Catapaults, Conferences, and Celebrations

Wow! We have a lot going on this week and next week.
This week, students have been creating "candy corn catapaults." We will be using skittles instead of candy corn. On Thursday we will have a test to see which catapault can shoot the farthest. We already have some creative inventions.

Next week, on Wednesday and Thursday, we will be having parent, teacher, student conferences. Students will be preparing to share what they have been learning and how they have been doing in class with you. Therefore, on this day, if it is possible, please bring your child, so we can talk about how he or she has been doing and how we can challenge each child to improve as well.

Finally, before I forget, we would like to thank all the veterans who have served our country as we celebrate Veteran's Day next week. We are grateful for all you do throughout the year and you deserve to be honored every day of the year. Thank you for your service!

I am learning too!

Today, I sat in a professional development meeting and gained knowledge of how to better teach our math standards and incorporate our new math curriculum. However, the most interesting thing I learned completely defies what we learned in our math classes growing up. When I was in second grade, my teacher always emphasized that we shouldn't be using our fingers to do math. However, today I learned that recent research has shown that a better understanding of finger math allows is a predictor of increased success in math skills. Here is an article supporting this research and providing ways in which you can help your child increase their finger knowledge: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/why-kids-should-use-their-fingers-in-math-class/478053/

Many events

Dear parents,
As the end of the quarter quickly approaches, along with the end of my favorite month of the year, we have a lot going on at school. In math last week, we made a number chart all the way to 600! We looked at the different patterns and were learning how to count by ones and by tens in the process of putting this work together.
Today (Monday), we took a chapter test and will be going over our answers tomorrow. This test evaluated our understanding of even and odd numbers, place value, and counting by ones, fives, and tens.

For our book-lovers, we have a couple fun events coming up. First, on Wednesday, we have our character parade. On this day, students can dress up as a storybook character. They should also bring the book of the character they have dressed up as, so we know what book they come from. Then, we will march in a parade starting at 12: 10. I encourage you to come out and see all our creative costumes.

Then, on Thursday evening at 5:00-7:00 PM, we will have our trick-or-read evening here at school. This will be a fun event for all.

Finally, we have begun our red ribbon week. Today, we had Colonel Collins sign our school pledge to be drug free. We also talked about what drugs are as a class and discussed how drugs are things that change the way our bodies work. Sometimes (like with medicine used appropriately), this is helpful, other drugs (like chocolate or soda), should be used in moderation, while other drugs are bad for our bodies. We also have a door decorating contest this week in which we will be decorating pledge hands, committing ourselves to be drug free, so we can grow to be healthy, strong, and successful in whatever we choose to do. We are so grateful for the parent who helped us decorate our door.

Apologies

Dear parents,

I apologize for the delay in posting on our class blog. The last couple weeks have been quite busy. I also know many of you are asking about papers we have done in class that you would like to see results from. I am catching up this week on my pile of grading and you will be getting these papers back little by little throughout this week. Again, I apologize for the tardiness in getting these returned home.

The thing I am most looking forward to this week is that we will be studying Christopher Columbus in depth. We will be looking at the contribution he made to society and the reasoning behind having Monday as a holiday this week. However, we will also look at the opposite side and his negative effects on society. We will study why there are groups of people today that would like to get rid of Columbus day as a national holiday and finally write our own opinions on the subject. I am definitely looking forward to the critical thinking students will be doing as they explore this subject. We will also have conversations in our class about how like Columbus, we all have the opportunity to have positive and negative effects on those around us through the actions that we choose.