We have had a great short week!

Happy Crayon Day!!!  The kiddos are showing off their favorite colors with a crayon topper! :)

National Custodian Day is October 2, and because Mr. Jim keeps our school looking so wonderful we had to celebrate him!  Yesterday, the kiddos each wrote and a drew on a key to say thank you for something that he did because "Mr. Jim is the 'key' to keeping our school clean!"  This morning we gave him all of our keys and sang him a song.

Today we had Makers Space.  This is always one of the kiddos favorite things that happens on Fridays!  We made bookmarks out of duct tape.

• Social Studies:  Today, we challenged the kids to define culture, civics, history, geography, and economics.  At the meeting I went to on Monday with CPS's Social Studies coordinator, he discussed the importance of students knowing a common vocabulary in social studies from elementary school through high school.  We first showed them the words and they discussed with a partner, then we showed them pictures and they added or changed what they thought, then we labeled the pictures with the 5 vocabulary words, and they changed or added to their definitions again.  Ultimately, we came up with a child friendly definition of these social studies words.  I am so impressed with how hard the students worked and they did an AWESOME job creating these definitions.  As we were discussing geography, we looked at Google Earth.  The students absolutely loved it, so they may be asking you get on Google Earth at home. :)
• History: something that happened in the past (a long time ago)
• Culture: things that represent different countries, differences among countries, people of different countries
• Geography: study and use of maps/lands
• Civics: government
• Economics: study of money
  
  
• Writing: We have continued working on writing leads this week.  A lead is the first sentence of a story and purpose a lead to grab your readers' attention and make them want to read your story.  We talked about sound, question, talking and action leads.  Your child has tried out these 4 different types of leads for his/her small moment story.  Next week, the kiddos will choose their favorite lead that works the best for their story.  
• Reading: We finished our discussion on problem/solution.  After your child is finished reading a book at home have him or her tell you the problem/solution of the story.  Next week, we will be talking about decoding strategies and what to do when we come to a word that we don't know.  
• Word Study: We have been working with "Magic e" and understanding that adding an "e" to the end of a word makes the vowel change from a short vowel to a long vowel.  We did not have a spelling test this week, but we will next Friday.  The spelling words are: glass, make, last, same, came, fast, page, face, snap and sack.  When working with your child on his/her spelling words please have them practice identifying if the vowel is short or long and explaining why.  This is a rule that is super important both as a writer and a reader. :)
• Math: We finished up talking about standard and expanded form.  The kiddos know that a number written in standard form is the "typical" way we write numbers (ex: 678) and that standard form is stretching the number out so that each digit is represented by it's value (ex: 600 + 70 +8).  We also started talking about coins, what they look like (including who is on them) and how much each coin is worth. Below is the poem.  Next week we will continue to work with coins and counting coins.

Good Citizen Club

We have had a great 7 weeks of school - can you believe we have been in school for 7 weeks!!!  Starting next month I will be starting a good citizen club.  Being a good citizen at school means:

• Your homework every night (including parent initials for reading log & math game/fact practice)
• Your work is completed in class and do not have to stay in at Study Hall to finish
• You do not have to fill out a Think Sheet (in any classroom),
• You do not receive an office referral. 

Being in the Good Citizen Club is rewarded every two weeks. So, starting on October 3-14, if a student meets all the criteria for being a good citizen

McTeacher Night is this Tuesday, October 4, from 4:00-8:00.  A percentage of the total sales from that evening will be given to RBE!  Mrs. Ross & I will be there 4:30-5:00.  If you are able to come during that time, we would love to see you!

The RBE Chicken BBQ is 15 days away!!!    RBE has had a chicken bbq for 59 years and we need your help to make it happen!  Ways to help:

• Continue to sell meal, game & raffle tickets (a RBE BBQ bag came home a few weeks ago - so return it if you haven't already).
• Volunteer to work a shift.
• Donate pies (make or bring a pie or have Peggy Jean's Pie bake the pie for you).
• Shop the Silent Auction & Teacher Town.
• Things to look for at Teacher Town:
• A class picture that all the kiddos have signed.
• A cute combination picture of Mrs. Ross's class & ours forming heart that all the kiddos in both classes have signed.
• A lunch pizza party for your child & 2 friends (I will provide pizza, drink & dessert).
• A day on the STEAM bus for our entire class (this would be a super fun & the kiddos would love it).  If parents wanted to get together & pull their money - this would allow for a higher possibility of our class winning this AMAZING activity!!

As a reminder, the Book It! program starts in October.  The reading goal for October is 300 minutes of reading.  Your child is bringing home the Book It! reading log and information in his/her Friday Folder.  If your child is interested in the program please fill out the number of minutes read each night and add the total for the week (this is great real-world adding that your child can participate in).  The Book It! reading log must be turned in by November 2nd to receive the Book It! certificate for a personal pan pizza.  A new reading goal and log will come home for November.  

We will have a Veteran's Day assembly on November 9.  I will send out the time once it is finalized.  The students will be performing a song at the assembly.  Please have your child wear red, white and blue to school on November 9.  Also, there will be a slide show of veterans.  If there is a veteran in your family that you would like to be recognized in the slide show, please send a picture of the veteran (as well as their name, your child's name and their relationship) to Mrs. Sharp (esharp@cpsk12.org).

Have a wonderful weekend! :)