Week of October 29

     This week we will finish up Unit 3 in Adventures of the Superkids and begin Unit 4.  We will be working on writing another shared story (where everyone gets to add parts to the story), this time a Halloween one.  The students will also read our next Super Duper magazine called "Bubbles."  Nouns and verbs will also be discussed in our next unit.

     In math the students will each get a chance during center time to practice weighing different objects.  They will find out how many pennies it takes to balance out the scale.  We will also continue to work on our double and plus 1 facts.  This week we will also add plus 0 facts.  The students will also be using our pattern blocks to find multiple ways to cover a design.

     In science and social studies we are continuing to work on our dinosaur inquiry unit.  This week we will be making a timeline for the earth so we can visually see how things have changed over time and how long the earth has been around.  The students will also add another section to their dinosaur book that we are creating.

     Important things happening this week include:

• Spelling test for unit 3 on Monday, Oct. 29
• Math test will be on Tuesday, Oct. 30
• Scholastic book orders are due on Wednesday, Oct. 31
• Reading logs for October are due on Friday, Nov. 2
• Halloween is Wednesday - students may wear their costumes, but they are not to bring any props or weapons, they should not wear any face paint or masks
• Halloween party is in the afternoon, parade will be at 2:15 - you are welcome to come and see all the great costumes
• Students may bring candy to pass out to their classmates on Halloween - please make sure these are wrapped
• Day of the Dead Celebration is on Friday - we will have a prayer service in the morning - Please bring in pictures of deceased family members (make sure you write your child's name and the family members on the back of the picture) to put on the altar that will be in the lunchroom all week

Red Ribbon Week

     This week is Red Ribbon Week.  We will be celebrating it by doing various activities throughout the week.

     Monday, Oct. 22nd - Information and Decoration Day

•  We will decorate our door with a red ribbon.  The students will help to write fun and healthy alternatives to using drugs.
• We will also make our "Born to be Drug Free" collage using the students' baby pictures (please remember to send them in).

     Tuesday, Oct. 23rd - Reach Out Day/No Sweat Day

• Students may wear sweats to school.
• Students will write positive messages to their fellow classmates.

     Wednesday, Oct. 24th - Red Ribbon Faith Day

• Red Ribbon Week will be incorporated into the mass.
• We will tie our red ribbons on the green fences outside.
• Students will write and draw a list of "Top Ten Things to do Instead of Drugs".

     Thursday, Oct. 25th - United We Stand/My Hero Day

• Banners will be created for the saying "Take a Stand on Drugs", by students tracing their feet in red and writing their names in them.
• We will draw and write about a hero or someone we look up to.

     Friday, Oct. 26th - Pledge to be Drug Free Day/Wear Red Day

• Students may dress down in red today.
• Students will write and sign their own personal pledge to live drug free.
• Certificates will be sent home with each student.

Week of October 22

     This week students will continue to work with decoding and encoding words ending with ng and le, as well as work with our new memory words.  Spelling lists will be going home this week.  Our Unit 3 spelling test will be on Monday, October 29.  We will also be doing more work on our writing of sentences and questions, remembering to capitalize the beginning letter of a sentence and put a period or question mark at the end of a sentence.

     In math we will be doing some more hands on activities involving measurement using nonstandard units (linking cubes).  We will also be using our balance scale once again to measure the weight of certain objects. 

     In science and social studies we will be doing hands on activities involving looking at the age of the Earth and seeing what time periods the dinosaurs lived compared to the time period we now live in. 

     This should be a fun week of activities!

Salt Dough Maps

Last week the students made salt dough maps of Illinois.  They had a lot of fun making these maps and did a great job!

 They also painted their maps, adding a river in blue and then painting the rest of the land green.  We will use our Illinois maps to compare land features found in Illinois and ones found in the rest of the United States.

Week of October 15

     Monday, October 15 is our Unit 2 spelling test.  Wednesday and Thursday we will be having a reading test on Units 1 and 2 of Adventures of the Superkids.

     Remember that this Friday, October 19 there won't be any school.

     This week we will be starting our next Superkids book.  We will continue learning about the upcoming Presidential election.  In math, students will be writing subtraction number sentences this week, adding 1 more to a number, and continue to look at patterns.

     In our dinosaur inquiry unit we will begin talking about what the Earth looked like at the time of the dinosaurs.  The students will also be making salt dough maps of Illinois.

Grandparent's Day

     Happy Grandparent's Day!  It was so nice to see so many of the grandparents and other relatives today.  The kids really enjoyed having you come and spend some time with them in our classroom.  Thank you to everyone who was able to come today!

Week of October 8

     This week we will be talking about who Columbus was and what he did.  The students will also complete a project.  We will also be doing various activities for Halloween as well as begin to learn about the upcoming Presidential election.

     The students will continue learning about dinosaurs.  This week we will begin with an egg experiment.  Make sure to ask your child what happened to the egg and what it felt like.

     Wednesday is Grandparents Day.  Grandparents or another special person are invited to come to mass with us and then spend some time in our classroom and end with refreshments.  It should be a fun morning for everyone.

     Scholastic book orders are due this Wednesday, October 10.  Also continue to read every night with your child.  Everyone that reads 400 minutes this month will earn their pizza hut certificate.

Safety Town

     Friday afternoon we went to Safety Town.  The kids learned a lot about safety including: dialing 911, gun safety, strangers, safely crossing the street, and stop, drop, and roll.  Ending with the smoke house which seemed to be a favorite of the kids when they got to climb out the window and down the ladder.