Weekly Update

We have finished the Communication Arts portion of the MAP test this past week!  Students had much encouragement this week as they had a note on the board from Dr. Parker and then received letters from their first grade buddies and Mrs. Donze's students.  Students also enjoyed candy encouragement and the trail mix snack that we've had so far.  Thank you parents for providing this fun treat for the students!  We will resume testing this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for the Mathematics portion of the MAP test.  It is very important that students get enough sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, and arrive to school on time.  Thank you for your hard work, students!  

Elayna and Ella working together on the last eValuate practice test on Monday

Creating 3D shapes with our MAP snacks!

Math 

This past week we were busy reviewing for testing.  We also continued our study of measurement and began to discuss fractions.  We will continue with these topics this week, as well as show what we know on the MAP test!


Reading
We continued our poetry unit in reading and writing and met in book clubs.  As a reminder, we meet in book clubs every Wednesday and Friday.  Students should read the assigned pages and complete their book club role sheet before meeting in group.  There is no Friday Homework this week.  


Writing/Spelling
We will continue in editing and publishing our poetry anthologies this week.  Get a sneak peak at some of the finished products below!  Again, we will not resume with a new spelling sort until after MAP testing is complete.  

Haiku

Color Poem

 

Science 
We continued in our forces and motion unit.  This past week students were able to participate in a lab where they discovered how the weight of a marble and incline of a ramp affected how far the marble would travel.  We have more fun labs to look forward to this week as well!  Students should be studying their vocabulary words at home.  We will have a test on this unit the week after MAP testing.   

Other Important Info.
In Friday's Flyer Folder, students took home a permission slip for our final field trip.  On Wednesday, May 21st, we will go to the Lewis and Clark Museum and First Missouri Capital in St. Charles.  Details can be found on the permission slip.

As of April 30, Chartwell's will no longer be accepting checks.

Weekly Update

Math 

This past week we continued with Chapter 24 on customary measurement, and added Chapter 25 on metric measurement to our studies.  We discussed how to measure length, weight, and liquid volume using the metric ladder below.  This was tricky as it is a new measurement system for the students.  We will continue to practice measurement conversions using the metric system this week, as well as review for the upcoming mathematics MAP test.  

Reading
We continued our poetry unit in reading and writing, reviewed for the MAP test, and met in book clubs.  We meet in book clubs on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Students should read the assigned pages and complete their book club role sheet before meeting in group.  

Writing/Spelling
We will continue in editing and publishing our poetry anthologies this week.   We will not resume with a new spelling sort until after MAP testing is complete.  

Science 
We have started our forces and motion unit in science this past week.  Students can log on to kz.com to earn extra credit with these new topics.  Students should also be studying their vocabulary words at home.  

MAP Testing Info. 

As a reminder, our MAP testing dates will be this Tuesday and Wednesday, April 22nd and 23rd for Communication Arts.  We will take the Mathematics MAP test April 29th, 30th and May 1st. Please try not to schedule any appointments on these days; It is important that your child is in attendance.  Students should get a good night's sleep and eat a healthy breakfast.  Students will need to turn off their phones and electronics and keep them in their backpacks on MAP testing days.  Some students have chosen to not bring their electronics to school on MAP testing days.  Also, students took home a note in Flyer Folders last week regarding our MAP snack trail mix!  Thank you to all families who have already brought in snacks!  Finally, there was no Friday Homework this weekend, and there will be no Friday Homework during testing.  

Other Important Info.

Wednesday is an early release day with dismissal at 1:40.  Please make sure your child knows how they are getting home.  

Also, the lunch room would like you to know that as of April 30,2014, Chartwell's will no longer be accepting checks.

Weekly Update

Math 

This past week we took our test on Chapter 19 and have started Chapter 24 on customary measurement.  We discussed how to measure length, weight, and liquid volume.  Check out Gallon Robot below to help us in remembering our units of liquid volume!  Students have a quiz over customary measurements next Wednesday, in which they need to know how many inches are in one foot, feet in a mile, ounces in a pound, ounces in a cup, etc.  They can use their flipbook and Quizlet to help them study.  

Username: Long-Leighton

Password: leighton

Measurement flipbook

Alex and Tyler playing the measurement matching game

Gallon Robots are taking over the room!

Reading
We continued our poetry unit in reading and writing, and are working on our poetry anthologies.  We also continued with book clubs.  We meet on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Students should read the assigned pages and complete their book club role sheet before meeting in group.  They receive a grade for this assignment, and they are allowed to complete their assignment during reading time in class.


Writing/Spelling
This past week we added to our poetry collection by writing acrostic poems, color poems, and concrete poems.  See some of the students' acrostic poems below.  Students are doing great with this!  We will continue in editing and publishing our poetry anthologies next week.   In Spelling, we received our new prefixes and suffixes word sort.  Because there is no school this Friday, the spelling test will be this Thursday, 4/17.  

Social Studies/Science 
We finished Chapter 6 in social studies, and will start our Forces and Motion unit in science this week.  In this unit, we will explore topics such as friction, gravity, velocity and acceleration.  

Important Info.

As a reminder, our MAP testing dates will be April 22nd and 23rd for Communication Arts, and April 29th, 30th and May 1st for Mathematics. Please try not to schedule any appointments on these days.  It is important that your child is in attendance.  Also, students took home a note in Flyer Folders regarding our MAP snack trail mix!  

Mr. Kassulke would like me to put this link on our blog for students to practice reading music notes at home: http://www.classicsforkids.com/games/notename/notenames10b.swf. 

Please remember that there is no school this Friday, April 18th!  

Crestwood Park Reward!

We had such a great time during our reward today!  It was the perfect day to go to Crestwood Park and enjoy the sunshine as we ate lunch and had an extended recess time.  Way to go, students!

Weekly Update

Math 

This past week we finished Chapter 19 with patterns, tessellations, and 3D figures.  Our Chapter 19 Geometry Test will be this Wednesday.  Students received the study guide on Friday.  

Eric and Gianna creating their tessellations

Miles working on his arrow tessellation

We made 3D shapes!

Reading
We continued our poetry unit in Reading and Writing.  In Reading, we read more poems from a variety of authors.  We also learned about many different poetry terms to use in describing poems such as stanza, rhyme, rhythm and various figurative language including personification and metaphors.  Our Friday Homework for this week reviews haikus.  Also this past week, we started our new book club groups!  As a reminder, we meet on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Students should read the assigned pages and complete their book club role sheet before meeting in group.  They do receive a grade for this assignment each Wednesday and Friday, and they are allowed to complete their assignment during reading time in class.  

Writing/Spelling
In addition to collecting poems, we have also started to write our own poetry.  We wrote haikus, couplets, cinquain poems, and a limerick!  Students are doing great with this!  We will continue our study next week.  In Spelling, we took our test over prefixes and suffixes.  We will continue with root words, prefixes, and suffixes this coming week.  

Social Studies
We continued in Chapter 6 with discussions of the Civil War and unequal rights.  The Chapter 6 Test will be this Thursday.  Students will receive the study guide on Monday.  

Important Info.

This past week, we completed two sample reading MAP test items for practice.  They both dealt with poetry texts to compliment our studies.  We did one together, and the students sat in their MAP testing seats on Friday to work on the other independently.  Our MAP testing dates will be April 22nd and 23rd for Communication Arts, and April 29th, 30th and May 1st for Math.  Please try not to schedule any appointments on these days.  It is important that your child is in attendance.  More information about MAP will come home in the next couple weeks. 

On Thursday of last week, we had a special guest visit Long!  Author Debra Frasier joined us (on her birthday!) to talk about her life as a writer.  We learned how she got some of her book ideas, and we learned that the writing process can last a long time when we continue to revise our work and make it better!  It was neat to see that Debra and her editor use sticky notes to revise and improve her ideas.  During the assembly, Dr. Parker even dressed up as one of the characters from Debra's books, Miss Alaineus.  Congratulations to Spencer and Lola from our class who wrote persuasive letters to win lunch with Debra!