dressel

February 29, 2008

I'm excited to announce that our play practices will start on Monday.  Each child needs to know their parts for this first practice.  I hope that you have had fun helping your dragon with their parts, as the class is excited to present these plays for you.

I have to begin by thanking all of you for the wonderful Teacher's Appreciation Week.  The presents, meals, drinks, and magazines have been wonderful!!!!  I have never been pampered so much!!!  Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and kindness.  You are the reason your children are so kind.

As you know, we are studying Japan in social studies, and our learning was extended by Japan Day on Thursday.  The children learned about customs, food, clothing, writing and sites of Japan.  We are grateful to all of the moms for such a wonderful experience.

We learned about literature circles (book talks) this week in reading.  In a few weeks we will invited you to try one with us. 

Our last Early Release day is Tuesday, yes, Tuesday.  It was confusing to me too.  Anyway, part of that day will be Career Day.  During this time we will learn about careers of some of our Sope Creek families. 

The Fun Run will be in two weeks, so hope that your registration is in.  Our basket is almost done....Thank you, Mrs. Mittleider!!!!! 

See you soon at our play.....March 13th at 8:30am                    Linda

February 22, 2008

This last week in February is going to be extremely busy!!!!  The good news is I am done with jury week!

Two reading logs are due next week.  If you are participating in the Six Flags Reading, the last day to bring your form is Tuesday.  Please make sure that all signatures are complete.  Our class reading log is due on Friday.  Many students are up to 800 minutes!!!  I am so proud of them.  You can surely tell a difference when they read aloud in class.  Their fluency and expression are so much better. 

We will begin our social studies unit on Japan next week.  Japan Day is Thursday!!!  We will rotate through classrooms and learn many things about the culture of Japan. 

Picture day is Wednesday.  These will be individual and class pictures.  Dragons, please wear or bring your class t-shirt for our class pictures and then wear it again on Japan Day. 

In reading next week, Mrs. Grindstaff, our lead teacher, will use poetry to teach the children about literature circles.  In a few weeks, we will use what we learn while reading Freckle Juice.  Please bring your copy in when possible.

We are done with our timed tests in subtraction.  Next week we will have 100 problem subtraction tests.  The children must finish in 7 minutes.  Please review math facts. 

Our unit 18 math test will be Tuesday or Wednesday.  Our spelling test will resume on Tuesday. 

Have a great weekend.           Linda

February 14, 2008

First of all, thank you so much for making Valentine's Day a special treat for the Dragons.  What a fun time they had opening their cards and eating all of the special treats you send in.  Also, thank you for the gifts that you sent in to me on this exciting day.  You are great parents!!

Next week is a very short week, so we will not have timed tests nor spelling tests. 

In math , we will continue with our place value unit.  Tomie dePaola books will fill our reading time.  In health we will do a small unit on germs. 

I don't know what next week will bring with jury duty, but I will be stopping by the school each am and pm to drop off and pick up.  Maybe if I am lucky, they will not need me every day. 

Our star lab visit is on Thursday, so our lunch schedule that day will be completely different.  The children are so excited to view this after our study of space!!!

Have a great 4 day weekend.              Linda

February 7, 2008

Dear Parents,

Our Smartboard is in, thank you to the Foundation, and it is running, thank you to Mr. Shockley!!!  He has even solved my issue of location of my laptop by giving me his cordless mouse!!!  The children love it, and I am learning to incorporate it into our lessons.

We will be exchanging valentines on Thursday, so make sure that your Dragon brings their cards that day.  On Wednesday, we will decorate our holders.  Thank you Mrs. Jones for organizing our valentine celebration.

Hope that your Dragon's play part has been home.  Our plays are on March 13th at 8:30, and we will begin reviewing the parts on March 3rd.  Please help your child know all of their parts by then.   Hope to see you then.

Next week 2 field trip requests will be coming home.  One is for our Star Lab visit, which will enhance our Astronomy science unit.  The other is for our visit to the Nature Center.  The Star Lab comes to our school on the 21st, and we will go to the Nature Center on March 25th.  I will need one parent volunteer for the Nature Center. 

Please don't forget studying for our important timed tests.  Scores were not as good this week,and this skill is so important. 

Next week we will continue our Astronomy unit.  Astronomy research is due on Thursday.  We will test out of our fraction unit on Monday and begin unit 18 on place value on Tuesday.  We'll read about Shooting Stars and learn to use quotation marks. 

Hope that you have a beautiful weekend.   Linda                           

P.S.  I have jury duty the week of February 18th............yikes.