Friday, October 26, 2012

A Concert at School

Today we had a special assembly brought to us by the Woodbury Heights Municipal Alliance.  Jonathon Sprout came to our school and sang songs about famous Americans.  We talked about these Americans earlier in the week and how each of them overcame difficulties and became famous. Ask your child about Wilma Rudolph, John Muir, Elizabeth Blackwell, Thomas Jefferson or Milton Hershey...  The students had a lot of fun in the assembly.  We even had a few dancers!!

Our theme is reading this week has been focused on creating images in your mind using your senses when reading a book.  This is something you can practice at home with your child as you read them a story.

We had another math test this week.  The students performed very well on this test.  New this year in math, is an open response question on the math test.  These questions are designed so that the student needs to explain how to solve the problem.  The reason for this is to prepare the students for the future in which they will need to be able to answer these type of questions.  Up to now, I have not sent these questions home with the math test but will be in the future.  They can be rather difficult and will not count against them if they are not correct.  It is just so that they get used to handling this kind of question.

In social studies, we are still learning about maps and map features.  This week in science, we started the next phase of motion...rolling.   We used ramps and wheels and axles!!

Next week is my favorite week of all HALLOWEEN!!  Let's hope the hurricane doesn't spoil it for us!!



Friday, October 19, 2012

Our Friend Frankie


This week the class made glyphs of "Our Friend Frankie".  Your child should be able to tell you what each part represents on their monster. 
Thank you to all of the parents that were able to visit our classroom on Wednesday.  I hope you had a nice time and really got an idea of how our classroom works.
 This week we had our first test in reading.  The students did very well on this test.  They will be coming home this weekend for you to sign and return.  You will see their score as well as the criterion score.  All of the scores on this test were better than the criterion!! Great Job, 2-Wells.
In writing, we learned a new way to start our stories using BOLD BEGINNINGS.  We want our stories to "catch the readers eye" and start out strong so that the reader does not get bored.
We are still working on math facts and different ways to add and subtract.  The next math assessment will be on Tuesday on Unit 2.
In social studies, we have begun learning about maps.  We discussed this week how reading a map has become obsolete with new technology.  Most of the students were more familiar with a GPS than a map.  We have finished our unit on spinning in science and will be proceeding to rolling.  We will be using wheels and ramps!!
Have a nice week!!