A Secret Star Visitor!

I told the children that we would have a special, top secret star visitor this week! They were making guesses all throughout the week about who they thought it might be. Yesterday, they took a minute to write down one question they might ask a guest in our classroom. Sure enough, our very own Dr. Jares appeared in our doorway this afternoon! He was displaying tons of school spirit, including his stuffed version of Echo the dolphin, and his dolphin slippers, too! He answered all kinds of the children's questions- such as his favorite movie, his favorite food, even his favorite vacation and his favorite part of the day! Dr. Jares read the children one of his favorite stories- ironically it was about a principal who has a colorful collection of ties! We enjoyed our visit very much, it was so much fun for the children to have the chance to interact with our principal in this way! Thank you for stopping by, Dr. Jares!

In other news:

• Your child might have mentioned participating in a “Hard Lock Down” drill this week. In the event of an unsafe situation in the building, the children practiced moving to a place out of the range of sight from the door, and staying quiet until we received an “all clear.” It's good to practice these situations so the children are comfortable with the process and know just what to do in case of an emergency.


• We also enjoyed watching the Spring Orff Concert! The 4th and 5th graders did a wonderful job!

Spelling

The children worked on words spelled with /ar/ /air/ and /are/. Next week we will work with words that follow the pattern of /er/ /eer/ /ear/ and /ere/.

Reading

Our theme this week was all about stories and story telling. The children expanded their oral vocabularies with the words: contemplate, explain, coincidence, scheme and worthy. We reviewed what an autobiography is as we read about the life of Pam Munoz Ryan in our whole group text called, “Stirring up Memories.” The children realized that they have also written an autobiography this year, when they wrote their “ALL ABOUT ME!” books back in September! We enjoyed reading this text , looking at the actual photographs, and using the captions below each photo to pull even more information about the life of the author. Additional vocabulary words we worked with include: creating, familiar, glamorous, imagination, memories, and occasions. The children and I not only analyzed the structure of the text (actual photographs, subtitles, captions,) but we also practiced drawing conclusions about the author. We did this by mixing what we read with what we know!

We also read a few poems this week. The children did a nice job identifying rhyming words in order to determine the poem’s rhyme scheme. We also learned a new word: ONOMATOPEIA! The children learned that onomatopeia is a word that sounds like the object or action it is referring to. Together we determined that juicy words, a clever rhyme scheme, and onomatopeia make writing more fun to read and intriguing.

Writing

The students in our class were very excited to begin writing their own books! They are currently organizing their information into chapters. The children had practice using the iPod touches to research their topic and to add facts to each of their chapters. We are trying to make sure that each paragraph has at least 4-6 sentences. They are now editing, revising, and reorganizing their work. They will be working to publish their books into neat final copies next week. I’ve been so amazed to watch the children transform into authors right before my eyes!

Grammar

The children learned about the articles “a” and “an.” We now know that we use the word “a” before a word that begins with a consonant (ex: a bird) and we use the word “an” before a word that begins with a vowel (ex: an elephant).

Math

This week the children reviewed "trading first" while subtracting two digit numbers that require regrouping. We also reviewed making ballpark estimates before solving these problems. The children also found the total number of items in several groups by multiplying, and we had some experience with solving division number stores, too! They are growing very comfortable identifying the number model that matches these types of problems.

Social Studies

The children are having a blast learning about the "Land Down Under." We learned about some of the different foods in Australia, including lamington, pavlova, Anzac biscuits, and even vegemite! The children are doing a great job comparing Australia with the United States as we go. We noticed that we both have flags that are red, white and blue. Both of our flags also have stars that represent our states! Both countries also have original ties to Great Britain, as we were both British colonies at one time! We’ve also added some new terms to our Australian dictionaries! Now we have zonked, tucker, barbie, lollies, oldies, and crook in our dictionaires... Ask your child what those mean!

We also finished our Australia ABC's book. The children each studied one particular topic relating to the country of Australia. They typed their facts, added a title, and cut and pasted a matching picture at clip art.com. They were placed in a vimeo file for us, and are linked on the blog. Take a look!

Have a great weekend!