...and we're back. Thanks for the nice reprieve from the good 'ol blog. But now we're back at it. The kids are working hard these days, although I can tell that we all need a much deserved break next week. Parent/Teacher conferences are scheduled for next Tuesday, so if you haven't already, please go to the school's website and sign up for a time soon.
This might act as my last post until after our holiday break. So without further ado, here's the latest... Language This week we will be reading the book The Napping House, and learning about sequencing and how to summarize a story. We will look at how illustrations can add to a story in clever and meaningful ways, and how repetition can be such a powerful tool. The kids will do a simple reader's theater with the story, and later in the week, they will create a variation on the book with partners. Writer's Workshop Our writers are teaching me so much about rats, swimming, cars, Sonic the Hedgehog, dogs, and bowling just to name a few of the topics they are writing about. We have covered end of the unit expectations and goals (especially correct punctuation and capitalization). We will cover how to create a table of contents and plan for different chapters for sub-topics later in the week. Math Place value has taken over room 130. The students are learning the difference between a number and a digit, and how if a number has more digits it is greater than those will fewer digits. Additionally (pun intended), we are learning that teen numbers are just 10 + __, and that the ten is still there behind the scenes (e.g. 13 = 10 + 3). We have been using base-10 blocks to help both in physical form, and virtually on the iPads. Finally, students are continuing their math fact work on Xtramath too. Feel free to augment any math homework coming home with IXL or Dreambox too. Science The young scientists were hard at work earlier this week. We started by building a new word bank to use while sorting (texture, size, shape, dull/shiny, rough/smooth, etc.). The students used sorting mats to help them sort rocks accordingly. Our classroom rock collection is growing steadily too. We are sharing rocks brought from home and adding them to our collection as they come in. Thanks. Miscellaneous -Book fair has begun. Please note that I will be taking the class to have a preview session tomorrow, Wednesday the 18th in the morning. Kids will have an opportunity to jot down a few titles/cost on a wish list. They will bring this paper home to let you know which books they want. You are not obligated to buy, but if you want, send in money on Thursday morning. We will take those students that have previously brought in money to go shopping on Thursday morning. If you miss this opportunity, the Book Fair will be here until next Tuesday when you can buy books during conferences. *A huge thank you to the PTA for giving each teacher a nice sum of money to spend at the Book Fair this year. **I did fill out some wish list items as well. If you are able to, please think about donating a book to our classroom. Thank you so very much in advance for your generosity. ***If you are unable at this time to buy any books for your child, please email me. I have a couple of vouchers available to use. Thanks. -Book Fair bookmark and essay contest applicants have one more day to get their stuff in. Tomorrow morning is the deadline. -Next weeks homework will look a bit different than usual. I like to send home a simple holiday checklist. This consists of optional non-academic activities to do over the long week. There will be no reading homework per se, however I will be sending a secret message to all students on their Raz-kids account with prize stars attached (so keep reading). -Michael's birthday is coming up after the break on November, 30th. Happy B-day to him. -Next Monday we will be having class as we normally would, but content will be heavy on the upcoming holidays. -Please note that I will be at a district meeting on Thursday afternoon. Ms. Titlebaum will be here to fill in for me after lunch. That's it for now. I look forward to seeing all of you next week. It's hard to believe it's already 1/3 over. Whew?!? Time flies. Take care, ~Mr. Layes
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This might qualify as the only blog post this week, since we will be off on Wednesday for Veterans Day. If you or a family member served in the armed forces, please send in a photo so we can share with the class before the holiday. Thanks. Here's the latest...
Language This week we will read and learn all about sleep. We will use fiction and informational text to teach all about this important part of life. We will review key strategies from our CAFE wall, and introduce Word Work as part of Daily 5. Writer's Workshop Writer's will be using topics they brainstormed last week to write informational 'teaching' text. They will use different strategies to organize their facts, answer questions reader's might ask, and learn how to use detailed illustrations to help their story. Math The students finished up a hard unit on story problems last week. We won't begin the next unit until Thursday. Please have your children spend 10-15 minutes a night reviewing their math facts for the next three nights (see the handout from Monday). Place value and base -10, along with greater/less than is the topic of study beginning at the end of the week. Science We will continue to experiment with rocks this week. Students will learn the many ways in which to sort and classify rocks. We will read several books, and introduce one of my favorite humans, Bill Nye the Science Guy. Additionally, we will begin a class rock collection. If you or your child has any interesting rocks to add, please send them in. Thanks. Miscellaneous -This is the last week for fall enrichment classes. FYI. -Please get all Reading Club book orders in by Tuesday the 10th. Either send in payment to me, or follow the instructions to order online. Thanks for all your support (the kids love it too). -The Scholastic Book Fair will be here all next week. Stay tuned for details. -If you haven't already, please sign up for parent/teacher conferences. I currently have 13 families signed up. I hope to see all of you on the 24th. Note: when you come in for conferences, please double check the growing lost and found pile to find any missing items from the fall. That's it for now. Thanks, ~Mr. Layes My apologies again for my blog tardiness. We survived the post Halloween sugar hang over, and pushed through a strange Tuesday in service day too. So here's the latest... Language Informational text is the name of the game these days. The students are learning all about text features including table of contents, glossary, and index. We are studying books that relate to insects, and how insects communicate. We are augmenting our language component by watching videos as well. Writer's Workshop We have just begun our unit on informational text (to coincide with our language unit). Students did an on demand piece (a 25 minute, open-ended writing prompt to use as a pre-assessment) on Monday, and we started to brainstorm topics as well. We will begin writing today. Math Unit 3 is just about to be wrapped up. The students have worked very hard on this challenging unit of story problems. We will review today, and assess tomorrow. The next unit coming up is all about place value (base-10), and greater/less than or equal to strategies. Science Rocks are our unit of study these days. The young scientists began learning how observations can produce good questions (and even hypotheses). We have had two experiments with three different kids of rocks. The students will begin trying to sort the rocks by different traits including color, shape, hardness, etc. Miscellaneous -International Night is tomorrow night! Please see the flyer that went home earlier in the week, or the reminder in folders coming home tonight. -Book Club orders must be in by November 10th. Please send payment to me via a check, or order online. We will place an order on the 11th so books arrive before the holiday break. -Box tops: Thanks to those of you who have given in the past. Please keep them coming! -Veterans Day is next Wednesday. We will be reading a few books about veterans and learning more about Veterans Day from our Scholastic News. If you or a family member has served in the armed forces, please send in a photograph so we can share and honor those people with their service to our country. FYI, no school next Wednesday. -Book Fair is coming the week of November 16th. There will be a couple of preview days, and then the shop will be opened for business later in the week. Be on the lookout for details next week. -Officer Friendly came to Middleton today. Students learned all about stranger danger, and what to do and who to talk to in case of an emergency. Stickers and a coloring sheet are going home for their participation. -Book mobile books are due. If you have any at home, please send them back in. We will return them to our library, then our librarians return them for us. We will be going back to the book mobile in either December or January. Thanks. -Starting next week, I will be pulling groups of two to three students to have lunch with me in the room. I do this twice a year to try and get to know my students better. They always enjoy it, and the only rules are that we do not talk about school! That's it for now. Take care, ~Mr. Layes Here are a few notes to put out there before my usual post on Wednesday...
-The Fall Festival party and parade was a giant success! Additionally, we won the 1st grade prize for our door decoration too. The kids looked great, and we all had a great time. I'd like to thank Mrs. Easton, Mrs. Weissinger, Mrs. Vargas, and Mrs. Lockerby for all their help. I'll be posting pics soon. -The Fall Musical was a huge success as well. Thank you for coming out and supporting the arts in our district. The kids did a great job preparing and performing their fun songs (and accompanying dance moves). Thanks to Ms. Sylvester for all her hard work. -Just an update on a few adults helping out in the room these days (if your kids mention them, here's why). I am hosting a grand-friend on Thursday afternoon from 2-3. Mrs. Horowitz is helping out during our afternoon Writer's Workshop lesson. Additionally, I have a new parent mentor named Mrs. Djencic helping me out three days a week in the mornings. She will be working primarily with groups for word work, helping set up and facilitate science lessons and experiments. -Another apology for not sending the new spelling/word wall words home last week. Friday's test scores were strangely low for a reason (and of course will not count). I sent an email out with the letter attached for the words for this week. That's it for now. See you Wednesday. ~Mr. Layes |
AuthorMr. Layes hails from the Pacific NW, cut his teeth on the streets of NYC, and now calls the Midwest... home. Archives
September 2017
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