January 31

Happy Friday!

Calling all games.  National Day of Play is the 5th of February.  We will be spending the afternoon playing games.  Please send in board games.  Mrs. Conley is looking for a classroom puzzle if anyone has one to donate, please email her.

Both classes will have a chance to 'play' with the new Lego and Maker space cart.  The Teton homeroom had their 'play' time this morning.  We had everything from forts to doll houses created in half an hour. The Acadians will have their turn with the cart on Monday.

Calling all bakers! We are looking for a volunteer to bake 46 Snickerdoodle cookies for Colonial Craft Day. ( March 27)  We have a nut free recipe from a parent who made them last year. Please email us if that baker is you!

Congratulations to our January Citizens of the Month. The Teton Student of the Month homeroom is Elsie Garcia and the Acadian Student of the Month is Eleanor Weyenberg.

And... they're off!  The students enjoyed themselves  at the Glow Run on Wednesday.  Thank you all for donating.  Our Boston Freedom Trail Field Trip is fully funded by the PTO.

We have been continuing with our creative poetry lessons on Fridays.  We have been writing Friday Color Poems in class both today and last Friday.  The students as so very creative. Below are a few examples.  

This week in our read aloud, The Liberation of Gabriel King, Gabe asks his father why some people don't like his friend, Frita, because she is black.  Gabe's father thinks a bit and answers Gabe.  We had a nice discussion about this. Gabe missed out on his Moving Up Ceremony because of two bullies. He has to consider if he is going to sit back and let people take something from him that he can never get back.  Gabe's father explains why he wants Jimmy Carter to pull ahead of Gerald Ford in the polls.  We discussed how Jimmy Carter did not join the White Citizen's Council. Gabe's father explains how Jimmy Carter had integrity. Inspired by the story, Gabe decides he could work on becoming more brave. 

Mr. Smith's niece is a biologist.  She came in last week and did an outstanding presentation on her work with Redwoods.  We also were able to see the equipment she uses to climb these tall trees. This blended in so well with their biome unit.  

Our Daily Oral Language sentences were about our natural hot springs in Yellowstone and Grand Teton.  We learned grammar while we learned more about these parks and the animals that live there.

Mrs Conley is reading: A Monster Like Me by Wendy Swore. For the readers that enjoyed Wonder, this book is a nice fit!

In science this week we made habitats for the isopods and darkling beetles we have been investigating as well as finishing up and sharing our biome projects.  They are gorgeous.  Some students wrote picture books, others made dioramas, some made Google Slides, and others wrote letters.  This will finish up our science for the year and we will move into social studies next. 

We continue learning about fractions.  For many students fractions still seem to be a bit of a mystery while others are very comfortable with them.  We have learned how fractions are just another way to write a division problem.  We have also learned to name fractions, how to compare them, how to model them and how to go between mixed numbers and fractions.  The next few lessons will explore adding and subtracting mixed numbers.  This is often very difficult for children who are still making sense of trades with whole numbers.  We will keep modeling and using our fractions circles and number lines to make sense of this work.  

Conversation starters:

motive

disheveled

Gilligan

She's hitting the books.

I out my foot in my mouth.

Jimmy Carter

mixed number, improper fraction

smells of the New World

bug habitats

Climbing equipment used to climb redwoods