Mrs. Richards' Reports from Room 137

Our All School Dr. Seuss celebration on Friday March 1st.was such a hit!
The children did such a wonderful job leading the Fish meeting. Everyone had a part even introducing the mayor of West Allis, Dan Devine. Here are some highlights for another exciting week!

Literacy/Inquiry: We are learning about the sun and moon and how they affect the earth.

Math: We are learning how to tell time to the hour and to count the minutes after the hour. We are learning to use a number line and to count on to find the missing addend. We are reviewing 2-D shapes and how to cut them to show fractions.

Writing: We are learning to be experts and to write about what we know.

****  Friday is our Pinkalicious field trip. Remember to send a bag lunch.

Mrs. Richards' Reports from Room 137

Welcome back from a long four day weekend! After our wonderful classroom visit last week with Abraham Lincoln, I decided to go and see the movie, "Lincoln" on Friday afternoon. It was great! Yesterday, on President's Day, teachers were busy attending staff development on various topics to help move students along with their learning.  We learned about some effective ways to teach and guide our math lessons and also the importance of writing everyday. We will be working on narrative, informational, and opinion/persuasive writing.

Literacy/Inquiry: Students are writing information about polar bears. They will be comparing the 3 bears on a Venn Diagram.

Math:  Students are counting the minutes after the hour on a clock. We are also working on missing addends.

Writing: Students will do a writing sample on informational writing by writing about something that they know a lot about.

Mrs. Richards' Reports from Room 137

Hi from Room 137!  What a wonderful time we had sledding on Tuesday. The snow and the temperature was perfect. The children were very excited about earning their 5th. Golden Award which gave them the opportunity to do something special as a class. So, we decided on the sledding since the weather was right for it!  Thank you to Mr. Thakkar, Dhruv's dad for joining us. Here is an update on what's going on this week!

Literacy / Inquiry:  We are reading and learning about brown bears and panda bears. The children are logging new learning, filling out a chart with information, and doing informational writing about these bears. They are doing an amazing job!

Math: We are learning about the parts of an analog clock: the face, minute hand, hour hand, and the numbers.The children are practicing to tell time to the hour and to count the minutes after the hour. Please practice time with the clock in their homework folder.

*  Friday is our 100th. Day of school.  Be sure to send the 100th. Day project and snack for our mix.

Mrs. Richards' Reports from Room 137

Welcome Back to a full week of school! Here are some highlights of what we'll be doing!

Literacy: Students will get their new word sort on Monday and a spelling list to study for their spelling test for next Monday. We are putting words in ABC order and also learning that compound words are two words put together to make a new word.

 ****  MAPS TEST in READING   Tuesday morning.

Writing: By using colorful words like adjectives, students are learning that this will help to make their writing more interesting.We are also working on what happens first, next, and last.

Math: We have been using "touch math" as a strategy to help us add.

Inquiry: We are going to be finishing up with our study of magnets by doing some more investigations and doing some informational writing about what we now know about magnets. We are going to begin a mini-unit on bears and hibernation.

*  I'm in need of some empty toilet paper rolls
* Please check out this site about an upcoming PTA dance: 80's Dance Flyer.pdf(175KB).

Mrs. Richards Reports

    *Please send 4-6 pictures of your child doing 
fun family activities to use for writing ideas.

·                  Websites to check out:

          *  Raz-Kids       login:  brichardsn

          *  Compass Learning     logins below

·                  Find/Draw 2-4 pictures of how magnets are used on a daily basis.

·                  Bring one special Christmas item on Fri. It can be a toy, book, ornament.

·                  Check out my blog on the Mitchell website to see my weekly newsletter and important dates.

·                  Be sure that your child has all of their warm winter clothing each day… hat, mittens, snow pants, and boots.

·                   Send a healthy snack every day!

·                  The second conference of the year will be this Tuesday January 15. Please call me to set up your conference if I did not get a hold of you. There will be two more conferences scheduled yet this year. Watch for e-mails and notes!

Mrs. Richards' Reports

It's a busy time in Room 137.  Students are back to lots of reading and Daily 5 activities. They are working on building stamina, using reading strategies, and  moving quickly and quietly through the Daily 5 rotations.

Reading:  We are learning the four digraphs: sh, ch, th, and wh.

Writing: We are creating a Writing Folder to use during Writer's Workshop.
The children are drawing  pictures of their family and favorite places to put in the
folder to use for writing ideas.

Math: We are learning how to write fact families, counting and writing
 numbers by twos, and using Touch Math to do addition.

Science:  We are doing an inquiry unit on magnets.

Social Studies: We wrote some goals for the new year....2013!

Here is a link to check out from Mr. Hill: http://www.scholastic.com/bookbonanza/

Mrs. Richards' Reports

We have had a busy time in Room 137 building our stamina when reading. We're up to at least 15 minutes and we're using good reading strategies everyday by looking at picture clues, reading for meaning, looking for word chunks, and recognizing common sight words. In math, we continue to count on from a higher number, look for tens and ones, and writing number sentences. We are learning about magnets along with Miss Reichert's class. Our students are finding it really interesting! We will continue this inquiry after winter break. The Christmas concert was a huge success. We have been busy getting ready for Christmas too by making special Christmas presents and a tree with a chain to count down until Santa comes. On Thursday, we will celebrate earning five Golden Awards by having a Pajama Day along with watching a movie, eating a gingerbread man, and having hot cocoa. Our Holiday Celebration will be on Friday afternoon. The parents that volunteered to send something for this party have been contacted. The cold weather is fast approaching. We ask parents to dress their youngster as warmly as possible prior to their leaving for school. Even though some children ride the bus to school, they still will be spending a considerable amount of time outdoors on the playground, particularly during the noon hour. Our school district policy states that when it is not raining or when the temperature is 10 degrees or above, pupils are not permitted into the building until the usual time of 8:25 AM (unless they are having breakfast) and 12:45 PM for 4K so be sure to dress your youngster for our Wisconsin winters. On rainy days or when the temperature is below 10 degrees, pupils are permitted to enter the building at 8:15 AM and will spend the noon hour indoors. A red flag will be placed on the doors indicating early entrance due to inclement weather. Please be sure your child has a hat and a pair of mittens. PLEASE LABEL THEIR ITEMS SO IT’S EASIER TO RETURN IF THEY ARE LOST. Please have a Happy, Safe, and Merry Christmas! See you in 2013! Please take the following survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/mitchelltechsurvey