Our Week in Review

Even though it was a short week, it was a busy one in Room 24!

In writing, we continued to work on our Ivan poems, and finished publishing our narratives.  We also completed a narrative writing assessment.

In Reading we finished up some of our Ivan activities, and focused our reading on non-fiction.  We have read about Gregor Mendel and about Mexico, focusing on non-fiction text features such as bold/italic print, captions, headings, maps and tables.  We have been learning a lot in both science and social studies, and about how to read non-fiction in a different way than fiction.

On Thursday we learned about "ojos de dios" or God's Eyes.  This is common craft done in Mexico. Together with Mrs. Williams' class, we created our own God's Eyes.

Today we had a very special treat!  Our Creative Arts Friday was highlighted by Mrs. Tracey!  She came to our class and taught us all about the Aztecs (from Mexico).

 We reviewed a bit about their history and discussed their artistry.  We drew some Aztec suns, focusing on imagery and emotion.  We then drew our suns on foam board.

 Mrs. Tracey helped us with ink and a brayer, and we created some Aztec sun prints!  We learned about Mexican poet, Octavio Paz, and  wrote some free verse poetry in his style.

We will mount our suns with our poetry soon! Thank you, Mrs. Tracey for such an awesome day!!!

Poetry Spotlight

Here are two poems written today about the sun prints.

There's a sun

among the trees

that smiles at me.

And I smile back.

                          ~Emily 

Sad Sun

Tears are dripping

down my burning face

as the rain falls

I grow weaker

and lose my light.

It is soon dark.

                      ~Sarah

From the Teacher's Desk

The next few weeks will be busy with preparing for our tests in science (Heredity) and social studies (Mexico).  The children have all of the necessary materials to begin studying for both tests.  They have been reminded to bring their materials back and forth to school/home, so that they are able to participate in school activities as well as study at home.  Students should also be preparing and practicing for their November speech.  The speeches will be given in front of our class on November 26th.  If your child will not be in school on that day, please contact Mrs. Merten, so that arrangements can be made.

Our Week In Review

We began our week with our "Poem Swap".  Last week, during poetry workshop, we wrote a list poem "Things to do at a Teacher Sleepover".  Mrs. Roberts' first graders wrote about the same topic (2 pages!).  We enjoyed sharing our poetry and meeting some new friends.

In Science, we took a quiz on using the Scientific Method and the Water Cycle.  We will begin our unit on Heredity next week.  One thing that we enjoy in our class (as part of our Heredity Unit) is looking at pictures of our ancestors.  The children will have homework on Monday to bring a picture of an ancestor (or two) to school on Wednesday.  We will be sharing the pictures and looking at the traits that we've inherited from our family.

In Social Studies, we began to learn about Mexico this week.  We have learned about the geography and climate of this country, and many of us would love to visit!

During writing we have wrapped up our drafts of our narrative writing.  We will revise and edit and then publish this piece.  During poetry, we have finished our list poems and are working on haikus - with a Halloween theme.  Here are some of the fun leads we wrote about Mrs. Merten's favorite personal narrative.

We continue to make our way through The One and Only Ivan, and Mrs. Merten is working at not crying when she reads!  This book has opened our eyes to animals and their feelings, as well as how some humans treat animals.  It is rich in language and content, and we have truly enjoyed it!  We will need another week and a half to finish reading and discussing this book.  Below is the "book trailer" that we saw before we began reading this book.  Once you see it, you will see why we were immediately hooked!



Book talks continue to be a big hit!

Today we had our unit assessment on the topic of Multiplication.  The children have learned to solve multiplication problems in various ways, and they are able to explain and teach another how to use their strategy.

 Next week we will begin to learn about division.

Our power point presentations are coming along nicely. We will have one more week, and we hope to finish.  Many of the students have chosen to "practice" using power point at home as well.  Mrs. Merten is very impressed with our work!

Our Week In Review

What a Week! With the storm and Halloween, things were a bit crazy!  On Halloween, we started the day with some Halloween Yoga.  Mrs. Williams led a short class so that the children could calm themselves and focus to get ready for the busy day we had planned.  It worked!   The children did wonderfully on their Social Studies test. Mrs. Merten was so proud of them for preparing so thoroughly, and for working to stay focused.

During the last few weeks, we've been learning about sentences.  Specifically, we have learned about different types of sentences, and how these sentences should be punctuated.  We also have learned about subjects and predicates.  This learning will help the children to improve their writing, making their subjects complete and clear, and punctuating their sentences correctly.  Often we watch brief 2-4 minute videos on a website called Brainpop. While this site is subscription based, some of the videos are free to all.  Here are the videos we watched about sentences, which are free and available to all. They are a great resource for studying, too!

• Subject and Predicate 
• Types of Sentences

During Poetry Friday this week, we began to learn about Acrostic Poems, and the poet Ken Nesbitt.  For this type of poetry you write a word down the left side of the page and then write words or phrases that begin with that letter. We wrote a class poem about our Chip Store.  Here is a picture of us shopping this week!

Cool things to buy

Hearing the chips go back in the bucket

I love the candy and toys

Prizes you can buy

Spending chips on splendid items

Taking all of the candy

On the counter

Reaching for the awesome prizes

Exciting all year

In Math we have started to learn about multiplication.  By the end of this unit, students will have learned 4 digit by 1 digit and 2 digit by 2 digit.  Students are learning to multiply using non traditional ways, and will be introduced to traditional multiplication (the way most of us learned) later in the year.  Since the state learning standards have changed somewhat, you will notice that some of our math materials do not come from the Everyday Mathematics program.

In writing we have been working on revising skills, specifically ways to elaborate our writing, and on writing good leads.  Next week we will wrap up with making sure we have used a strong ending.  We will also be focusing on editing for mechanics and spelling.  We will be using the COPS strategy.  I'm looking forward to a great November!

Poetry Please

Our class has been learning about the Japanese Haiku as a form of poetry.  We wrote a Halloween Haiku as a class on Friday.  We hope you enjoy!

Fireball Candy

Sucking on Jolly Ranchers

Kids carving pumpkins

Meow! in the dark

The black cat walks down the street

Immortal Black Cat!