The Dess Gazette

What a wonderful first nine weeks we've had! I am so pleased with the children's enthusiasm and desire to learn. They really make it a pleasure to come to work each day! They are really working hard to apply the many new skills that they have learned.

 

We have finished our narrative stories about an encounter with a spider. The children did a super job using a flee map to plan their story and including transition words, descriptive adjectives and vivid verbs. These will be hanging in the hall when you come for conferences.

We had an apple tasting and graphed the results on a three way venn diagram, as well as in the computer lab on a bar graph. The children also did a great job writing similes about apples and learned ways to incorporate similes in their writing.

 As a class we're reading Marvin Redpost Why Pick on Me? and completing a literature circle job after each chapter. After we've learned each job, the individual reading groups will do the same activities with an appropriate leveled chapter book.

In spelling, we're concentrating on the vowel patterns such as consonant-vowel-consonant(usually short), consonant-vowel-consonant-silent e(usually long), and consonant-vowel-vowel- consonant-(usually long). The next few units will use these patterns with all the vowel sounds. 

 

In math, we've taken our summative assessments with money and addition with and without regrouping. We will continue to review both skills throughout the year. Some children continue to struggle with this, so please continue to work on them at home. They will get it! We will begin making change to a dollar and telling time to the five minute intervals over the next few weeks.
We are continuing to learn about the lifestyle of the Creeks and Cherokee. We enjoyed our Green Corn Festival today and will make the edible map of the Regions of Georgia on Thursday. I appreciate everyone who sent in items for this project.

Our next unit in science will be energy. We'll identify sources of heat, light, and motion energy and describe how they are used.

Box Tops are due Fri., 10/21. Thanks for supporting GM!!

 This week is Red Ribbon Week. As you talk about the dangers of alcohol and other drugs with your child, please discuss how peer pressure can cause kids to make choices that they know aren't good for them. Communicating with positive adults throughout the years proves to be a strategy that helps kids make the decision to stay drug free! Thanks to our PTA for making this a fun and meaningful week!

Upcoming Events

10/19 Wear a sweatsuit to school-"It's no sweat to say no to drugs!"

10/20 Team Jersey Day- "Team up against drugs!"

10/21 wear red- "Red out drugs!"

          Box Tops due

          Bus driver Appreciation Day

          Math Game day- 1:00-2:00

           Picture retakes

10/24-10/28 Conference Week- Early Release at 12:30

10/31 Fall Centers: 1-2 P.M.

Have a great week!

 

 

 

 
Where did September go??? I hope everyone is getting the opportunity to enjoy our change of season!!

 
In writing, we are working on a personal narrative about our encounter with a spider. We are also creating narrative stories with our stuffed animal as the main character. Since this is occupying our writing time, we haven't written in Letter Home Journals. Look for these to start up again at the beginning of the next nine week period.

In reading, we're working on summarizing, making predictions, and making connections. It's important that the children realize these are the skills that help good readers comprehend what they are reading.

Reading logs are due Monday, 10/3. Please have your child return it, even if the weekly goal wasn't met every time. We'll complete a self-evaluation that will help the children make any necessary changes for the October log.

Thank you for working on the spelling words with your child. If your child can spell the first ten words with little effort, please encourage them to take the challenge of mastering the enrichment words. They can do it!

 
In math, we are working on additon of two digit numbers with and without regrouping. It's important that your child can explain the process using the base ten blocks. Knowing the addition facts is a huge benefit in mastering this standard! Thanks for continuing the mathblasters each week.

 The GM website has several websites for practicing the basis facts. Some of them are First in Math, That's a Fact, and Math Fact Cafe. There are also sites under math-additon-regrouping to practice this skill. I gave everyone a list of personal logins for their child at the beginning of the year. There is a Harcourt website that goes right with our math book. It has some great tutorial, as well as practice activities for each skill we learn. Let me know if you need another copy.

We are continuing to practice counting money to $5. It's important that your child can show the amount using a dollar sign and decimal point and just a cent sign.

 
We are enjoying learning about the regions fo Georgia. This really becomes meaningful if you have visited areas in Georgia. Your child can bring in the name of the city, and we can decide which region it's part of. We can match our details researched from our books to the details that your child remembers from the trip. Any pictures would be helpful. Feel free to email any scenery photos and I can put them on the Promethean Board!

We have also been talking about intermediate directions(NW, NE, SW, SE). If you have a compass in your vehicle, it's fun for the children to make the connection between what we talk about in class and real life!

 
I have passed out the blue Reflections entry form and list of rules. This is a contest put on annually by PTA. It encourages children to explore their artisitic talents. It's a great opportunity to create works of art for fun! All entries are due by 10/13. The forms are on the GM/PTA website if you need another one. 10 tokens will be given to participants for going above and beyond!! The theme this year is "Diversity Means..."

Conference Week is 10/24-10/28. Please let me know by the end of the school day Tuesday if there is a specific day or time that you need.On Tuesday afternoon, as a staff, we will be scheduling siblings back to back. I'll begin conferences at 1:00 and schedule them for every 20 minutes after that. I am fine with 7:00 A.M. meetings, if that's more convenient. If I don't hear from you, I'll just put you on the schedule. If it's not convenient, let me know. Remember that dismissal is at 12:20 every day that week. 

 
Continue to clip Box Tops The deadline is Friday, 10/21.

Upcoming Events

10/3 Reading log due

10/4 O'Charley's Spirit Night 5-8 P.M.

10/7 Spirit Day- wear a GM shirt

         Cafe GM

10/13 Reflections due

10/14 Deadline for  5Accelerated Reader points

           Fall Festival 6-8 P.M.

            End of First Nine Weeks

10/17-10/21 Red Ribbon Week

10/19 QSP pick up

10/21 Box Tops due

          Bus driver Appreciation Day

         Picture Retake Day

Have a great week!