Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their friends and family. We are getting right back into the swing of things. We have many things we need to get finished before our next break. I am sending home a permission slip today for a field trip, next Friday. We are going to the DIA and I was able to make it work where we are getting the trip and the bus for free! The only thing each student is responsible for is bringing a disposable bagged lunch or money to buy food at the cafe. Our class will be going with the 3/4 split. We need 5 parents total between both classes. You can fill out chaperone part on the permission slip, if you are interested.

Our week:

Spelling- We are looking at ‘ou’ words. We are not doing the same spelling homework, as usual, this week. We are trying something new. The students will be bringing home a packet of 4 spelling tasks they have to complete before Friday. Our words are :noun, loud, mound, shout, round, adapt, system, ecosystem, mammal, reptile

Math- We are starting unit 4 which will focus on multiplication and division. Tests from unit 3 will come home as soon as all of the test make-ups have been taken.

science- We are still working on types of light. The students will be making “stained glass” out of different materials that are opaque, transparent or translucent.

Social Studies- We are starting to look at the Native Americans that lived in Michigan before it was settled in Waterford.

Reading- We are focusing on prefixes and suffixes. Students will be looking at how to break up words they do not know and use prefixes or suffixes to determine the meaning.

Writing-We are working on an informational piece about an animal of their choosing. Students will continue the writing process on these pieces and will publish next week.

Have a great week!

Good morning everyone,

This is a short week. I can’t believe that we are at Thanksgiving week already! This week we have no spelling test and we will just be reviewing our previous spelling patterns. Today is our in-class science field trip. The boys are going to love having the scientists come into the room and all of the awesome hands on things they will see and make. We do have a math test tomorrow so please study tonight with your student. It is on area and perimeter. They will be bringing home a study guide. Remember there is no school Wed, Thurs or Friday. If you have not had your conference with me yet, it must be today or tomorrow as we have to submit our sign-in sheets. Please let me know what time works for you, if you haven’t already done so. Thank you!

Spelling- Review

Math-Unit 3 review and test tomorrow

Science-Thanksgiving STEM activities

Social Studies- The Waterford settlement

Reading-Book clubs will continue and we are starting to focus on the text features in informational text

Writing-We are planning an informational writing piece

Have a wonderful week and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Good afternoon everyone,

This Friday is our actual bake sale. I apologize for the confusion last week. Please do not forget that tomorrow is a late start day. The can drive also finishes on Thursday so if you wish to make any donations to Gleaners Food Bank, please send it in on Thursday at the latest. Parent-teacher conferences continue this week and I look forward to seeing many of you.

Our week:

Spelling: We are looking at the vcv spelling pattern. Our words are honor, olive, habit, behind, rewind, measure, width, ruler, inch, meter

Math- The students are learning about area and perimeter of regular shapes. They are currently designing their names in square units and then will be finding the area and perimeter of their names.

Science- We are learning about light and sound. The students will be deciding what is natural light and what is artificial light.

Social Studies- We are learning about the history of Michigan with a focus on the Waterford settlement.

Writing- We are writing informational pieces about an animal. The students will be primarily working on this in class.

Daily 5- We are reflecting on cause and effect. The students need to be able to pick out causes and effects in the stories they are reading. This is a great thing to do while you are reading at home with your student.

Everyone have a great week!

Good afternoon everyone! I can’t believe that our first card marking is already over. Time is flying by.  Just a reminder that this week is our classroom bake sale on Friday after school. We are still in need of volunteers to set up and sell; as well as donations for the sale. Conference schedules are coming home today. Some of the times and dates had to be shifted because of scheduling within the building. The November newsletter is also coming home today. The boys are helping with our school can drive for Gleaner’s Food Bank. Please send in any canned or dry goods to help the boys try to beat the other classrooms. We are collecting through next Friday. Our week:

Spelling: We are looking at words that have a VC/CV spelling pattern within them. Our words are rabbit, button, soccer, happen, better, fiction, predict, characters, author, traits

Math-We are working on unit 3 which is focused on area and perimeter.

Science- We working on a STEAM activity this week where the kids will be creating these jumping devices. They will be looking at the forces involved in them and it will be the closing activity for our first unit. We will then begin our unit on light and sound.

Reading-Book clubs are going well. Many of the students have already had increases in their DRA levels. Way to go boys!! A few groups will be getting new books this week. Our focus is on cause and effect.

Writing- We are writing about gratitude right now. We are going to tie it into our project involving the food drive.

Social Studies- We have started looking at the history of Michigan. We are also going to continue working on our map reading skills.

Don’t forget that tomorrow there is no school. Make sure to get out and vote! Have a wonderful afternoon and make sure to check your scheduled conference sheet this afternoon.

Happy Halloween!

This is a busy week as we wrap up our first report card marking. The Halloween STEM stuff has been a blast today. The students are starting to see that they can’t say “I can’t do this!” and instead need to say “I can’t do this yet!” We are working on our perseverance! The rest of the week will be busy as well.

Spelling- We are looking at breaking words down into syllables. Our spelling words are

brother, purple,  whisper, father, teacher, heading, topic, nonfiction, facts and details.

Math: We are finishing unit 2 and will be having a test on Thursday. The focus on this test is adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers so please practice this at home as well. Look for the study guide to come home on Wednesday.

Science: We are finishing forces and motion. The students completed their study guides on Friday and we will be reviewing them tomorrow. They will bring them home tomorrow night and will have a test on Wednesday.

Writing: We are publishing our opinion pieces on trick or treating. The students are focusing on opinion and conclusion statements.

Reading: We are looking at the reading strategy “back up and reread” this week. Students are continuing in their book groups and will still have reading homework each night.

Social Studies: The district common assessment reports will be sent home for your review tomorrow.

Have a great week and a happy Halloween!

Hello Everyone,

I just realized I did not post on Monday so I wanted to send it out now. We have had a busy week already with lots going on. We are working on finishing up everything for our first report card. We still have supplies for the Halloween party that you can sign up to donate. Please visit the previous blog post and comment which supplies you would are planning on donating, if you would like. If you and your student pre-ordered the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book in our last book order, they shipped today and you should be receiving it within a week.

This week:

Spelling- We are looking at consonant blends. Our words are chip, shell, bath, shin, three, reasons, conclusion, because, believe and opinion.

Math-We are finishing our adding and subtracting unit. Students will be getting a study guide and taking a test early next week. Ask your student to talk you through some 3-digit adding and subtracting problems this weekend to start preparing.

Science-We are finishing our forces and motion unit next week. This week we are looking at momentum and how energy is transferred between objects.

Social Studies-Students just had a district assessment. Their scores will be sent home as soon as they finished being graded.

Writing-Students are working on opinion writing. They are writing to the prompt “Should students be allowed to trick or treat alone?” Ask your students to tell you the difference between a reason and an example in opinion writing.

Handwriting- Please help monitor student handwriting on their day to day writing and homework. We are working really hard on proper letter formation in our printing.

Have a great week!

Good evening everyone!

I wanted to get our plans out to you for Halloween. Since Halloween is falling on a weekday this year and we are launching our new Project Lead The Way STEM science program soon, I wanted to bring STEM into our room for Halloween. Many of the other teachers are doing the same thing. We are going to be doing several STEM activities before we watch a Halloween movie and enjoy some snacks. I am putting out a list of what we are going to be needing in case any of you would like to donate supplies. One of our projects is going to be making Frankenslime and for this activity, each student needs their own bottle of washable white glue like Elmers. Please send this in by next Friday if your student would like to make and bring home their own slime. All other donations that you wish to send in also need to be turned in before next Friday, the 28th. Some of the other projects require additional supplies as well and I am asking for anyone who would like to donate a supply for a project to check the list below. Please comment below if you would like to donate any of the items and check the other comments so we do not end up with duplicates. As always, thank you in advance! I think the boys are really going to love what I have planned. I believe all of the supplies are available at the Dollar Tree.

Candy Catapults

Small paper Dixie cups- 20 minimum

Popsicle sticks- around 200

A large box or large bag of rubber bands

1 bag of candy pumpkins

1 roll of tin foil

clear tape- 2 rolls

Creature Catchers

-various colors of pipe cleaners

-4 rolls of twine or string

Pumpkin Patch Lego Mazes

-1 small bag of marbles

Frankenslime

Each student is bringing their own glue

Mr. Hawkins will send in the rest

Snacks for our movie:

17 small individual snack bags

17 Juice Boxes

Mr. Hawkins is bringing a treat for all students

If you wish to donate any other snacks, we have 17 students.

Please remember to post what items you want to donate as a comment on this post. Thank you in advance!

Good afternoon everyone,

We are off to a busy start to the week. The boys received new books in their book bags and most of our book clubs are finishing our first books soon. There will be a district common assessment for social studies on Thursday so watch for a study guide to come home completed and checked on Wednesday. The rest of our week looks like this:

Spelling- We are looking at consonant blends and the sounds they make. Our words are black, track, skid, crab, flat, first, finally, tally and digit

Math- The students are working on adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers. They are really struggling with this concept. Please check in with your kids on their understanding of these concepts. They are allowed to solve them with any method that makes sense.

Writing- We are working on our narratives and hopefully can publish by Friday.

Reading- Some reading groups are getting new strategies and others are continuing with checking for understanding.

Science- We are still working on forces and motion with a focus on force arrows.

Social Studies- We are finishing our first unit and will have the test on Thursday.

Have a great week!