Blog update for 9/22/23

 Happy Friday Families!

There has been a lot going on in our classroom this past month, and we are looking forward to what the school year still has in store for us.  Please read below to find out about all of the wonderful learning that is happening in our classroom!

Here are the concepts we are currently/planning to work on:

Reading
Over the last couple of weeks, our students have read various texts in order to determine the narrator's point of view.  Much of our instruction revolved around Pale Male, a story about a red-tailed hawk living on the ledge of a building on Fifth Avenue, in the heart of New York City.  Through the text, our students were able to have an understanding of different perspectives, from residents who wanted the hawk removed, to those bird lovers who wanted the red-tail hawk protected. Not only have students had to determine how the narrator's point of view influenced how the story was told, they had to do so in a written response. We've been spending a considerable amount of time practicing how to write a cohesive response that is inclusive of all of the necessary elements.

Writing

Our students wrapped up their first narrative pieces. They demonstrated great success utilizing their graphic organizers to plan and develop their stories through the use of a detailed sequence of events and effective character development.  Students were also encouraged to add dialogue into their writing to enhance the reader’s understanding of their characters, setting, and events.  This week, our students started to plan a second narrative piece in order to apply what we’ve learned in order to produce an even higher quality sample.

Math

Our students wrapped up Unit 1, which focused on evaluating numerical expressions with parentheses, using the correct order of operations.  We are also a month into our Number Corner lessons, which have been focused around clock and money fractions and finding the volume of rectangular prisms.  Yesterday, we will started Unit 2, which focuses on addition and subtraction of fractions.  The introduction of clock and money fractions in Number Corner have been helping to provide a springboard for teaching our students to find common denominators before adding or subtracting fractions. The family letter which highlights the concepts being presented in our new unit on fractions has been attached this email.

Science

We are wrapping up our discussions about ecosystems.  Over the last couple of weeks, we have been learning about consumers and the flow of energy through an ecosystem.  We learned that consumers must eat animals in order to obtain their energy and to survive.  Through various discussions, activities, and investigations, we also learned that the flow of energy starts at the sun and flows to the producers and then to consumers.  Be sure to ask your child about our owl pellet investigation! Students also took home the bean plants we started in class as we learned about photosynthesis! Our classroom Venus Fly Trap plant is thriving and the kids are having a great time supplying insects to feed it! We love watching the digestion process in real time!

Upcoming Events

**Monday, September 25th - NO SCHOOL (Yom Kippur)

**Tuesday, September 26th--PTO Book Fair Begins (lasts through the 28th)

**Thursday, September 28th--PTO Ice Cream Social/Book Fair Event 

**Thursday, October 5th - NO SCHOOL (Family/Educator Conferences)

**Friday, October 6th - NO SCHOOL (Family/Educator Conferences)

**Monday, October 9th - NO SCHOOL 

Friendly Reminders

**Please have your child charge his or her iPad every evening.  Much of what we do throughout the day revolves around our iPads.

**Please remember to send your child with a healthy snack each day. Nothing feeds the brain like a healthy snack!  

**Please continue to have your child practice their multiplication facts up to 12.

Have a wonderful weekend!

First Blog Post 9/8/23

 Good Afternoon Families!

Our school year is off and running! It was an absolute pleasure meeting many of you at curriculum night! I hope you found it to be an informative and useful evening.  Your involvement and support is greatly appreciated! 

Welcome to the first installment of our bi-monthly blog post! It is my goal to keep you informed and up-to-date about the learning that is taking place in the classroom, as well as making sure you are aware of important upcoming dates and and events. If you have a Twitter account be sure to follow me at  julie_holzhauer  to hear about some of our educational adventures!

In addition to becoming comfortable with all of our organizational and academic routines, we have spent the last few weeks engaged in a variety of team building activities in order to establish a level of trust between classmates! Each day, we start with a morning meeting where we have the opportunity to set a positive tone for learning! Last week I introduced the card game Spoons to the class. The kids played in groups and really enjoyed it! Be sure to ask your student about it!! Did you hear about our index card/cup challenge? What about our rubber band/string/cup challenge? Yesterday we played telephone charades! Be sure to ask your student about the fun we had!

Here are the targets we are currently / planning on working to master over the next couple of weeks:

Literacy

Our students started our new shared text, The Road to Freedom. The story is narrated from the point of view of a young girl, Emma, who is traveling on the Underground Railroad with her mother in hopes of making it North to freedom. Our students have been highly engaged throughout text and are having many great discussions related to topics raised within the story.  Using this shared text, we will work on literacy skills such as and identifying narrator's point of view, as well as a variety of comprehension skills related to the text. 

Last week we also had our first “status of the class” where students let me know what book they are currently reading, and what page they are on. This helps me keep track of progress from week to week. I will also be “conferencing” with students individually about what they read. This is a fun way to informally chat and make sure that their reading is progressing along! Students also have the opportunity to volunteer to do book talks and share what they are reading with their peers!

Writing

Our instruction over the last few weeks has involved “laying the groundwork” for students to plan and write an original narrative story. As we progress through this instruction, students will compose an original story with the goal of including an effectively written introduction, well-developed body paragraphs, and an effective conclusion. Students are writing in response to a prompt which asks them to compose a story about a character who perseveres through a challenge.

Math

Our students are currently working on writing and evaluating numerical expressions with parentheses. We have also been reviewing a variety of multiplication strategies—and have learned a few new ones as well!  The first few weeks have also involved getting used to our math routines. In fact, since September started late last week, we also started our daily Number Corner routine. Be sure to ask your student about what we’ve done so far!

Science

Instruction utilizing our science curriculum is well underway!  Our current focus is on understanding the makings of a various ecosystems around the world. We’ve learned about how members of an ecosystem interact and depend on each other. Currently, we are also learning more specifically about the producers, consumers and decomposers who make up our ecosystem. Have you heard about the plant we adopted? The class named him/her Boogie Boogie! We are trying to propagate some of her leaves in the classroom! We are loving this hands-on way to learn about photosynthesis! We also have a very engaging science investigation on the horizon which involves dissecting owl pellets!

Upcoming Events

**Friday, September 15 and 22— PTO sponsored Frozen Treat Fridays

**Tuesday, September 19th- Early Release @ 2:05

**Monday, September 25th—No School District Holiday

**Tuesday September 26th-28th—PTO Sponsored Ivy Hall Book Fair 

Friendly Reminders

** Please remember to send your child with a healthy snack.  Nothing feeds the brain like a healthy snack!  

** Please continue to have your child practice their multiplication facts up to 12.