Weekly Update

Math 
We have started Chapter 8 with reviewing multiplication and division facts.  Check out our Multiplication Club below.  We sign our names to the facts that we pass!  Students should continue to practice their multiplication (and division) facts at home, working on accuracy and speed!  We also discussed the four multiplication properties this week- the Identity, Zero, Commutative, and Associative Properties!  We will continue this unit in Chapter 9, mixing multiplication and division with algebra! 

"The Multiplication Club"

Spencer working on his times table packet in the Activity rotation

Ava and Gianna playing multiplication and division turkey games in the Games rotation

Reading
We continued summarizing with our read aloud, Missing on Superstition Mountain.  We are really enjoying this book, as it is becoming very suspenseful!  We also had a lesson in the library on book reviews, where we learned what to include in a good book review.  Finally, we made synonym turkeys to review synonyms!  

Writing 
We have made so much progress with our essay unit in just one week!  We discussed that essays are a more grown up genre of writing that the students will use throughout their lives for many different reasons. Students now understand what an essay is, are working on the organization (using the word "thesis"), and are gathering ideas for their essay.  They are doing great!  

Social Studies
We finished up Chapter 3 with a study of other Native American tribes, such as the Missouri, the Iowa, the Osage, and the Sac and Fox.  We also completed our timeline of Missouri (see the final product below).  Students have completed the Chapter 3 study guide, and their Chapter 3 Test is Monday.  Again, vocabulary plays a big role on the test.  Additionally, if students use the study guide and memorize what one thing each Native American tribe was most well-known for, they will do great!  As always, the Moodle has great resources to aid in studying, and Quizlet is available for vocabulary study.  Many students took home their books to use the extra review pages as well.  After break, we will be starting our next science unit on rocks and minerals!

Important Info.

There is no Friday Homework this week.  (There will also be no Weekly Update this coming Tuesday.)  We have a very short week coming up, with no school on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday!  Have a great 5-day weekend, and a Happy Thanksgiving!  I will see you at the music program later today!

Weekly Update

Math

We finished The Great Graphing Project this week, and ended Unit 2 with our test on Thursday.  See some of our finished graphing projects below!  Unit 3 involves multiplication and division.  We will begin Unit 3 with timed multiplication quizzes, starting with our 2's facts on Monday.  Students will graduate through their facts in sequential order: 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, etc. to the 12's.  There are many resources on the Moodle to help students in practicing these facts.  One of the best math resources is IXL.

  

  

Reading

This week we practiced retelling and making good summaries with our read aloud.  We made sure that we knew the difference between the two.  We also went to the library on Thursday for a lesson called, "Celebrating Native American Culture."  We read examples of Native American folklore, which fit in perfectly with the Storyworks play we read and the study of Native Americans in Social Studies!

Writing/Spelling 
We have completed our realistic fiction unit and will celebrate when all students have finished typing/publishing.  We will start our persuasive essay unit on Monday!  In Spelling, we are finished with our second homophones set.  I will be holding students accountable for spelling these words correctly in writing.  After Thanksgiving break, we will resume with the yellow, green, and blue group spelling words. 

Science/Social Studies

In Chapter 3, we are currently learning about Missouri's first people.  We discussed prehistory and the Ice Age.  We learned about different Native American tribes such as the Adena, Hopewell, and Mississippians.  On Friday, we reviewed timelines.  We are making a class timeline on the history of Missouri!  

Ava's t-chart to compare two Native American tribes

Elayna working on her section of the timeline

Other Important Info.

Don't forget that Academic All-Stars is Monday night at 6pm!   Group Picture Day is Friday.  Also, November Scholastic Book Orders were sent home today!  They are due next Friday, 11/22.  Orders will come in by Christmas, and this is the last book order that will be sent home until January.  You can order online by clicking on the link below. 

Finally, it was another busy week!  Pictures of Veteran's Day were posted Monday.  Below are pictures of our day with first grade buddies on Wednesday.  We reviewed Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind.  And Mrs. Maddock came in this week for a great lesson on bullying.  Students were to reflect on this lesson in their reflection journals.  We discussed great strategies to use in preventing bullying.  Below is a picture of the different strategies in which we were in the process of ordering from easiest to hardest strategies for us to use.  

Happy Veteran's Day!

We had a great assembly at Long this morning to celebrate our veterans!  

This veteran told a story about being in the service and also thanked us for making cards for those who serve in the military!

Happy Veteran's Day!

Unit 2 Math Test

Our Unit 2 Math Test over Chapters 5-7 is this Thursday 11/14.  We are reviewing this week.  Below are pictures of the study guide that students were given today.  Just like the Unit 1 Study Guide, the first page lists all of the topics on the test.  The second two pages are example problems.  The test will look exactly like the study guide, except it will not be multiple choice.  Students also know that there are many resources on the online math textbook and Moodle to help them in studying.  Students may bring home their notebooks and textbooks as well.  

Weekly Update

On Tuesday, the Rams staff came to Long!  They helped us in making holiday greeting cards to our military who are serving overseas through the American Red Cross Holiday Mail for Heroes program.  Check out our experience!  

Math

This week in Math, we finished Unit 2 of time and graphing.  We will finish our unit rotations early next week.  We will also receive the Unit 2 study guide, covering Chapters 5-7.  Our unit test is set for next Thursday, 11/14.  Students took home some math papers to correct, and they will receive the rest in Tuesday's Flyer Folder.  The next unit involves multiplication and division, so students should be studying their facts.  We will begin Unit 3 with timed multiplication quizzes, starting with our 2's facts on Monday, 11/18. 

Macey working on the Great Graphing Project during the Activity rotation

Elayna and Spencer also working on the Great Graphing Project

Gianna and Miles working in the Problem Solving rotation

Reading

We are wrapping up our fiction unit.  This week we focused on retelling with our read aloud.  In retelling, we made sure that we were telling all parts of the story and not just summarizing the important parts.  In reading groups, we are looking at the November/December Scholastic Storyworks magazine.  We practiced our fluency in reading plays.  Also, on Friday we had our first library lesson.  Mrs. Justus taught us more about the historical fiction genre that we love!  We participated in a fun activity where we looked for key words and sentences in a selection of historical fiction books that would prove that the book was indeed historical fiction.  Here's what we came up with:

Writing/Spelling 
We are publishing our realistic fiction stories!  We can't wait for our upcoming writing celebration.
In Spelling, students have a new set of homophones.  However, if they missed any homophones on last week's Spelling Test, students will be retested on the pink highlighted words.  As a reminder, students can study and practice with SpellingCity.com.  We use SpellingCity in class, and it has a ton of great spelling and vocabulary resources to help with these tricky homophones!  Additionally, students can even practice their words in cursive at the bottom of the "Free Activities" in the "Language Arts" section- click here!

Science/Social Studies

We completed Chapter 2 of our study of Missouri with the Chapter 2 Test this past Thursday.  Next week, we will continue with Chapter 3 in the Social Studies curriculum before moving onto our Rocks Unit in Science.

Other Important Info.

Our Veteran's Day Assembly is on Monday 11/11 at 9:00am.  Wednesday 11/13 is an Early Release Day with dismissal at 1:40.  Please make sure your child knows how they are getting home.  Finally, a few homework reminders:

• Students are to read on a nightly basis, totaling 120 minutes each week!  This is extremely important to your child's growth in reading!
• Students are to get their assignment book signed on a nightly basis.  Instead of a separate Reading Log, students use their assignment books.  A parent's signature verifies the reading minutes and helps the parent to become aware of upcoming due dates, events, and other important information that can be found in the assignment book.
• Friday Homework this week is the Standardized Math Prep. Chapters 1-7 (Math).  Students reflected on their last Math Friday Homework and made a goal of what they can do better next time.  It went home in Friday's Flyer Folder.  
• Flyer Folders come home every Tuesday and Friday.  Some students' folders are becoming very full as tests to be signed, graded work, and notes are piling up.  Please go through the Flyer Folder with your child to make sure that you are getting all important papers.  

Thank you for your support at home! 

Social Studies Chapter 2 Test

This is a reminder that the Chapter 2 Social Studies Test is tomorrow.  Students have their study guides and possibly their textbooks to study from.  We also played a review game in class today.  Finally, there are review games on the Moodle.  Students may use the website Quizlet to study vocabulary and famous Missourians, which make up a large portion of the test tomorrow.  

Username: Long-Leighton

Password: leighton

(The username and password are case and space sensitive- so please write them exactly as you see here!)

Weekly Update

Math

This week in Math, we moved on in our time and data unit by using stem-and-leaf plots and comparing many different types of graphs.  On Thursday we had fun graphing with candy!  We used Hershey Kisses to estimate, count, and make a pictograph!  The students did great!  Next week we will move on with bar graphs, line graphs, and circle graphs.

Reading

We continued with our fiction unit and Storyworks magazine in reading groups.  This week we also talked about figurative language, focusing on similes and metaphors!  Check out the different activities that we participated in!

We created an anchor chart with definitions and our favorite examples from a card sort of similes and metaphors (below).

Sorting similes and metaphors

We made figurative language bookmarks that were laminated and sent home on Thursday!

We also used similes and metaphors to describe witches, ghosts, and other Halloween characters.

Writing/Spelling 

We are editing our realistic fiction stories.  So far, we have discussed dialogue rules and reviewed paragraphing. We took our first test on homophones.  We will receive our second homophones set this coming week.

Katherine and Raph looking for homophones during the "Word Hunt"

Science/Social Studies

This week we learned very interesting things about Missouri's rich history!  We found out that jazz is popular in Kansas City!  We also read about the contributions of many famous Missourians, including Mary Engelbreit, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Samuel Clemens, and Yogi Berra.  Finally, we discussed St. Louis.  We watched a video about how important our city is to our country, and we got to see how the arch was built!  Our test over Chapter 2 is set for this Thursday, November 7th.  

Other Important Info.

The students have no Friday Homework this week!  Happy Halloween!  I would like to thank all parents for coming to conferences!  Also, a big thank you to Stephanie Beattie and the other parent volunteers for a great Halloween party!  See below to check out the fun activities that we participated in.  Finally, Picture Retake Day is Friday, November 8th.   

Following the theme of what we learned in Reading this week, can you guess what Mrs. Leighton was?

And we said "goodbye" to one of our classmates and friends who is moving.  We will miss you, Owen!