First Week--August 27

Wow! Can you believe how fast the first week of school has gone by? We have been having so much fun in class and look forward to the rest of the year. Here are some things we have been doing.

Math: We started out the year by reviewing multiplication. The students shared some of their favorite strategies to solve multiplication problems and learned many new ones. We will continue with the review next week as well as review division.

Science: The students watched a short video on how large we are when compared to atoms and single celled organisms, but also how small we can be compared to the universe and beyond. We read Dr. Xargles and talked about the difference between an observation and inference.

Social Studies: Students shared with the class the places they have traveled to around the world. Then they labeled and colored a world map. We discussed the different ancient civilizations they will study this year. Students analyzed a cookie and found civilizations, rivers, and mountains. They wrote about which civilizations would survive the longest and why, focusing on the land features surrounding each one.

*Students will be looking at artifacts on Monday. Have them bring one in to share about themselves.


Spelling: Look for Spelling List 1 homework to come home in your student's homework folder on Monday. We will be having our first Spelling Test on Friday!

Reading: This week we read several stories with themes that applied to our classroom. On the first day of school we read "First Day Jitters" and the students wrote about any 'jitters' they had for this year. We read "Michael's Golden Rules" and discussed how his ten golden rules of baseball apply to our class. In addition, we read "Knots on a Counting Rope" to help us remember how important each of us is in our classroom. We also created our own knotted bracelets. If the students wear this bracelet on the last day of class they will get a treat! Next week will be starting a class read aloud and have more SSR time.

Writing: Students started writing and publishing their Hands poems. We brainstormed different verbs, adverbs, and adjectives that could describe our hands. Then we turned some of these words into poems about our hands--what our hands can do and what we hope our hands will do in the future. We will finish these up on Monday and they will be on display in our hallway this week! I was very impressed with the poems the students wrote! :)

Also this week we came up with a city name, motto and symbol for our classroom community. We are Blazing Birdville and our motto is "to infinity and beyond!" Special thanks to Spencer Nelson who drew our class symbol! Look for a picture posted on here in the near future! Each student created their own house for our city which will be displayed this week.

Have a fabulous weekend and we'll see you on Monday!