Newletter from 9-21-12

Dear Parents,


This has been such a quick, but fun week! We have had a few students absent this week with either colds, or ear infections, and it was so nice to have them all back at school today! Here are some of our fun quotes from this week!


“My most prized possession is my dad!” ~Mason (This got an “Awwwww…” out of me! Wow.)

“If I were planning my favorite meal, it would include pizza, makarone, and totalene!” ~Morgan

“All it takes to make me happy is to give me a hug!” ~Jenna

“I can’t do whistle, but I’m really good at snapping!.” ~Makayla

“My most prized possession is my video games.” ~Jaden

In Religion this week, we took our first test over Unit One, where we had learned about parts of the Bible, and how the Bible is set up, and how to use it daily. We also talked about attributes of the Trinity. These tests will be coming home today for you to review.

Memory work for next week is:
September 25- The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
September 28- Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

In Language Arts this week, we discussed how to tell the difference between exclamations and commands, and practiced these ending marks. The students are getting much more comfortable editing and revising sentences in D.O.L., and getting so much more confident too!

Third graders read a story entitled, Pop’s Bridge, about the building of the San Francisco Bridge. This was a neat story! Fourth graders read a story called The Power of W.O.W., and they put on the play for the third graders today! They did a fantastic job and showed real collaboration as they worked as a team!

Next week, we will begin to write our first papers as a class. We will use the writing process to write personal narratives, and will even publish them at school.

We were introduced to our new Author of the Month: Louis Sachar, and began

reading the page-turning book entitled Holes. The kiddos love this story and beg me to read more chapters than I originally intend!

Book reports are due soon! Third graders need to read a mystery book and have

their reports completed by October 19th. Fourth graders are reading Newbery Award books and their reports are due next week on September 28th. Thank you!

Last week, I sent home more information about Scholastic Reading Counts, with your child’s personal goal. They will need to take quizzes over this amount of books for the quarter. They can take these quizzes at home or at school and get credit for them. The books in my classroom are labeled with the reading level. Please encourage your child to read his or her book report book to stay on target. They can keep this book in their backpacks, so they can read it in free time at school too!

In Math this week, third graders rounded numbers to the closest 10, 100, and 1,000, and then tested over this skill today. Some are still really struggling with this skill, and we will continue to work on it until all have mastered! Fourth graders learned about place value, rounding, and estimating, and will review this next week and test over it!

In Science this week we studied the life cycles of the grasshopper, the cricket, and the beetle. We talked about complete metamorphosis and incomplete metamorphosis, and learned many other new vocabulary words. A sheet came home last week for your child to review at home and during free time. We will test over this material next week. I will keep you updated, as this date arises.

During Art, we talked about different textures using fabrics. We then created our own pictures using fabrics and yarn. They are bright and beautiful! 

In P.E. this week, we finished up our volleyball unit with learning how to set, tip, and dink. Then we scrimmaged! It was so much fun! Next week we will learn some new gym games.

For Writers’ Workshop, we continued writing our short stories and some have begun to publish them. I am excited to see the finished products!

In Computer Lab , we began playing a Garfield typing game, where we are challenged on different levels. Again, the focus is keeping hands on the home keys and looking at the computer screen instead of the keys! Some of the students also used this time to take Scholastic quizzes and begin their publishing of their stories.

In Music this week, the choir sang “Lord, I Lift Your Name on High,” “Honor You God,” “ Celebrate the Birthday” (for Christmas Pageant), our new hymn of the month, “We Praise You O God,” and “You are Holy.” During music theory, the students identified space notes on the staff using the word FACE. Students practiced labeling both line and space notes on a staff. Next week, we will begin playing the recorder!

Have a wonderful weekend! Thank you for all of your support and prayers!

Yours in Christ,
Kim Myers