Ronnie's Rascals: October 2011

Hello!
Can you believe that we've been a classroom family for 11 weeks!? With November around the corner we have quite a few events coming our way so I wanted to get a bunch of information to you and also let you know about some of the great things your kids are doing!
Monday is Halloween and the kiddos ARE allowed to wear a costume to school if they choose. I'm going to be a mushroom and all 32 of them laughed in my face when I told them that! Today I told them it was actually Toad from Mario Brothers and I'm all of a sudden cool again! Monday afternoon we'll be enjoying our Harvest Party that Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Hamer have arranged for us. Thank you for helping to make the day a special one for the kiddos.
Math: We are in the middle of chapter 4 in math. This chapter has been an exploration of decimals. We've been working on reading/writing decimals from the tenths to the thousandths as well as writing them as fractions. Yesterday we started working with conversions from mm to cm to dm to m. We had a great time measuring things around campus! If we continue at the same pace it looks like we'll be testing on chapter 4 next Friday and the review would come home on Wednesday. ****If your child is not consistent with their multiplication and division facts PLEASE work with them. We will begin to get into two digit by three digit multiplication and if they don't know their basic facts they will be lost. When they know their facts they breeze through the bigger problems and gain self confidence. I send home their multiplication tests every week so you know if they are improving and which problems need more practice.**** We will begin using the math Journal 2 starting at the end of December. A lot of the kiddos already have theirs. If your child doesn't have a Journal 2 yet you might want to order them one now so it is here when they need it. If they don't have a Journal then they will use the write on/wipe off plastic sleeves. This means they lose their work at the end of every day and they can't go back to look at their work to help them problem solve. I watch them flip back in their journals all the time to review steps. This is a huge part of the learning process. Amazon is where I have ordered them in the past. Julie Fahey might have some left if you would like to contact her about getting your child one.
Reading & Language Arts: The kiddos Biography presentation were AMAZING! I enjoyed watching and reading all of them. We just finished up our unit on Figurative Language. It was fun and very creative. We'll be diving into the world of Parts of Speech in the coming weeks and start Persuassive Essays on Monday. This week we completed Fall Haiku poems that will be displayed in our room so stop by and check them out. We've been working out of our Story Works curriculum the last week. Story Works is a higher level reading program that focuses on multiple genres, literary elements, writing, etc.   The stories and skills are really valuable and interesting. We will begin a novel unit on Charlotte's Web next week. Last week your child should have brought home the newest book report. They just have to choose a NEW book in their lexile level and complete the sheets that were sent home.  We'll be discussing these books when they hand in their reports. The book report is due for everyone on November 14. Their answers must be in complete sentences and in great detail. Please be sure that your child is turning in their reading calendars at the end of each month. This counts towards their Reading grade and holds them accountable.

S.S.-Hats off to our kiddos for their Cruisin Arizona performance! They did SO good and I couldn't be prouder. We are finishing chapter 4 today! This chapter has been about the modern Native Americans here in Arizona. We will take our test on Tuesday. Each kiddo must know the 4 groups and which tribes go in each group. Each student researched a tribe and presented it to the class. They did a great job so I expect great things on their tests. They are always allowed to take home their books to study and review. It can count as their 30 minutes of reading. From here we will be learning about the Spanish Explorers and Missionaries who came to Arizona.

Science-We have finished our study of the Scientific Method and Scientists. We performed some great experiments and had a good time comparing and contrasting different scientists who have influenced our lives. I encourage them to participate in the Science Fair since they can know the S. Method and procedures. Today we are beginning our study of Caves and Landforms to go along with Kartchner Caverns! We'll also explore the water cycle. In December Natural Disasters will be our primary focus.**We'll go spelunking in Kartchner Caverns on November 18. Look for information to come home with more details in the coming weeks. Thanks to tax credit donations for our class it looks like we'll be able to attend some other field trips this year too! Thank you so much for helping us out!

Other: Milers has started! Come on out and walk with us on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 8:10. All of your miles will go towards our class goal as long as you put "Ronnie" on your form. You might have noticed that the kiddos have taken over the blogging duties!  Every day two new students get to blog about their day and what they learned. It's a great communication tool to see what our class is doing each day. Their versions always put a smile on my face :-) The volunteer calendar has been updated online through the beginning of December. Be sure to sign up when you are in the classroom (it's located behind my office door) or if you know of a date and time you would like to help just shoot me an email and let me know. Remember that on M,W,F volunteers don't start until 10:00 but on T, TH they can start at 9:00. If you can't make your assigned date please arrange to switch with someone else or let me know since it takes time for me to put things together for the volunteers.

Thank you for your continued support in your child's education. We have an AMAZING group of kiddos in our class who make me enjoy coming to school every day. There is a special chemistry that I see and I'm happy to be a part of it!

Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Ronnie

                                                                  Cruisin' Arizona 2011
                                                                      Ronnie's Rascals