Monday, December 15, 2014

Dec. 8-11

Reading:
The 3rd graders learned about similes this week and the 4th graders learned about metaphors.  We also had a Latin/Greek test.
The students received new spelling words.  This week their words are contractions.  They will need to know how to spell the contraction, what two words make up the contraction, and what letters are missing in the contraction.

Writing:
We finished up our Christmas Around the World informational papers.

Grammar:
We reviewed abstract and concrete nouns on Monday by playing a slap game.  Then on Wednesday we took the assessment.  The students did a great job on this assessment!

Projects:
We finished up and presented our 51st state projects this week.  When we come back after Christmas we will be starting science!

Secret Santa:
The students drew names for their Secret Santa. Remember to have their gift to school no later than Wednesday.  Label who the gift is to but don't put who it is from.

Have a great week!!

Sunday, December 7, 2014

December 1-4

Reading:  In reading we learned about literal and non-literal meanings of words.  The 3rd graders were given a phrase then had to draw the literal and non-literal meaning of that phrase.  The 4th graders learned about similes.  They then created a simile portrait about themselves.  We will share these on Monday.

Writing:  The students finished their research on how their country celebrates Christmas.  They then began to do an informative writing about their country.  Some of the countries have some very interesting traditions!

Grammar:  They learned about abstract and concrete nouns on Monday by watching some fun videos that had a very catchy song!  Then on Wednesday they completed a sort with abstract and concrete nouns.

Projects: All the projects are just about complete.  The students have worked very hard creating their new state.  We will be practicing presenting on Monday and Tuesday.  On Wednesday they will present their project for the parents.

The students were very excited to receive new dictionaries this week from Rotary.  What a great thing the Rotary does every year for 3rd grade students.

**  Project presentation will be on Wednesday 12/10  at 2:00 in the cafeteria.  Come see all the hard work the students have put in to create their 51st state.


Tuesday, December 2, 2014

I can't believe it is already December!  Only 3 weeks until Christmas break!

Reading:  Last week we presented our author studies.  Your student also received a new spelling list and will be tested on these words this week.

Writing:  We are starting a new writing project researching Christmas in other countries.  Each student in our class is paired up with a student in Mrs. Windriver's class to research their country.  Then they will write their papers on their own.

Grammar:  We are learning about abstract and concrete nouns

Projects:  We are finishing up our 51st state projects.

Misc:

Christmas break is December 22-January 4

We will be having a secret Santa gift exchange.  More details to come soon.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Nov. 17-20

Reading:
The students worked in partners to complete an author study.  They will present these to the class on Tuesday.

Writing:
The students got to choose a prompt to complete their narrative assessment.

Grammar:
We reviewed dialogue and took an assessment.

Projects:
We continued working on our 51st state projects.  They are having to complete a power point, create a flag and a map on their 51st state.  They are being very creative!  I can't wait to see the finished products. They will be presenting these to other classes and families.  I will keep you updated on when this will happen.


**This week is a short week.  We only have 2 days!  Enjoy your time with you family on Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Rough week

This has been a rough week in the Moon household. A nasty stomach virus wiped out the family and my baby Makenly got it the worst. Needless to say there had to be a sub in our class all week. Makenly is showing signs of improvement today so I should be back by Monday.  Luckily we have great subs at Oasis Academy so I know your kids were in great hands.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Book Orders

I had previously said that book orders were due today, but I had someone ask me to wait until next Thursday.  So if you would still like to order any books you will have until next Thursday.


Sunday, November 2, 2014

Scholastic book order

I sent home a scholastic book order last week. This is a great way to get books for your child because the books are such good prices! There is a code so you can just order online or you can send in your order with cash or a check.  If you write a check you only have to write one check for all books ordered. Orders are due on Thursday the 6th but if you need extra time let me know.

October 27-30

Reading:
We read the stories of Medusa and Athena (4th) and Arachne and Athena (3rd). We discussed their character traits, actions and theme. The students then read their own Greek myth and filled out their own papers.
We had a Latin/Greek test on Thursday. We will have a spelling test this week.

Writing:
We finished writing our Halloween narratives. Then we shared them with Mrs. WindRiver's class

Grammar:
We reviewed the different parts of speech on Monday and took an assessment on Wednesday.

Projects:
This week the students learned about Nevada.  On Wednesday we enjoyed pioneer stew and cornbread. We will start our new project on Monday.

The projects at the museum have been judged and our class had some winners! I promised them I wouldn't put it on the blog until I told them on Monday. I will put the winning projects on the blog after I have told the class.  They all worked hard and did a great job!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Costumes

We will be having lots of fun tomorrow!  The kids can wear their costumes to school all day.  Please make sure they either wear a costume or their uniform, not street clothes, or you will have to bring them a change of clothes.  We will have a costume parade so everyone can see each other's costumes!  We will also have a party in the afternoon.  It will be such a fun day!!  * Remember no scary masks, no accessories (knifes, swords, fake blood, etc)

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Saturday, October 25, 2014

10/25/2012

Thank you for all the great parent conferences!  I love this class and I'm sad that the year is going by so quickly!
If anyone is planning on getting more pencils for our classroom in a previous post I put not to get the Dixon brand of pencils.  I didn't realize that the Ticonderoga pencils were made by Dixon.  Those pencils are actually the one that sharpen the best.  The pencils that just say Dixon do not sharpen for some reason.  
I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Oct 13-24

Reading: I have been assessing the students so we haven't been doing mini lessons.  We started doing Wonder Stories. The students have to read a passage and answer questions. They must highlight in the text to show where they found their answers.  We also started our Latin/Greek creations.  I am excited to see what interesting words they come up with!

Writing: We finished our opinion assessments and moved on to a Halloween narrative.  We are working on using story elements to help ensure there will be a clear beginning, middle and end. We partnered up with Mrs. WindRiver's class to help get feedback on our stories.  We are working on adding more details so the reader can get a clear picture of what is going on in the story.

Grammar: We learned about verbs. Each group was given a different setting and wrote down verbs that could happen in that location. Next we will be learning about adverbs.

Projects:   We have been working very hard in projects.  The students had to really learn how to work together in order to finish their project on time.  Today each group presented their project to Mrs. Jackson's class.  Tomorrow I will bring their projects to the museum! The students all worked so hard. They all deserve to win the contest!

Remember conferences are on Friday.  If for any reason you are unable to make it to your scheduled time please let me know so we can reschedule.

We are running low on pencils.  If anyone could please donate more pencils to our class that would be great! Please don't buy the Dixon brand.  For some reason our pencil sharpener does not like that brand!


Monday, October 13, 2014

October 6-9

I can't believe how fast this year is going by!  Parent-teacher conferences will be held on Friday, October 24.  I will hold them in 15 minute increments.  The first quarter conferences are really to touch base and give a brief overview of how your child is doing.  The number of standards we cover in the first quarter does not compare to what we are able to cover the following quarters.  We spent those first few weeks of school getting our routines down so we can become a well oiled machine!

At this point if I had any major concerns regarding your child, behavior or academic, I have been in contact with you.  However, if you would like to have more time for our conference please let me know.

Conferences will be with me only.  I will have information about how your child is doing in math.  If you feel a need to meet with Mrs. Green, please contact her.

I will be sending home an email out this week to sign up for the time slots on that day.  If you cannot make it that day, let me know and we can make other arrangements.

Reading (3rd and 4th):This week reviewed and then had an assessment on first and third person.  I was impressed with how well everyone did!!
We are getting into the groove of using edmodo.  The thing that a lot of the students need to work on is restating the question when writing their answers and using the text to support their answers.  We will continue working on both of these things throughout the year.
The students had a spelling assessment on Thursday.  As a whole they did very good.  If your child received a 1 on their test please have them spend more time studying their words each night.
We have a Latin/Greek test on Thursday the 16th.

Writing:The students worked on an opinion writing assessment this week.  They are writing about the best vacation spot.  They will finish up on Monday.  We  also finished learning the rest of our cursive letters! We will continue practicing these each day.

Grammar: We reviewed adjectives this week by writing as many adjectives as we could think of using our 5 senses on fun sensory loaded pictures.  We then took an assessment on adjectives on Thursday.

Projects:  We continue working hard on our Then and Now projects.  This week the students worked on finding pictures and mounting them to get ready to put on their boards.  They are all working very hard and learning how to work as a team.  The projects have to be turned into the museum on the 23rd so we will have to work really hard to get them completed!!

Monday, October 6, 2014

Edmodo

Parents,

This is just a quick "info/how to" for Edmodo to clear up any confusion, should there be any.

1. Your child receives their "code" at school.  It is only entered ONCE for each book club they are in.  You do not need a code to log in at home.  

2.  Your child created his/her username and password.  That will be the same all year.  

3.  To log in, go to www.edmodo.com and this homepage will pop up:
***Do not get a secure student account... they already have one.

To log in, go to the upper right (right above "get a secure teacher account") and your child will type in their username and password.

4.  There is a parent code available once your child logs in that you can use to see their work.  Otherwise, you can just see it from their profile.

5.  Your child should have enough time to complete their work in class; however, I know some students like to do it at home as well, and that's fine.

6.  Your child knows Edmodo pretty well.  For some that have been with me before, this is their second year using it.  For others, we've been using it for about 3 weeks now.  Please ask them questions - chances are, they know the answer!  :o)

As with anything new, there's a learning period.  

.  

September 29- October 2

Reading:  (3rd and 4th)-  The students worked in partners and read a picture book together.  Then they had to find the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution.  They also had to find the protagonist, antagonist and decide if their book was written in first or third person.  We also took our 2nd Latin/Greek test.  This week they will have a spelling test on Thursday.  Make sure they are studying!

Writing: This week we finished up our opinion writing on what is the best animal.  Most of the students had time to type their final drafts and draw a picture of their best animal. These are hanging out in the hallway, come check them out!  This week they will be assessed on writing an opinion paper.

Grammar:  We reviewed nouns and pronouns and took an assessment.

Projects:  We have been working really hard finishing up our rough drafts this week.  The students are really learning how to work TOGETHER.  This week they will start getting their pictures ready for their tri-fold boards.


Monday, September 29, 2014

September 22-25

Reading:  This week for reading we focused on the 5 elements of a story.  Each day we talked about one of the elements.  We also started edmodo this week.  Have your student show you this at home. They are expected to complete edmodo in class but if they don't they can access it at home.

Cursive:  We learned the letters y, z, A, B, C and D.  They are all so excited to finish learning all the letters.  They are getting pretty good at writing the ones we have learned so far.

Writing:  We started a new opinion writing. Each student picked what animal they think is the best.  They did a quick jot and wrote down everything they know about the animal and why they think it is the best.  Then they used their chrome books to research their animal so find facts to support their opinions.

Grammar: Each group did a graffiti write on all the nouns they could think of.  Then they started categorizing them into people, places and things.  This week we are going to talk about pronouns based off of the nouns they found.

Projects:  Everyone was assigned a category.  With their group they started researching their topic 150 years ago and today.  This week they are going to use their research to start writing their papers.  We also had our field trip to the museum.  The kids were awesome!!  What a great bunch of students I have!!

If anyone is available to come in and help during projects these next few weeks that would be great. The more adult hands here to help out the better!  We do projects from about 2:30- 3:15 every day.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

field trip

Just a reminder that we are walking to the museum tomorrow.  Please make sure that your child is wearing comfortable shoes to walk in. Those of you joining us for the walk, we are leaving at 11:40 so be to the classroom by 11:30. If you have any questions feel free to send me an email or text 427-0641. Thanks!

Sunday, September 21, 2014

September 15-18

Reading: (3rd and 4th): This week we learned about first and third person point of view. We had our first Latin\Greek test. Overall they did very good! They received their new spelling words and will have a test on Thursday.  This week we will start using Edmodo.  Have your child tell you all about it.

Writing: We have almost learned how to write all of the lower case letters in cursive. We will learn the last 2 on Monday and then begin the capital letters! We finished up our ant opinion writing. We also wrote letters to our 8th grade buddies. Next week we will do another opinion writing.

Projects: We started our new project this week. It is called Back to the Future. We will be comparing how life was 150 years ago to today. We started off by exploring some things from 150 years ago. We played some games, washed clothes and sifted flour amongst other things. The favorite thing we did though was make butter! They were all so excited about doing this and asked where we got the special liquid in the jar :) We just put heavy whipping cream in a mason jar and took turns shaking. Once the butter was made we tried some on a cracker. It was yummy!

Monday, September 15, 2014

picture day

Just a reminder our class has picture day tomorrow.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

September 8-11

Reading: We started book club this week.  They will meet with me twice a week so we can discuss their books.  We will soon start using Edmodo. This is where they will complete their reading assignments.  Since I am new to Edmodo I have to wait until they can verify my account. This should only take a few days.  Until then the assignments will have to be paper pencil.  Your child should be able to get all reading assignments finished during class time if they use their time wisely.  If they don't complete an assignment in class they will then have to bring it home for homework.

We also started Latin/Greek roots this week.  We are starting with the numbers 1-4.  They will be assessed on these on Thurs. Sept. 18. 

We had our first spelling test this week. Overall most of the students did well.  When tested they have to write dictated sentences containing their spelling words.  This is to be sure that they can spell their words within context not just as a memorized list. 

Writing: We continued with our opinion writing.  

Grammar: We learned about adjectives with a fun popcorn activity. 

Projects:  We finished up our first project.  The students performed their skits for their classmates and received feedback on Monday.  On Tuesday they made any last minute corrections. On Wednesday they performed their skits for Mrs. Loop's class.  Next week we will begin a new project.


Sunday, September 7, 2014

Week 3

Reading 3rd and 4th: We continued building our stamina during Daily 5.  The students were given their spelling lists.  They will be tested on them on Thursday the 11th. For their test they will have sentences dictated to them and will be responsible for writing the sentence correctly along with spelling their words correctly.  We continued finding the antagonist, protagonist and setting in a story. We also added finding the theme and character traits.

Writing: In handwriting we learned the letters r,s,u,v,w and x.  We practiced writing words that have the letters we have learned so far. We also started our opinion writing.  I read them a book called Hey, Little Ant.  It was about a boy who was about to squish an ant.  In the story you got both the boy's point of view and the ant's point of view on whether the ant should be squished.  I then read them a nonfiction book about ants.  We learned that ants are very interesting! The students took notes while I read both books. They then had to make an opinion on whether the boy should squish the ant or not. Using their notes they had to fill out a graphic organizer that stated their opinion, had 3 reasons to support their opinion, along with evidence from our non fiction book to support their reasons.  This week we will be working on self editing and peer editing.  Their rough drafts will be due by Wednesday.

Grammar: The students worked on correcting their DOL papers. When we correct the papers they are responsible for correcting any mistake they make.  I will correct a random day of DOL each week.  We also talked about nouns, pronouns.

Projects: The students continued working on their skits. We practiced in front of Mrs. Windriver's class and received great feedback. Each group will make any corrections to their skit and be ready to perform for the 1st grade on Wednesday.

COUNT DAY is Thursday September 11. This is the only day besides Halloween that the students don't have to wear their uniforms.


Monday, September 1, 2014

Reminder

Just a reminder that we are a nut free classroom. Please make sure your child does not bring any items that contain any kind of nuts. Thanks

Week 2

Reading: We have been building stamina during Daily 5.  So far we have learned about read to self, work on writing and read with someone.  Both my third and fourth graders have done an excellent job working independently in these 3 areas.  This week we are going to start word work.  The students will be getting their spelling lists on Tuesday.  They will not have a spelling test on these words until next Thursday, September 11.  We have also been learning about protagonist, antagonist and setting.  By next week we should have Daily 5 completely up and running so I will be able to start working with groups of students.

Writing: We did an Oreo taste test to get us ready for our whole class opinion writing.  We tried berry Oreo and birthday cake.  I was surprised when berry won! As a group we went through the whole writing process. This week they will begin an independent opinion paper. We also learned 6 new letters in cursive this week.

Grammar: We practiced editing our DOL sentences.  We also focused on finding nouns and pronouns in the sentences.

Projects: The students split into groups according to what agreement they wanted to work with. Each group is now working on a skit that they will perform to the 1st graders to teach them about the tribes agreements.  This week each group will practice in front of our class and get feedback from each other.

We officially have a name for our class buddy, Camboo.  Our first student took Camboo home this weekend.  I can't wait to hear about their adventures.

If anyone would like to donate paper towels to our class that would be great. I like to have them wash their hands before lunch so paper towels would make it so we don't have to air dry! :)

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Great first week!

We got a lot done during our first week of school!  We practiced using our Tribe agreements. The class is especially good at attentive listening and mutual respect. The agreements are going to be made our official class rules on Monday.  They are also part of our first project. The students are going to pick which agreement is their favorite.  Then in groups they will come up with a way to teach their agreement to a first grade class.  So far the class has thought about doing skits.

In reading we started the read to self component of Daily 5.  We discussed what the students should be doing during read to self. We then started building stamina.  It is important that we practice read to self correctly while building stamina so that when I am working with groups of students the rest of the class is on task working independently.  Next week we are going to start work on writing and read with someone.  Once the class can work independently on all components of Daily 5 I will start working with groups.

We did two writing assessments last week.  The students wrote a narrative and an opinion piece.  These will help me know what we need to work on during writing.

The class voted to have a panda as our "class buddy".  We will name him this week and he will go home with a student next Thursday.  I can't wait to see what adventures he has during the year!

We have a great class!  The returning Oasis students have been very welcoming and helpful to those students new to the school.  It's going to be a great year!

Friday, August 15, 2014

Thank you

Thank you to all of you who made it to back to school night last night. For those who were unable to attend please stop by to get your child's binder with all the important papers that need to be filled out. Don't forget to send the white binder back Monday morning. We will switch the assignment log papers to their binders they bought and use the white binders for their writing.

Also, don't forget to have your child bring their Me Bags. We will start sharing them on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend! I can't wait to see everyone Monday morning!

Monday, August 11, 2014

Magazines

I have an idea for a project on the first day of school.  I need magazines that we can cut up.  If you have any you would like to donate to the class could you please drop them off at the school.  Thanks!

Sunday, August 10, 2014

August 10th

I can't believe summer is already coming to an end. Enjoy your last week!

Back-to-school night is Thursday August 14 at 6:00 p.m.  During this time I will give you classroom information.  You will also get the school handbook and papers that will need to be signed and returned.  We will also discuss classroom volunteers and get parents signed up to help.

Be on the lookout for a letter that I am mailing to your child tomorrow.  I am asking them to bring in 3 things to let us know about them.  Please have them bring their items on the first day of school.  We will share them throughout the week.  If your child doesn't receive a letter by Wednesday please let me know.