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Parent Involvement Week!

9/29/2018

Our Parent-Involvement Activity was a huge success. The children sure had a lot of fun playing "Counting-on" and "Make Ten" math games. I hope you'll continue to play these games at home to reinforce the strategies. I really appreciate the positive and the honest feedback. Your concerns and suggestions will help us to improve in the future.

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:

In Langauge Arts...

Students are publishing their writing. This quarter students learned that writing is a process that takes a lot of time. Let's recap the writing process students went through this quarter. They started with a circle map and decided on an event to focus on and jotted down any relevant idea that came to mind. Students categorized the ideas on their circle map into three "big ideas" on a tree map. Using each branch of their tree map, they drafted them into separate body paragraphs. Along the way, students had mini lessons about transition or linking words and how it helps to organize thoughts, so they added those, where appropriate. Students learned how to add vivid verbs and exciting adjectives. They conferenced with me, got feedback, drafted again or published with revisions. Students learned a very important thing this quarter: Writing is a process that only improves with each revision or draft they make.

Circle Map (brainstorm)

Tree Map (Classifying)

Draft #1

Draft #2

Circle Map (brainstorm)

Tree Map (Classifying)

Draft #1

In math...

Students were introduced to three-digit numbers with internal 0 and teens. They first represented these numbers using the most concrete method with base-10 blocks. In this way students could physically touch and manipulate the number. Next, they represented these numbers using more abstract methods like base-ten pictures, then finally using symbols like numbers, digits, and representing the number in various ways such as expanded form, number name, and place value.

Students explored the relative position of three-digit numbers on a number line. Then they explored the concept of a thousand. We will be continuing this through the next week.

In Social Studies...

Students were put into groups and began to sketch their comic draft about responding correctly to Stranger Danger in various situation such as the mall, at a playground, walking home from school, and even at home. Next week students will be using a Comic Book app to make it digital!

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS

A pink Parent/Teacher Conference Forms appointment form went home on Thursday. Please mark your calendars for your child's conference time.
Culture Day is coming up this Thursday. If you would like your child to participate in the mandoo making and tasting, please be sure to sign and return the yellow half sheet permission form.
Spelling test is tomorrow!

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Spirit Week

9/23/2018

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As a busy 1st quarter is soon coming to an end, Spirit Week sure helped to boost our spirits and give us that little extra zest in our days this week. I loved seeing all the different festive attire this week!!!

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:

In Langauge Arts...

Response to Intervention (RTI) started this week. Basically, this is class time devoted to small-group instruction and also for differentiated and targeted instruction for students' various needs. During RTI, students are learning how to participate in small-group instruction. Using leveled readers, 5 to 6 students work together in a group at a time. During this time students are engaged in pre-reading activities, this may involve activating prior knowledge, setting the learning objectives, going on a picture walk before reading, predicting, asking questions, etc... Then students are asked to read the text quietly to themselves. We stop from page to page to discuss comprehension and other specific skills a reading group is working on or focus on a specific learning need. I may tap a child "on and off" during their reading just for me to listen into. This is to check for fluency. Students may volunteer to read out loud for the group if the objective is to model fluency, otherwise, taking turns reading out loud is not a common practice during small-group instruction in D103. (Research has shown that round-robin reading has no student benefit. Students end up doing less of the reading themselves (since they're listening-in much of the time), student should be accountable for the entire text, and it can be a humiliating experience for many.)
As an extension from last week's Wonders curriculum, students revisited the following essential question: How do we care for pets? Students read an interview with an animal shelter employee and asked and answered questioned using AVID strategies.

In Math...

Reviewing the doubling strategy, students were introduced to near-doubles like 4+5, 9+8, and 7+5. Applying their knowledge of double facts, students practiced to fluently add near-double facts when solving word problems. When problem solving, students also practiced using the C.U.B.E.S. strategy: Circle the numbers, Underline the question, Box the keywords, Evaluate and draw, Solve and check.

In Social Studies...

In triads, students shared their family trees and questionnaires. They talked about where their families came from, holidays or traditions their families celebrate, and special foods and cultures their families have. Students had lots of fun, not only sharing about themselves, but also learning about their classmates. Later, they created a double bubble map to make comparisons with themselves and some of their classmates they shared with. Students learned that even though many of them have different cultures, many of them share similar holidays and traditions.

Students had a blast on their field trip! Check out the photo page. They got to see what life was like living on a plantation years ago. Student explored homes, got to dress up in traditional clothing, played musical instruments, and played a popular milk cover game the plantation kids played called pogs...if you're a local here, you know what they are!

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS

A Parent/Teacher Conference appointment form went home last Thursday. If you have not turned it in, please do so ASAP. Thank You!
Parent Involvement Forms are now overdue, if you can make it and have not submitted your form, please do so on Monday so we can have an accurate count for supplies for our event on Thursday 9/27 at 8:15. Thank you!
Students have resources classes on Monday due to the Friday schedule change. They will be having PE. Please have them dressed appropriately.
Assessment folders went home on Friday. Please review the two assessments that were included, sign the top, and return them with the folder on Monday. Thank you!

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Another busy week of 1st quarter!

9/16/2018

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Students are really enjoying our read aloud story The War with Grandpa by Robert Kimmel Smith. This story is about a boy named Peter Stokes who has to give up his most prized possession...his room, when Grandpa comes to live with them. Peter loves his Grandpa but he wants his room back. With the advice from his friends, will Peter used Gorilla Warfare on his own Grandpa? Will Grandpa ever surrender? The children are enjoying this humorous, witty, and very suspenseful story!!!

In language arts...

Last week students learned about narrative nonfiction text. They read a non-fiction text written like a story and had a narrator about a boy who takes care of his pet horse. Our essential question this week was How do we care for animals? Students learned how to look for key details in the text to ask and answer questions in nonfiction. The standard covered was 2.RI.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

Then students read another story called Lola and Tiva about a girl who lives on a reservation in Africa and adopted a baby pet rhino. Students compared how both the children in both stories take care of their pets using a three column chart.

In writing, students are worked a lot on their categorical narratives. They began with a circle map to brainstorm ideas. Students chose a topic of their choice. Something that they did this summer with family or friends. After brainstorming with a circle map, they categorized their ideas into a tree map with three big ideas.

In math...

Students reviewed time on-the-hour and were introduced to time half-past the hour. They learned the various ways to say and write a given time. For example, 7:30, thirty minutes after 7, half-past seven, or seven thirty. And of course students practiced with drawing the hour hand and the minute hand properly on the analog clock.

Announcements & Reminders

Picture Taking is this Wednesday. Students do not need to wear their uniform shirt on this day. Please bring payment if you're interested in purchasing a package.
Field trip to Hawaii's Plantation Village is on Tuesday. Disposable lunch, drink, and shoes are needed. Please have your child arrive to school on time.
Spirit Week begins on Tuesday-Wacky hairday, Wednesday-Picture Perfect, Thursday-Friendship day, Friday-Free Dress

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Welcome Mr. E!!!

9/9/2018

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This week we welcomed Mr. E, our student teacher, to our classroom. He will be joining us on Thursdays. To build our TRIBE, we had a community circle activity in which the children got to introduce themselves to Mr. E and share their favorite thing about school. Mr. E also shared about himself as well. The children are so excited for next Thursday!

In language arts...
After reading Author: A True Story by Helen Lester, we talked about what good writing looks like. Every student got to jut down their own idea on a sentence strip. Later we sorted these sentence strips based on similarities and developed four categories into a tree map. The categories we came up with were as follows:

We continue to use AVID strategies when reading text. This week students learned to describe how characters respond to challenges. The following standard was addressed: 2.RL.3 Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

In math...

Using our Stepping Stones curriculum, students learned about number lines and number tracks and can distinguish between the two. They used number lines to help them determine nearby multiples of 10. Using a number line, students could see whether a number like 37 was closer to 30 or 40.

In Social Studies...

Students have been listening to various stories and watching various videos about "Stranger Danger" and becoming experts on the topic. They have been learning to take two-column notes. The first column the "stranger danger" scenario and the second column for the proper response. As they take notes about the topic, they continue to learn and answer the following question: How can we keep ourselves and others safe from strangers in our community?

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS

Picture taking is coming up on Wednesday 9/19. Information forthcoming
Parent Involvement Activity is on Thursday 9/27
Resource day is switched to Monday 9/10 due to a schedule change on Friday. Please have children wear shoes for PE.

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A Month Already!

9/1/2018

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The children enjoyed our field trip to see Filipino Folktales and Fables at Hawaii Theater for Youth. It was exciting for them to be an audience member in a live production with music, song, and dance. Some students had prior knowledge of some of the cultural stories and for some it was a totally new and exciting experience! It was great to see students so engaged and showing an appreciation for the arts.

In Langauge Arts...

We continue to use highlighting strategies to find text evidence in the stories we read from Wonders. Using this strategy, students are learning to be critical thinkers as they read closely when asking and answering questions. Check out these photos:

During grammar lessons, students are practicing to capitalize and end their sentences with the proper punctuation. They are also identifying whether a sentence is a statement, a question, or a command. They learned how to find root words and can identify inflectional endings such as ed, ing, s, & es.

In math...

Using our Stepping Stones curriculum, students learned about the counting-on strategy. Students learned it's much more efficient when you start at the larger number and count on the smaller number. Using this strategy is faster and leaves less room for error. Students applied this counting-on strategy when solving word problems. They had to write matching equations with the unknown in the correct position to various math stories. For example, the following problem would have the following matching equation:
- There were 12 lollipops in a bag. Mom bought some more. Now there are 16 lollipops altogether. How many did Mom buy? 12 + ? = 16
Students also learned about the commutative property. They learned that with turn-around facts such as 5 + 7 and 7 + 5 you can switch the two parts and it wont effect the total.

In Social Studies...

We kicked off our "Stranger Danger" Project-Based-Learning Unit. A letter was sent home that details the unit more specifically. So far students have watched some age-appropriate short news clips of children in their community who almost became victims of "stranger danger" but acted in a safe way and prevented themselves from getting harmed. Not intended to scare the children, but rather these lessons and videos will be used to bring to light the realities of the situation. Ultimately we all want our children to make smart choices and behave safely in risky situation.

We also began our Culture and Family History Study. Students are enjoying as they learn about why many groups of people came to America. After reading a wonderful story called We Came to America by Faith Ringgold, students identified that the author's message was- while we all look very different on the outside, have different cultures, race and religions, we are more alike than we think. We all want to be loved, happy, and accepted for our differences. WOW! What a powerful message! This is a photo of our Common Themes in Literature or Author's Message Tree Map Bulletin Board. As we read great stories, we will continue to add to it!

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS

Field trip forms and money are due 9/7
Family trees and questionnaires are due 9/10. If you already completed them, thank you so much!!! But I did not collect them because I want the children to make sure then can read and understand most of the information before turning it in. They will be having discussion groups after the due date. I'll start collecting them next week. Thank you!

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Parent Involvement Week!

Spirit Week

Another busy week of 1st quarter!

Welcome Mr. E!!!

A Month Already!

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