Blog #4

September 19-23, 2016

Owen, Henry and Tristan represented our crew at PrinciPals with Mrs.
Russick about our EL Guiding Principle: Diversity and Inclusion.  They
shared the poster they created in Crew which also included connections
to PERKS. Here are the other crew's posters (all shared using 1-1-1.)

Our first Mystery Readers are Tyndall and Lauryn, former crew members.
They read We Share Everything by Robert Munsch and the crew asked them
about their reading habits.  See pics. 

Tristan and Henry are in an EL Fishbowl to show us a crew greeting. See pics. 

Owen and J.P. are greeting each other with a "squirrel greeting." See pics.

Owen, Auguste and Finn discuss during crew.  Our crew meetings start our morning but we are in crew all day! See pics. 

Kaiden and Cleo share in EL back to back from their Family Interview. So far
we've shared the languages that we speak at home and one of our family
traditions. See pics.

J.P. and Geoffrey play "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Math" to practice adding and
subtraction facts. See pics. 

Ryan, Cleo, Louis and Henry work on finding elapsed time using the
Mountain, Hill and Rock strategy.  Ms. Sakai's math crew is also learning,
about picture and bar graphs and telling time, along with vocabulary
(title, labels, key, and axes.) See pics.

Masha, Evan, Henry and Angela used an EL Strategy called "Balance the Boat"
before they practiced skip counting.  See pics.

Cleo, Nadia and Liam brainstorm for words to describe an eraser in science.
See pics.

Mrs. Malloy's math crew is learning about rounding to the millions and using different estimating strategies such as front end estimating.

Ms. Barnett's math crew is learning about measuring area and volume, plus using XtraMath to practice facts.

Owen, Finn, J.P. and Aiko create words to describe their mystery object for
an EL Interactive Word Wall. They also organized their describing words in
a way that makes sense. See pics.

Angela, Daphne, Henry and Tristan take an EL Gallery Walk to look at the
other Interactive Word Walls and try to figure out what each group's Mystery
Object might be.  This is an introduction for using properties to describe
rocks and minerals in science. See pics. 

Go Noodle! See pics.

Owen leads us in Mindfulness. See pics. 

In Social Studies with Mrs. Malloy, our crew is working on intermediate and cardinal directions. They also used a compass rose and are learning about map skills.

Mary Jane and her K-4 buddy from Mrs. Thoreson's and Mrs. Braun's class
work on a puzzle piece to find things they have in common. See pics.

J.P., Finn, and Owen use Finn's Kendamas at an inside recess.  See pics.

Other activities include: wearing the accelerometers for the standing desk research and the researchers observing in class, learning how the books are organized in the classroom library and how to find reading levels, BOB meeting, band and orchestra started, Reading MAP testing, learning more about authors Stewart Lee Allen and Patricia Polacco, along with their books before their visits































































Notes for Parents:

1.  Reading Logs: Reading Logs are due totaled on Monday.  The minimum amount of days is five and students should read at least 140 minutes.  Please ask them to total their minutes before they bring it to school on Monday. An example reading log is in the Parent Orientation booklet. 

2.  Initials: Please check over and initial your child's assignment planner every day in September. This will help your child get in the habit of checking it every day. Thank you!

3.  Conferences: Thank you to so many people for signing up for the Fall conferences. Here is the link if you haven't signed up yet. 

          http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4ba9a628a3fc1-fall 

4. Band and Orchestra: and lessons began last Tuesday and Orchestra begins on Thurs.  Please be sure your child has her/his instrument on their lesson day.  


5.  Picture Day: Monday, Sept. 26th. 


6. Art Museum Field trip slips:  Rookies: All third graders will attend the first trip-field trip slips are due on Oct. 3rd.
Vet Junior Art Docents: You received a field trip slip if you were in the program last year or are new to Atwater. Permission slips due 10/7.

7.  Trenton Lee Stewart:  book orders due Thursday, Sept. 29th

8.  Patricia Polacco:  book orders due Oct. 12th.

9. No School and Conference Dates: Thursday, Oct. 13th and Friday, Oct. 14th are both no school days for the students.  There is also no school for students on Thursday, March 9th and Friday, March 10th.  The district calendar says differently. 

10.  Desk Research and Accelerometers:  If you have any surveys from the researchers, the accelerometers or the accelerometer data sheet, please turn those in. Thank you so much!

11.  Finding book levels: If students aren't sure about book levels, they need to search Scholastic Book Wizard, choose Guided Reading A-Z, then type in the name of their book. They saw this used in class and there is a computer in class for them to do this, also, (before the log is due on Mon.) You may also download the Book Wizard app and scan the back of the book for the level.

Calendar:

Monday, September 26-Reading log and Thurs bag due, initial assignment planner, Picture Day, accelerometer and data sheet 
Tuesday, September 27- initial assignment planner, band lessons
Wednesday, September 28-initial assignment planner
Thursday, September 29- initial assignment planner, orchestra lessons, MAP testing Math, new student lunch, Trenton Lee Stewart book orders due
Friday, September 30-initial assignment planner (last day to initial!) 


Monday, October 3-Reading log and Thurs. bag due, Milwaukee art museum slip due for Rookies
Tuesday, October 4- band lessons, BOB check-in at lunch
Wednesday, October 5-
Thursday, October 6- orchestra lessons
Friday, October 7- Trenton Lee Stewart author visit, JAD museum slip due for Vets



Monday, October 10-Reading log and Thursday bag due
Tuesday, October 11- band lessons
Wednesday, October 12- Patricia Polacco orders due
Thursday, October 13- No School-conferences 12:30-8:00pm
Friday, October 14-No School conferences 7:30-11:30 am



 We're off to MN for a family reunion! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!


Thank you,

Deb

Blog #3

September 12-16, 2016

Our crew picked kale, beans, beets, carrots and jalapenos from our garden plot!

Auguste and Finn are in the EL Fishbowl to demonstrate the
jelly fish greeting. To focus on diversity, we greeted each
other in different ways.  See pics. 

Eliza and Aiko are elbow partners and discuss the crew quote.
Students also took home a family interview (due Wed.) to
find out more about family culture and traditions.

Our crew initiatives followed the EL Guiding principle:
diversity and inclusion.  Where the waves blow is one of
our favorites. See pics. 

Angela and Masha read books during Library Book
Exchange. See pics. 

Mrs. Wells-Sperry, from the Advanced Learning Dept.,
talked with our Vets about BOB (Battle of the Books.)  The first
meeting is Wed., Sept. 21st. 

Levi, Nadia and Geoffrey create a card for their K-4 buddy.
Students also wrote a beginning of the year personal narrative
and took a spelling preassessment.  See pics. 

Cleo and Louis play Number Top-It to find the smallest
differences. See pics. 

Forrest and Owen practice telling time to the five and one-
minute. See pics. 

Rowan and Jacoby sign each other's clocks to be clock partners.
Students also studied the Student Reference Book (SRB) to learn
about the nonfiction text. They used the EL protocol quiz,
quiz trade to learn about essays, glossary, index, contents, etc.
See pics. 

Nadia, Geoffrey, Petra and Jacoby complete a rock and
mineral inventory before we start the unit. See pics. 

Owen holds a beet that he picked in our garden plot. Ms.Sakai
also read Mrs. Spitzer's Garden by Edith Pattou. See pics. 

Tristan adds salt to our beet fries!  The crew made beet
hummus and kale chips with veggies from our garden.
See lots of pics!

Liam eats his cucumber topped with healthy treats!  The
crew enjoyed beet hummus (with a few tortilla chips),  beet fries,
kale chips,  tomatoes and cucumbers (Thank you to Claudia),
carrots, jalapenos and beans from our garden plot. Kale chips
were the favorite (9 votes), followed by jalapenos (6),
carrots (5). beet fries (2), cucs, tomatoes and
beet hummus ( 1 each.)  See pics.

Other activities this week included:

a fire drill, bus safety practice led by Mrs. Russick, standing desk surveys and measurements, started Social Studies, 

predicted and graphed our crew's birthdays, 

and colored their surfboards for our door

Notes for Parents:

      Thank you so much for the very thoughtful birthday gifts from the crew!  I enjoyed the play on words birthday card and T.Hanks notes (picture of Tom Hanks on it :) The strong magnets are wonderful as I'm always looking for ones that will hold papers on it without falling off.  The very generous Kohl's gift card will come in handy as it's my favorite place to shop for clothes.  I am so appreciative for your thoughtfulness!  Thank you to Shawn Brown for shopping for the gifts!

1.  Reading Logs are due totaled on Monday.  The minimum amount of days and minutes are on each Reading Log. An example reading log is in the Parent Orientation booklet. 

2.  Payments: Please turn in money for Scholastic News and planner ($10.00 total) and end of the year book ($5.00 to me) to help cover the costs of the pictures.

3.  Please check over and initial your child's assignment planner every day in September. This will help your child get in the habit of checking it every day. Thank you!

4.  Thank you to so many people for signing up for the Fall conferences. Here is the link if you haven't signed up yet. 

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4ba9a628a3fc1-fall

5. Band lessons begin on Tuesday and Orchestra begins on Thurs.  Please be sure your child has her/his instrument on their lesson day.  

6.  Family Interview is due on Wed., Sept. 21

7. My website is www.two4kids.net/room210review if you'd like to check it out.  The Parent Page has the daily homework each day. 


8. Thursday, Oct. 13th and Friday, Oct. 14th are both no school days for the students.  There is also no school for students on Thursday, March 9th and Friday, March 10th.  The district calendar says differently. 

9.  Principals: Thursday, Sept. 22-Henry T., Owen D. and Tristan

10.  Picture Day is Monday, Sept. 26th (You may order with the order form or on-line

Calendar:

Monday, September 19-Reading log and Thursday bag due, initial assignment planner
Tuesday, September  20- initial assignment planner, band lessons begin
Wednesday, September 21-initial assignment planner, Family Interview due, BOB meeting at lunch
Thursday, September 22- MAP assesssment-reading, Orchestra lessons begin, Herny T., Owen D. and Tristan PrinciPals,
initial assignment planner
Friday, September 23-initial assignment planner


Monday, September 26-Reading log and Thurs bag due, initial assignment planner, Picture Day
Tuesday, September 27- initial assignment planner
Wednesday, September 28-initial assignment planner
Thursday, September 29- initial assignment planner, MAP testing Math, new student lunch
Friday, September 30-initial assignment planner (last day to initial!) 


Monday, October 3-Reading log and Thurs. bag due
Tuesday, October 4- 
Wednesday, October 5-
Thursday, October 6- 

Friday, October 7-





I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  I found a new place to walk this weekend-a bird migratory preserve near Harrington Beach SP!


Thank you,

Deb

Blog #2

September 6-8, 2016

Our Crew!

How we stay cool: laying on computer lab floor,
popsicles and cold water!

Owen shares his summer mystery object!  
Click here for pics.

Henry and others are  participating in 

"Where the water blows" - a get to know each other activity.

Click here for pics. 

Owen and Henry are in the EL Fishbowl to demonstrate
as activity. 

One of the groups puts together their puzzle
after learning what they have in common. The finished
puzzles are here now. Click here for pics.

Owen and Finn discuss what crew means
to them with EL Back to Back.  "We

are crew, not passengers" (all day long!)

See pics. 

Auguste and Geoffrey discuss a topic as elbow partners. 
See pics.

Kaiden, Jacoby, Henry and Masha fill out an EL Boxing

protocol before discussing Crew. Then we watched a 

video, shared a quote, and discussed before adding more

to the protocol. Each crew member completed

a notecard about crew which is by their portrait. 

See pics.

Geoffrey and Owen peer critique each other's portrait to create
EL HQW (High Quality Work.) Each crew member 

drew their portrait, received and gave critiques, repeated these steps,

then illustrated their final copy which is on the Crew board outside

of Mrs. Malloy's room. See pics.

Alternative seating for writing and other work. 

Angela is reading her JR book.Our read aloud is Ramona
Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary. We've also discussed
characteristics of the realistic fiction genre.  See pics.

Each math crew made a name tag with a special number on
it. Mae and Petra share why this number is important. We
also discussed  math crew expectations. We also took
an addition, subtraction and Unit 1 preassessment. See pics. 

Energizers in math: form groups of 3 (or other numbers.)

Here is Nadia posing for her magnet picture that we use
for hot and cold lunch count. See pics. 

Our energizers are often linked to what we have been
learning about and cross the midbrain. See pics. 

Notes for Parents:

      Thank you so much coming to Parent Orientation last Thursday!  It was a pleasure seeing you and listening to you greet each other and discuss something that you enjoy. Thank you also for signing paperwork for your child to participate in the standing desk research. Thank you for writing a note to your child which s/he will read on Monday morning. If you were unable to attend, your child will receive a note from me. 

1.  Reading Logs are due totaled on Monday.  The minimum amount of days and minutes are on each Reading Log. An example reading log is in the Parent Orientation booklet. 

2.  Payments: Please turn in money for Scholastic News and planner ($10.00 total) and end of the year book ($5.00 to me) to help cover the costs of the pictures.

3.  Please check over and initial your child's assignment planner every day in September. This will help your child get in the habit of checking it every day. Thank you!

4.  Please turn in all standing desk consent forms and surveys as soon as possible. The researchers will start coming in on Monday, Sept. 12th. 

5.  A separate email was sent for book orders which are due on Friday, Sept. 16th.

6.  Here is the link to sign up for Fall conferences. Thank you to those that have already signed up.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4ba9a628a3fc1-fall


7. My website is www.two4kids.net/room210review if you'd like to check it out.  The Parent Page has the daily homework each day. 


8. Thursday, Oct. 13th and Friday, Oct. 14th are both no school days for the students.  There is also no school for students on Thursday, March 9th and Friday, March 10th.  The district calendar says differently. 

Calendar:

Monday, September 12-Reading log and Thurs. bag due, initial assignment plannerTuesday, September 13- initial assignment plannerWednesday, September 14-initial assignment plannerThursday, September 15- initial assignment plannerFriday, September 16-book orders due. initial assignment planner

Monday, September 19-Reading log and Thursday bag due, initial assignment plannerTuesday, September  20- initial assignment plannerWednesday, September 21-initial assignment plannerThursday, September 22- MAP assesssment-reading, Herny T. and Tristan PrinciPals
initial assignment plannerFriday, September 23-initial assignment planner


Monday, September 26-Reading log and Thurs bag due, initial assignment planner, Picture DayTuesday, September 27- initial assignment plannerWednesday, September 28-initial assignment plannerThursday, September 29- initial assignment planner, MAP testing Math, new student lunch
Friday, September 30-initial assignment planner (last day to initial!) 






Thank you for a great start to the year!  I know that there is a lot of information that comes home at this time of the year so please let me know if you have any question!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Deb

Blog #1

September 1-2, 2016

We visited our garden plot! Thank you to Aiko
and Rose (last year's crew) for tending to
the garden over the summer!  It looks amazing!

Mrs. Johnson is part of our Room 210
Crew! We talked with elbow partners
and use the EL protocol Back to back.
Click for more pics. 

Finn explains our Crew
 greeting.

Masha, Eliza, Aiko, Daphne, Adelais and
Jacoby work on a puzzle after they
discovered something that they all liked.
Click for more pics. 

Tristan, Auguste and Henry
talk in Crew!
Click here for more pics. 

 

Go Noodle is one of our Brain Breaks!
Click here for more pics.

Kaiden leads us in Seven Shakes!

Our Reading Zone Crew!

Mr. Blanchette discusses cafe expectations
and Mrs. Russick teaches sign
 language to use during
lunch. Click here for pic. 

Mr. Hughes and Mrs. Nolan
explain band and orchestra!
Click here for pics. 

Thank you for checking out our blog!

Notes for Parents:

1.  Band/Orchestra: Vets only: Please turn in band and orchestra sheets if you have not attended Summer Strings or Band this past summer. 

2.  Payments: Please turn in money for Scholastic News and planner ($10.00 total) and end of the year book ($5.00 to me) to help cover the costs of the pictures.

3.  Missing name: Someone turned in all three of the above payments in white envelopes labeled with black marker. Please let me know if these belong to you.

4.  Snacks: Our room is a peanut free and nut free room. Please remember this for snacks and birthday treats. 

5.  Water:  Please bring a water bottle every day. It is very warm in our room.

6.  Standing desks:  All students will sit (or stand) at a standing desk for two days so everyone has an opportunity to try it.  :)

7.  Planners:  We started to use the planners last week. Starting on Tuesday, please check over the planner and initial it every day through the month of Sept. Thank you!

8.  Reading Logs:  Reading Logs will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 6th

Calendar:

Monday, September 5-Labor Day-no school

Tuesday, September 6- Reading logs begin

Wednesday, September 7-

Thursday, September 8- Parent Orientation 7:00-7:30 pm 

Friday, September 9-No School-planning day and record keeping day for teachers

Monday, September 12-Reading log due

Tuesday, September 13- 

Wednesday, September 14-

Thursday, September 15- 

Friday, September 16-

Monday, September 19-Reading log due

Tuesday, September  20- 

Wednesday, September 21-

Thursday, September 22- MAP assesssment-reading

Friday, September 23-