out books.  Please let me know if you have any other questions!
• Lost & Found: Lost & Found is OVERFLOWING!  All clothing and other items in Lost & Found will be donated to the Salvation Army at the end of the day on Monday, December 19.  In the next month, when you are at school, please take a few minutes to look through Lost & Found to claim any lost items that your child(ren) may have.

Next week in Fable Week!  We will be exploring different fables.  Some of the fables that we will be reading and incorporating into different activities will be: The Tortoise & the Hare (and the fractured fable of Pete the Cat - Go, Pete, Go!), The Country Mouse & the Town Mouse, The Boy Who Cried Wolf (and the fractured fable of The Wolf Who Cried Boy), and The Lion and  the Mouse (and the fractured fable of The Lion Inside).  We have already learned the components of a fable and we have already started a chart to compare different fables.  We know that the problem of the story must be connected to the moral of the story.  The kiddos have started making fractured fables on their own & they are turning out super cute!!  We will be continuing to work on writing fractured fables and have a Fable Share on Friday!

I hope that your family has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving Break!  I look forward to hearing about all the fun & food that was enjoyed with family & friends when the kiddos return on Monday!! :)