We had an extra special Fun Friday Lunch this week with treats and stories and a game! Thank you to our wonderful Gremlin families for contributing and to our room parents for organizing the event.
A very special thank you to all of the Gremlins and their families for the spectacular fall goody basket. I received candies, tea, beautiful decorations, and something to keep the Grotto smelling nice. Just the things to warm a teacher's heart. The beautiful basket helps us keep our hand sanitizer handy and contained!
We have completed one third of the second nine weeks. Please keep looking at the Thursday folders and engrade.com to keep tabs on your Gremlin's progress. The curriculum is becoming progressively more challenging! Now, after twelve weeks, your Gremlin should know all the procedures and processes of the Grotto. On a positive and thankful note, very few Gremlins earn pollution points any longer. If they are earned, it is typically due to temporary forgetfulness.
On a curricular note, we have completed our study of simple machines. Next, we will explore force and motion. The next two chapters in our personal science books will demonstrate our understanding of these topics. We will write a persuasive essay next week trying to convince someone that our favorite simple machine should be theirs as well. Additionally, we will write a personal narrative wherein we are a force and something happens to make us do work. The next two weeks will find us wrapping up explorers and beginning colonization. Ask your Gremlin how the voyage is going. One boat had a nasty case of typhus and almost lost a crewmember. One boat was becalmed for two weeks and is having supply shortages. All the boats had their captains lie about progress. Ask your Gremlin why this happened. Over the Thanksgiving holidays, your Gremlin will have a family project to solidify their understanding of the explorers. We will begin this project in class and all instructions will be sent home. Have fun with it!
As we continue to study 2-digit by 3-digit multiplication and 3-digit by 2-digit division, and graphing on the first quadrant of the coordinate plane, all the math classes will begin to explore geometry with angle measurement and the study of polygons. This requires a large amount of vocabulary and precision. Dictionary assignments will focus on the language of mathmatics. Vocabulary lists and definitions will be sent home. Please review these with your Gremlin. Make some flash cards. We will continue our (almost) daily timed tests. We alternate division and multiplication tests. Please take a moment each week to review the entire multiplication and division table with your Gremlin, sorting out those facts which are not solid. Then make sure your child works on those facts during the week. Here are some techniques for fact memorization: tape the facts on the bathroom walls. Chant the facts in the car on the way to activities. Draw pictures of the facts, using specific fruits or colors for each of the tough facts. If there are unconquerable facts, figure out a way to figure them out. For example: 7x8: I know that 7x8 equals 5o-something so...let's see, 6x8=48 that's a good rhyme, then 48+8=56, so 7x8=56. That type of thought process is faster than counting on fingers. Writing out the specific table is also a good way to memorize.
We will continue our spelling sorts. Currently we have four sort groups, so students are working at their own level. Please keep diligently checking the spelling sorts. Students are required to write their spelling words in cursive. We have studied each lower-case letter at this point. Students have the most trouble combining b, o, w, v with other letters. They also have trouble going up and over and back as in forming a c for d, a, g, q. They have the opportunity at this point to write in printing next to their words in the final sort, but after the winter break, they must write legibly in cursive.
Reading for information will continue within the content areas and reading for author's meaning and intent will continue though literature studies. Currently we have four groups, so students are working at their own level.
As we roll into the height of autumn, and holiday excitement comes by in regular intervals, please help your child keep his/her head in the game. I use every minute of school time for instruction--including videos at Fun Friday Lunches. We will begin watching the Liberty Kids series, which explores historical events and issues of 1775-1777 in detail.
As always, if you have comments or concerns, the best way to reach me is by email: lisa.green@cobbk12.org or lisa.green123@yahoo.com.
