Don't Forget

This post will be short and sweet!  Don't forget these important events going on this week!

Parent-Teacher conferences:  Monday and Wednesday
Tailgate Party:  Thursday
No School: Friday
No School- Teacher Inservice:  Monday

Read-A-Thon

Hmm...another post about reading.  I wonder who loves reading more than me?!?!  Oh yes, that would be your children!  I can hardly get them to put their books down sometimes!  Sometimes they even try to sneak their books out in the middle of instruction!  However, they are not too sneaky for me!  :)  I enjoy seeing this passion to read in kids.  It reminds me of when I was their age.  I used to read for hours upon hours at a time!  In fact I used to get in trouble reading because I would much rather read my good books instead of doing my chores around the house!  So, to honor such a love for books, a Read-A-Thon day has been created.  Just as the word says, we will be having a reading marathon.  This will take place on Friday!    The students are welcome to bring in a small pillow and a blanket if they so choose.  They may also bring in food and a drink.  Please do not send pop!  We like to keep the Read-a-Thon day as healthy and fun as we can.  If your child would also like to bring in books from home, please make sure their name or the family name is on the inside cover so that we can return any borrowed books back to their rightful owner.  As for now, I'm excited for our day to celebrate the joys of reading!  If you would like to come in and join us in our reading, please let me know!

Reading

I know you might be thinking the week has already begun, but we have already put in over an hour and a half into reading this week.  I think this is by far one of my favorite weeks in reading.  Today in our small groups we started reading some reader's theatre.  Your children are hilarious with their voices.  Today we had a really good time getting into character.  The voice and emotion the kids put into their reading today helped us to have a few smiles and laughs!  I love when a book can put a smile on your face!  Can you tell I love to read?

I also wanted to share that we are starting our measuring unit in math.  Boy oh boy are we needing some help!  This unit throws a lot at the kids.  The kids will need to know how to measure to the nearest inch, 1/2 inch, 1/4 inch, and centimeter.  (Well that will get us to the end of the week anyways.  I wish I would have brought my Everyday Mathematics book home so I could be a little more accurate.)  However, any  help you can give us would be greatly appreciated!  This truly is a hard concept to master, so the more practice your child gets the better off he/she will be!

Once again, I hope you all have a great week!  :D

It's Been Awhile!

Sorry, I have not had the chance to make a post lately!  Things are so hectic!  I feel like Dory on Nemo...Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!!!  Hopefully soon I will feel like I have the chance to maybe get ahead.  For now, I guess you will have to deal with a post that has been in the making!

Can you believe it is October already?  Where is this year going?  I love October for many reasons.  The weather first of all is my favorite reason.  Who doesn't like to put on a hoodie and sweatpants?  I love the crispness of the air and the colors that arrive during the Fall season.  I also love it because I begin reading one of my favorite books ever!  The book is The Old Willis Place by Mary Downing Hahn.  Your kids might be coming home to talk about this book!  It is usually voted as one of the favorite books the kids have read/been read to at the end of the year.  I love this book because it is suspenseful and it keeps the kids guessing and enthralled till the end.  It is a story about ghosts, but you really don't know the characters are ghosts till the end of the book.  Have I said how much I LOVE this book?  It is one of the few books that I can continue to read year after year.  There are a couple of other books I feel this way about.  They are Where The Red Fern Grows and the Harry Potter series.  What are some of your favorite books you love to read, or what is a book you have read recently you just couldn't put down?

You might be asking yourself, "What have the kids been up to lately?"  We have been super busy!  In Spelling we are doing a review unit this week.  We will begin a new unit in Reading next week, which will also begin a new spelling unit.  We will also be starting to learn about nouns in English.  Today, we began a huge unit on continents and oceans in Social Studies.  The students will need to know where each of the continents and oceans are located.  We will be spending 1-2 days on each continent learning about the cultures, animals, landmarks, and other interesting facts about each of the continents.  You should ask your child to sing the continent and ocean song.  Here are the words in case if they forget:

There are seven continents on this Earth and lots and lots of islands.
Well there are seven continents on this Earth and islands too, let's go traveling through.
There is North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa too.
And there is Australia and Antarctica, and lots of islands its true...Woo!



Whew.  That has been our busy week(s) in a nutshell!  I hope you all have a very safe and wonderful weekend!