Griffin

Friday

Just a heads up that I scheduled our movie viewing on Friday.  The class earned this during the Boosterthon.  Today they expressed that they wanted to make it a Pajama Day/Movie Celebration.  They had earned the Pajama Party, too.  They may also bring a stuffed animal.

Please remember that we have PE on Friday and our pajamas need to be appropriate for PE class.  Slippers are not allowed to be worn.

September 26-30

Pictures:  Please return the pictures you do not wish to purchase and a check for those you do want. 

What's happening this week:

Math:  Money  (You can help by giving your child coins to purchase items, having them practce giving back change and making purchase

• counting  money amounts
• writing money amounts
• making change and counting coins for purchases


Language Arts:

• asking questions while reading
• dictionary skills
• suffixes and base words
• writing personal narratives
• developing "author's voice" in writing


Science:

• comparing soils
• layers of the Eearth's crust

Specials Schedule:

• Mon., Tues., Thur., Fri.-----------PE
• Wed.----------Art

 

Many thanks to Lilly's mom for coming in to read to us on Friday.  Ben's mom is up this Friday.

 

 

 

 

Octoberfest Bake Sale and Armbands

2 Weeks Until Octoberfest!

Want to help by providing something delicious for our bake sale?  Please download the following form to find out how to help with the bake sale!  Download Octoberfest Bake Sale

Watch for armband order forms to come home with students on September 23rd!  Prices: 

• Students:  $10
• Preschoolers/Alumni/High Schoolers:  $5
• Adults and Children under 2:  FREE!
• Family Maximum:  $25

Questions?

• Bake Sale:  Stacy Baca {stacycarl@comcast.net}
• Armbands:  TongSuk Vignone {tvignone@gmail.com}
• General Questions:  Sandy Sweeney {sandyhsweeney@comcast.net}

Sept. 19-23

Time is flying by and each day I'm amazed at my wonderful Grizzlies.  I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to work with such a well behaved, polite and caring group of children. 

Many thanks to Ekaa's mom for helping to chaperon our field trip.  We had so much fun and learned all about minerals.  Thank you to Emma's mom for being our guest reader. 

Please be sure and have your child complete an entry in their reading log after reading.  I am seeing many blank reading logs. 

This week:

Math:

• adding with regrouping
• writing number sentences
• solving addition word problems


Language Arts:

• more "r" words and homophones
• making predictions while reading
• comparatives and superlatives
• reading for fluency
• main idea and supporting details
• summarizing
• writing a personal narrative
• organizing ideas during writing


Unit Work:

• comparing minerals and rocks
• identifying minerals rocks
• how rocks are formed

 

Monday:

• Art


Tuesday:  

• PE
• Chic fil a Night


Wednesday:

•  PE


Thursday:

• STEM
• Guidance


Friday:

• Music
• Ch 3 math test
• Spelling test
• Guest Reader.....Lilly's mom

 

 

 

 

September 12-16

We have several items due on Monday.  Please remember to turn in your Boosterthon money, field trip permission slip and Performing Arts permission slips.  This is our first collection date for the Boosterthon pledges.  If you haven't been able to collect it all, then you may turn it in later.

Tellus

Please remember your child may purchase a sack lunch from the cafe to take on our field trip.  If you would like to pack a lunch instead, then it must be packed in disposable containers.  Please no sodas in packed lunches.

Also, we will have an opportunity to purchase items from the gift shop at the museum.  We have set a $10.00 maximum on their purchases.

Here is what's up in the coming week:

Math: 

• properties of addition
• using inverse operations to solve for missing addends
• front end estimation
• adding by using expanded form
• adding by using compensation
• adding with regrouping


Language Arts:

• r influenced vowels in spelling
• adverbs
• knowing when and how to stick with a book and when to find a different one
• setting goals
• retelling
• writing a descriptive paragraph
• how to organize my writing
• revising and editing writing


Social Studies: 

• latitude and longitude
• equator and Prime Meridian


This Week's Schedule:

 Monday

• PE
• Government Quiz retake
• permission slips and money due

Tuesday

• STEM

Wednesday

• New Students' Breakfast
• Music

Thursday

• Field trip

Friday

• PE
• Guest Reader  (Emma's mom)
• Spelling Test

Many thanks to Jacob's mom for coming to read on Friday and the Buffington family for volunteering to design our pumpkin for the Octoberfest.  Big thanks to Sam's dad for providing us with 200 sheet protectors.  We are excited to get our Binders and Writing Notebooks organized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Octoberfest is coming soon

OCTOBERFEST – 3 weeks to go!

You don’t want to miss this year’s awesome inflatables and rides at Octoberfest!! New this year is the Blazing Mechanical Bull! Come try your hand at hanging on! Back again is the Terrific Titanic Slide, Mutiny on the Bouncer, the Ultimate Obstacle Challenge, Pirate 5-in-1 and the Justice League Double Challenge! Enjoy the train ride, lots of games and an all-time favorite, the Spider Jump!

Parents! We are ready to schedule volunteers to help make Octoberfest a great day! We need your help! Please see the link below to view all activities and times where volunteers are needed. We hope to sign up all volunteers via this website without having the Room Reps recruit you from each class. Please find your favorite activity and preferred time to sign up and help us fill these positions ASAP. Octoberfest is a great success because of you! Thank you for your support!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/octoberfest8
 
Questions? Contact Sandy Sweeney at sandyhsweeney@comcast.net.
 
Don’t miss this great family fun event! 
Saturday, October 1st from 2pm – 6pm

Sept. 6

I was reminded that Target will be taking place on Thursday this week.  This will not interfere with our quiz schedule.  Our Target students have worked out a quizzing schedule with me.

Thank you for turning in your Boosterthon pledge money.  Keep those pledges coming.

Don't forget your permission slip and fees for our upcomingfield trip.

Please check your child's binder each day.  They will be placing papers that have been graded, notes, and other information in the front pocket.  Do not remove the papers in the pocket folders in the notebook.  These are notes and works in progress. 

Remember to check the behavior sheet and double check that your child is completing their reading log. 

Login information for a wonderful math website will be coming home this week.  This sight is a wonderful way to review, study, and extend our math concepts.  I will also be sending home login information for other textbooks.

     I hope everyone is enjoying this three day weekend.  Hopefully we'll be all rested up for the week ahead.  

Grades:  If you are asking yourself...What are those funny marks on my child's paper?, then here is what you need to know: 

Class work is graded with a: 

• 3.....student has a firm grasp on this skill
• 2.....student has mastered some of this skill but still needs some time for complete mastery
• 1.....student is trying but is struggling to master this skill

You may notice problems marked incorrect with an "OK" next to them.  I will often check papers and ask students to go back and correct their mistakes.  The "OK" means they have fixed their mistakes.  I believe it is important to teach the desire to continue working to mastery.  Too many times I've seen students just shrug their shoulders when told they missed a question.  We learn so much from our mistakes and so if child corrects a mistake on their classwork, I will not count it wrong. 

Homework is graded with a: 

• check +.........job well done
• check.........good job although a few mistakes
• check -......job was completed but incomplete, many incorrect answers or didn't follow directions

This week: 

Math:   

• rounding to the nearest 1000, 100 or 10
• properties of addition

Language Arts:  I'm cutting back on the number of spelling words.  There will still be the regular 24 unit words, but only 5 bonus words.  The bonus words will be the last words on the Spelling City list. 

• contractions
• long vowel spelling patterns
• reading with fluency
• what to do when you find yourself confused during reading
• retelling a story with main idea and supporting details
• prewriting and drafting a descriptive paragraph

Social Studies: 

• Greece's architectural influence
• Greece as foundation of modern day Olympics



Weekly Schedule: 

Tuesday:   Picture Day 

Wednesday:   

• Target
• Review for Math Quiz (expanded, written and standard form, rounding, ordering and comparing numbers)

Thursday:   

• Guidance
• Math Quiz
• Social Studies Quiz on Greece and Government (Study Guide will be coming home)

Friday: 

• Spelling Quiz
• Guest Reader (Jacob's mom)

Thank you for sending in so many of our needed supplies.  Many thanks to Sam's dad for serving as Guest Reader.

Our Epic Adventure

 FYI, there will be a couple of updates to the blog this week, so come back and check us out again.

EPIC:  This week Magic Marcus came to share how to live an EPIC life.  He talked to us about Encouraging others, Playing outside and getting off the electronics, Inviting others to join our circle, and Celebrate our efforts and accomplishments as well as others.

We enjoyed Magic Marcus's daily visits and the class even gave him some Bucket Fillers to take with him.  If you were at the Boosterthon Fun Run, you know he announced the Grizzlies as one of his favorite classes. 

 

 

The class did an excellent job receiving pledges.  As a class we should be collecting $2645.00!!  Our class will receive a percent of the money.  However, we only receive a percent from what is returned on Tuesday.  The students should still collect their pledges until all money is accounted for.  Our class just won't get a percent of that.  How I did it with my own children was to write a check myself (to Sope Creek PTA) and then reimburse myself as the pledges came in. 

Now a note from Mr. Sparky from Boosterthon:

Parents, 

Thank you for your support of this year’s Boosterthon Fun Run! The program was a huge success, but I still need your help. As a team Grizzlies finished at $ 79 per lap!  With all the laps we ran, that comes out to $2645 !  If we can collect 100% by Tuesday, September 13th, $264 comes directly back to our classroom for us to use.

 

Please help your student get in touch with their sponsors today. Sponsors can pay 2 ways—Cash or Check.  Checks are written to Sope Creek PTA.

 

Your student went home with an envelope highlighting some key instructions.  You can also log on to www.funrun.com for all the information you may need.

 

Thanks again for your help and support of our class! Let’s work together to finish strong and reach our goal!

 

Thank you for your generosity and support of our class and Sope Creek!

 

Mr Sparky and Ms Griffin