Nidey's Notes

We recently spent some time talking about what a New Year Resolution is. Then we created a tear-art project that displayed our resolutions for 2010. Next we Skyped Mr. Barrett’s class and shared our resolutions with them. They also shared their resolutions with us. Leave us a comment telling us your resolution for 2010.

Dr. Beth Hanna came to our school today and talked to us about nutrition. We learned many interesting facts from her. Did you know a banana peel is poisonous? If you eat an entire tube of crackers it would be 5 1/2 servings of grains. She also taught us that Egg Nog is mostly cream. Two servings of french fries are allowed in a month. Skim milk is better for you because they take out the butter fat before sending it to the store. Dr. Hanna taught us about sweet potatoes. She said that if you have a sweet potato pie and a pumpkin pie it would be hard to tell the difference between them. If you whip cream too long it will turn into butter. These are just a few of the facts that we learned today.

We also came up with a meal that will be made in Jan. or Feb. for the entire district. How many meals do you think are made every day? She told us it would be for about 7,000 students and staff. Wow! We can’t wait to have you eat our meal.

Today Mr. Busby, a sixth grade teacher in Johnston, called us using Skype. We have a challenge for the students in his class. Herbert Hoover , our 31st president, was 54 years old when he first took office.

1. About how many days old was he when he took office? Do not include any leap year days.
2. That’s about how many hours?
3. That’s about how many minutes?

Bonus Points: Include one interesting fact about the former president in the comment section when you give us your answers to 1,2, and 3

Mrs. Judge has been in our classroom for 16 weeks. Tomorrow will be her last day as a student teacher in our school. We have been fortunate to have her with us. Thanks for the memories.

Ten Things We Will Miss:

1. We will miss how nice she was and how she taught us.
2. We will miss her caring acts of kindness.
3. We will miss her sportsmanship.
4. We will miss her teaching us about math.
5. We will miss how great she was.
6. We will miss how she played with us at recess.
7. We will miss her reading to us.
8. We will miss how she taught us the writing process.
9. We will miss how she taught us all about space and the moon phases.
10. We will miss her hard high-fives.

Good luck Mrs. Judge in trying to find a teaching position. We all know that you can do it. You will be a great teacher. Please send us messages on our blog!

We are finishing up Unit 3 for Everyday Mathematics. We have had fun with this unit. The students practiced measuring to the nearest 1/2 inch, centimeter, foot, etc. by measuring different items in the classroom and different parts of their body. They have made multiple polygons using different size straws and twist ties. Experimenting with perimeter, the students measured the distance around each shape. We explored perimeter and area using geoboards, variety of triangles we made out of straws and tiling rectangles with different sized patter-block. I believe these manipulatives have helped the students in understanding the concepts and they have fun with the activities while learning. We will be taking Unit 3 Assessment on Wednesday, November 4. Therefore, you can look for your child to take their assessment home on Thursday. The pictures show some of the activities that children have done throughout this unit. I am very pleased in all the students’ progress.

During writing time the students are focusing on the writing process. They have been working with a piece of writing they started in Unit 1 from the first draft through publication. The published pieces of writing will be added to our classroom library for everyone to read. While revising their drafts, the students have reread their work critically adding sensory details, replacing overused words with new and interesting words, exploring strong opening sentences, and brainstorming an effective title for their piece of writing. Next step is proofreading before publishing a final draft.

For our first Science unit, we are learning about our Solar System. As a class we completed a KWL chart that lists out what we already know about the sun, planets, moon and space. We then made a list of questions that we will inquire about. Students will be working cooperatively to discover interesting facts about each of the planets, their order, as well as understand the movement of the sun, moon, and Earth.

Check out two FUNNY teachers reading Yo! Yes? by Chris Rashka. We are looking for thoughts about how you develop friendships in your corner of the world. View the video comment in the comment section and let us know what you think.

A few days ago we had a discussion in our room about the future. I asked the students where they were going to go to college. Many of the students said they had never thought about college before. We had an interesting conversation about the importance of thinking about the future and every child decided on a college or branch of the military to look at. Click on Our Future Choices page at the top of the blog to see where our class is headed in 2019. We will check in with students later on this year to see if they have changed their plans.

I just wanted to let you know that we have completed Unit 1 for math. Today your child will bring home their assessment from this unit. Please look over this with your child and send it back to school with them tomorrow. I have been very impressed with how the students did throughout our first unit. It is important to remember that the curriculum will continue to spiral throughout the year. We are excited to begin Unit 2!