Our classroom was full of excitement on Friday with kids excited about the 30 in 3 celebration and trying to memorize those multiplication facts! Thank you for your efforts helping your son or daughter learn their facts. September will be 50 facts in four minutes! We will start working on those facts immediately. I will encourage the students to memorize them early in the month to avoid the stress of the last minute trying to get to the celebration.
We get to read a wonderful selection about Lou Gehrig this week. It describes his athletic accomplishments, sportsmanship and perseverance - so many great things to admire. We will work on understanding root words, prefixes and suffixes as well as the vocabulary and spelling words.
Our first book report is due in a couple of weeks. I hope the students have been reading their fiction book for their reading log. Students may complete the book report ahead of schedule if they wish. I will share some book report ideas with the class and the kids can decide what works for them.
During math the kids will build multiple towers and then use them to solve multiplication and division problems. We will be working on division and multiplication strategies with larger numbers. Thank goodness we have our facts memorized!
This week our class will start researching crayfish together. Each group will be assigned a specific topic and asked to gather facts. Then we will organize our facts into paragraphs and finally put all of our paragraphs into one report. I will be modeling the steps of a research project so students can take on more of the responsibility as the year progresses.
Pictures are Wednesday! Everyone will get their picture taken for the yearbook and lunch cards. It will be your choice whether or not to purchase the pictures for home use. I am sure the kids will look super cute on Wednesday!
May we all grow, reach and succeed!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Figueroa
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Homework week of September 2, 2013
Tuesday - vocabulary 15 & 16, math 39 & 40 and reading log
Wednesday - spelling 19 & 21, math 43 - 46, and reading log
Thursday - study spelling words, finish math 47 - 51, and reading log
Friday - Have a pleasant weekend!
Wednesday - spelling 19 & 21, math 43 - 46, and reading log
Thursday - study spelling words, finish math 47 - 51, and reading log
Friday - Have a pleasant weekend!
Spelling list: Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man
1. those
2. coach
3. solid
4. include
5. crew
6. plus
7. operate
8. broke
9. upset
10. tune
11. June
12. floating
13. plume
14. renew
15. husband
16. honor
17. smoke
18. conflict
19. stew
20. thunder
Bonus words
immigrants
salary
modest
valuable
appreciation
courageous
tremendous
sportsmanship
2. coach
3. solid
4. include
5. crew
6. plus
7. operate
8. broke
9. upset
10. tune
11. June
12. floating
13. plume
14. renew
15. husband
16. honor
17. smoke
18. conflict
19. stew
20. thunder
Bonus words
immigrants
salary
modest
valuable
appreciation
courageous
tremendous
sportsmanship
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Teacher's note August 26, 2013
I am excited for the learning opportunities that we have planned for this coming week. Monday the kids will be going to the library and one of their books must be fiction for the report due in September. I will ask the students what book they plan to read for their book report. One of our language arts goal for this week will be understanding the narrative elements of a story, especially the problem and solution. Plus we will write a persuasive paragraph about whether or not dodge ball should be allowed at school.
Math will be exciting too! We will learn division strategies this week! I will demonstrate how to use multiplication to solve division and the go with what you know strategy. Probably someone will demonstrate the standard algorithm too. Friday is our first math facts celebration. Anyone who has achieved 30 multiplication facts correct in 3 minutes will be invited to the celebration. I would love nothing more than all 28 of my students attending the celebration. If a student does not have their facts memorized then they will use the time to study the facts.
The students have been observing the growth of our seeds and now the beans are in our hydroponic tubs. The kids seem amazed that the plants can grow with out soil and we can watch the roots, stem and leaves grow. We will continue to study the life cycle of plants the next few weeks.
May we all grow, reach, and succeed!
Warmly,
Mrs. Figueroa
Math will be exciting too! We will learn division strategies this week! I will demonstrate how to use multiplication to solve division and the go with what you know strategy. Probably someone will demonstrate the standard algorithm too. Friday is our first math facts celebration. Anyone who has achieved 30 multiplication facts correct in 3 minutes will be invited to the celebration. I would love nothing more than all 28 of my students attending the celebration. If a student does not have their facts memorized then they will use the time to study the facts.
The students have been observing the growth of our seeds and now the beans are in our hydroponic tubs. The kids seem amazed that the plants can grow with out soil and we can watch the roots, stem and leaves grow. We will continue to study the life cycle of plants the next few weeks.
May we all grow, reach, and succeed!
Warmly,
Mrs. Figueroa
Homework week of August 26, 2013
Monday - vocabulary 11& 12, math 18 & 19 and memorize 9s, and reading log
Tuesday - spelling 16, math 23 & 24 and memorize 10s, and reading log
Wednesday - story elements, math 27 & 28 and memorize the 11s, and reading log
Thursday - study spelling words, math 30 & 31 and memorize 12s and reading log
Friday - Have a wonderful 3 day weekend!!!!!!!
Tuesday - spelling 16, math 23 & 24 and memorize 10s, and reading log
Wednesday - story elements, math 27 & 28 and memorize the 11s, and reading log
Thursday - study spelling words, math 30 & 31 and memorize 12s and reading log
Friday - Have a wonderful 3 day weekend!!!!!!!
Spelling list: My Name is Maria Isabel
1. mine
2. tie
3. wild
4. type
5. smile
6. drive
7. size
8. blind
9. visit
10. thick
11. die
12. prize
13. fifty
14. picnic
15. arrived
16. decide
17. child
18. civil
19. divide
20. library
Bonus words
pageant
rehearsals
restless
troublesome
tropical
attentively
2. tie
3. wild
4. type
5. smile
6. drive
7. size
8. blind
9. visit
10. thick
11. die
12. prize
13. fifty
14. picnic
15. arrived
16. decide
17. child
18. civil
19. divide
20. library
Bonus words
pageant
rehearsals
restless
troublesome
tropical
attentively
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Teacher's note August 19, 2013
Thank you to all of you who joined us for Curriculum Night last Tuesday. I hope it was worth your time. It was great to see so many parents attend.
Even after all the information that was shared on Tuesday, I forgot to tell you about 4th grade dancing with Opening the Mind through Art, OMA. Our first class last Thursday went terrific! A dance specialist will teach us creative dance movements and math concepts. Last week we talked about right, acute and obtuse angles and making angles with different parts of our body - it was fun!
We get to dance with the OMA specialist every Thursday afternoon during first quarter. Our Thursdays are packed with orchestra, P.E., computer lab and OMA. The fourth grade teachers made a decision to count OMA dancing as our P.E. for first quarter so we will have time to do language arts and math on Thursdays. Second quarter the fourth grade will have P.E. with the teacher. No worries, we do believe in participating in P.E.
Friday the students met their reading buddies from Mrs. Perdreauville's class. The kids seemed to love meeting and helping their little kinder buddies. Friday at 2:00 is our time for Reading Buddies.
We took our first multiplication times tests on Wednesday. Six students already have perfect scores in under three minutes. Your son or daughter has their multiplication fact test in their planner. Many of the students need to invest time into learning their multiplication facts. Especially because this week we start one digit times two digit multiplication - it is way easier if the kids know their facts.
Monday the kids will take the unit one math test. I will grade the test and return it to them on Tuesday. I allow students that do not have a solid understanding of the math concepts to take the test again. Please ask to see your son's or daughter's math test on Tuesday evening. I hope you will be celebrating with them.
The kids have an opportunity to write a persuasive paragraph this week. The topic is Should we be required to share? The kids will be asked to take a stand, state their opinion as the topic sentence, add at least three supporting details and then end restating their opinion or a call for action. We may need your help editing on Thursday evening.
May we all grow, reach, and succeed!
Warmly,
Mrs. Figueroa
Even after all the information that was shared on Tuesday, I forgot to tell you about 4th grade dancing with Opening the Mind through Art, OMA. Our first class last Thursday went terrific! A dance specialist will teach us creative dance movements and math concepts. Last week we talked about right, acute and obtuse angles and making angles with different parts of our body - it was fun!
We get to dance with the OMA specialist every Thursday afternoon during first quarter. Our Thursdays are packed with orchestra, P.E., computer lab and OMA. The fourth grade teachers made a decision to count OMA dancing as our P.E. for first quarter so we will have time to do language arts and math on Thursdays. Second quarter the fourth grade will have P.E. with the teacher. No worries, we do believe in participating in P.E.
Friday the students met their reading buddies from Mrs. Perdreauville's class. The kids seemed to love meeting and helping their little kinder buddies. Friday at 2:00 is our time for Reading Buddies.
We took our first multiplication times tests on Wednesday. Six students already have perfect scores in under three minutes. Your son or daughter has their multiplication fact test in their planner. Many of the students need to invest time into learning their multiplication facts. Especially because this week we start one digit times two digit multiplication - it is way easier if the kids know their facts.
Monday the kids will take the unit one math test. I will grade the test and return it to them on Tuesday. I allow students that do not have a solid understanding of the math concepts to take the test again. Please ask to see your son's or daughter's math test on Tuesday evening. I hope you will be celebrating with them.
The kids have an opportunity to write a persuasive paragraph this week. The topic is Should we be required to share? The kids will be asked to take a stand, state their opinion as the topic sentence, add at least three supporting details and then end restating their opinion or a call for action. We may need your help editing on Thursday evening.
May we all grow, reach, and succeed!
Warmly,
Mrs. Figueroa
Friday, August 16, 2013
Homework week of August 19, 2013
Monday - spelling 13, math finish 35 - 38, memorize 5s, and reading log
Tuesday - vocabulary page 6, math finish 1-4, memorize 6s, and reading logs
Wednesday - prefixes 7 & 8, math 5 & 6, memorize 7s, and reading logs
Thursday - study spelling words, finish Should we be required to share?, math 13 & 14, memorize 8s and reading log
Friday - have a very enjoyable weekend!!
Tuesday - vocabulary page 6, math finish 1-4, memorize 6s, and reading logs
Wednesday - prefixes 7 & 8, math 5 & 6, memorize 7s, and reading logs
Thursday - study spelling words, finish Should we be required to share?, math 13 & 14, memorize 8s and reading log
Friday - have a very enjoyable weekend!!
Spelling list: Donavan's Word Jar
1. asleep
2. empty
3. queen
4. deal
5. needed
6. spelling
7. east
8. feelings
9. tea
10. keeping
11. beneath
12. agree
13. elevator
14. coffee
15. suggested
16. method
17. feature
18. metal
19. disease
20. television
Bonus words
uneasy
disappointment
compromise
perseverance
leisure
chortle
2. empty
3. queen
4. deal
5. needed
6. spelling
7. east
8. feelings
9. tea
10. keeping
11. beneath
12. agree
13. elevator
14. coffee
15. suggested
16. method
17. feature
18. metal
19. disease
20. television
Bonus words
uneasy
disappointment
compromise
perseverance
leisure
chortle
Saturday, August 10, 2013
Teacher's note August 12, 2013
I have a ton of information to share with you Tuesday evening at Curriculum Night. I sure hope you can attend. The students will receive a homework freebie certificate if a parent or grandparent attends Curriculum Night. We will share information in our class starting at 6:45. Students are welcome to attend, but the conversation will be directed towards the adults.
This will be an unusual week for us due to the ATI testing. On Monday morning from 9:00 until 10:30 our school will be taking a reading test and then on Wednesday from 9:00 to 10:30 will be a math test. This test will be used to evaluate growth through out this school year and help plan appropriate instruction. Another unusual event will be the NED assembly Tuesday morning - the kids always love that assembly. I have decided to not have spelling or vocabulary words this week. Instead we will work on the reading skills of understanding inferences, root words, prefixes and suffixes.
Monday afternoon the kids will set up a class and group sprouter to observe seeds sprouting. They will have an opportunity to watch the seeds turn into a plant. Our challenge will be to have a bean seed grow and produce its own bean seed to complete the life cycle. I think we are up to the challenge.
Please help your son or daughter memorize their multiplication facts through 12. We will be discussing ways to accomplish this at Curriculum Night. Please sign the Multiplication Fact sheet if you believe your son or daughter has that number memorized. The kids will be glad they have the facts memorized as we move into double digit multiplication. I certainly appreciate your help!
That is enough information for now - much more will be shared Tuesday evening.
May we all grow, reach and succeed!
Warmly,
Mrs. Figueroa
This will be an unusual week for us due to the ATI testing. On Monday morning from 9:00 until 10:30 our school will be taking a reading test and then on Wednesday from 9:00 to 10:30 will be a math test. This test will be used to evaluate growth through out this school year and help plan appropriate instruction. Another unusual event will be the NED assembly Tuesday morning - the kids always love that assembly. I have decided to not have spelling or vocabulary words this week. Instead we will work on the reading skills of understanding inferences, root words, prefixes and suffixes.
Monday afternoon the kids will set up a class and group sprouter to observe seeds sprouting. They will have an opportunity to watch the seeds turn into a plant. Our challenge will be to have a bean seed grow and produce its own bean seed to complete the life cycle. I think we are up to the challenge.
Please help your son or daughter memorize their multiplication facts through 12. We will be discussing ways to accomplish this at Curriculum Night. Please sign the Multiplication Fact sheet if you believe your son or daughter has that number memorized. The kids will be glad they have the facts memorized as we move into double digit multiplication. I certainly appreciate your help!
That is enough information for now - much more will be shared Tuesday evening.
May we all grow, reach and succeed!
Warmly,
Mrs. Figueroa
Homework week of August 12, 2013
Monday - inferences 10 & 11, memorize ones and twos, finish math 13 - 16 and reading log
Tuesday -attend Curriculum Night, inferences 12 & 13, math 17,18 & 20 and reading log
Wednesday - prefixes 33 & 34, memorize threes, math 21 - 24 and reading log
Thursday - analogies 9 & 10, memorize fours, math 25 & 26 and reading log
Friday - Have a wonderful weekend!
Tuesday -attend Curriculum Night, inferences 12 & 13, math 17,18 & 20 and reading log
Wednesday - prefixes 33 & 34, memorize threes, math 21 - 24 and reading log
Thursday - analogies 9 & 10, memorize fours, math 25 & 26 and reading log
Friday - Have a wonderful weekend!
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Teacher's note August 5, 2013
You were extremely generous donating school supplies and our cabinets are stocked full. Thank you very much! We will use the supplies wisely through out the year. I do believe we have everything we need at this time.
I am excited to dive into the curriculum this week. As we read The Gardner we will work on making inferences. The spelling words will be based on the long or short a and noticing patterns. The students who want more of a challenge than the 20 spelling words may also take part or all of the weekly vocabulary words. The spelling test will be on Friday.
This week we will work on the organization of a paragraph. The students will be encouraged to write a topic sentence, add three or more supporting details and then write a conclusion. Our first writing prompt is describe a challenge you have faced. The Gardner selection describes a girl's challenge during the Depression.
Wednesday evening the kids will start producing a six traits poster and then complete it by Friday. I will invest a great deal of time describing the project and showing examples to the class on Wednesday. The purpose of the project is to help the students understand and remember the six traits of writing. The students should understand what to do and a brief written description of the assignment will be distributed too. I love seeing the different six traits posters that the students produce.
We have a great week of multiplication activities planned! The kids will work with arrays and make factor posters. The goal is to understand factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers by the end of the week. Plus, the kids should become more fluent with their multiplication facts.
Please save the evening of August 13th for Curriculum Night at Soleng Tom. At 6:00 the kindergarten, first and third grade teachers share information and then about 6:45 second, fourth and fifth grade classes present their curriculum. It should be a very informative evening and the kids will be given a homework freebie if their parent attends. Please come if at all possible.
I have been impressed and pleased with your children the first two days of school - let's hope this pattern continues.
May we all grow, reach and succeed!
Warmly,
Mrs. Figueroa
I am excited to dive into the curriculum this week. As we read The Gardner we will work on making inferences. The spelling words will be based on the long or short a and noticing patterns. The students who want more of a challenge than the 20 spelling words may also take part or all of the weekly vocabulary words. The spelling test will be on Friday.
This week we will work on the organization of a paragraph. The students will be encouraged to write a topic sentence, add three or more supporting details and then write a conclusion. Our first writing prompt is describe a challenge you have faced. The Gardner selection describes a girl's challenge during the Depression.
Wednesday evening the kids will start producing a six traits poster and then complete it by Friday. I will invest a great deal of time describing the project and showing examples to the class on Wednesday. The purpose of the project is to help the students understand and remember the six traits of writing. The students should understand what to do and a brief written description of the assignment will be distributed too. I love seeing the different six traits posters that the students produce.
We have a great week of multiplication activities planned! The kids will work with arrays and make factor posters. The goal is to understand factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers by the end of the week. Plus, the kids should become more fluent with their multiplication facts.
Please save the evening of August 13th for Curriculum Night at Soleng Tom. At 6:00 the kindergarten, first and third grade teachers share information and then about 6:45 second, fourth and fifth grade classes present their curriculum. It should be a very informative evening and the kids will be given a homework freebie if their parent attends. Please come if at all possible.
I have been impressed and pleased with your children the first two days of school - let's hope this pattern continues.
May we all grow, reach and succeed!
Warmly,
Mrs. Figueroa
Homework week of August 5, 2013
Monday - spelling page 10, math page 5 and reading log
Tuesday - vocabulary 1, math 7 & 8 and reading log
Wednesday - start working on six traits poster, math 9 & 10, and reading log
Thursday - finish six traits poster, study spelling words, math 11 & 12 and reading log
Friday - Have a terrific weekend!
Tuesday - vocabulary 1, math 7 & 8 and reading log
Wednesday - start working on six traits poster, math 9 & 10, and reading log
Thursday - finish six traits poster, study spelling words, math 11 & 12 and reading log
Friday - Have a terrific weekend!
Spelling list: The Gardner
1. played
2. escape
3. thank
4. subway
5. gray
6. safely
7. mistake
8. greatest
9. break
10. after
11. planting
12. scratch
13. address
14. holiday
15. natural
16. paragraph
17. blanket
18. capital
19. taken
20. cabin
Bonus words
anxious
recognizing
adore
vacant
sprucing
retire
2. escape
3. thank
4. subway
5. gray
6. safely
7. mistake
8. greatest
9. break
10. after
11. planting
12. scratch
13. address
14. holiday
15. natural
16. paragraph
17. blanket
18. capital
19. taken
20. cabin
Bonus words
anxious
recognizing
adore
vacant
sprucing
retire
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