Friday, February 27, 2015

Agriculture in the Classroom

A letter came home today for our in school field trip.  Someone from the Cook County Farm Bureau will be coming to teach us about agriculture in the state of Illinois.  This correlates with our current study of Illinois in Social Studies.  We will be having our presentation on Tuesday, March 17th at 10:45 am.  There is no money required for the field trip and since it will be in the classroom, you do not need to return the form.  Let me know if you have any further questions.

Coding




Mrs. Breaux came in this week to share about coding.  The students got the opportunity to use a few different apps in the classroom.  Many of them are free.  If you are interested in downloading some of these at home on your own tablet, here is a list of them for you:

Light Bot

Daisy the Dinosaur

Kodable

Cargo Bot (this one is the most complex)

Thank you Mrs. Breaux for coming in to teach us such valuable information.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Writing Words and Spelling Words for the Week Tab

Hi!

I decided to create a writing words tab where you can locate the writing words anytime you would like to.  It is on the left hand side of the page.  You can click on them anytime you need them.  I also created a spelling one as well so that you can access the spelling words at home in case you misplace them.

Monday, February 23, 2015

Writing Words Test

Hi!

Your child has a writing words test on Thursday.  I sent home a list of all the words on Friday, but in case you are having trouble locating the list, here is a list of all the words since the beginning of the school year:

October
by
buy
have
very
really
was
no
know
can’t
first
enough
off
November
won
one
are
our
before
myself
people
everybody
then
said
knew
new
January
except
hole
whole
what
friendly
your
you’re
they
could
didn’t
that’s 
until
February
anyone
doesn’t
favorite
pretty
school 
to
two
too
maybe
write
right
went

Saturday, February 21, 2015

PARCC Test

The PARCC tests will begin the first week of March.  I will be sending home a letter with a schedule of the testing dates.  We have been discussing good test taking strategies and becoming familiar with the format of the test.  You can help your child by having them eat a healthy breakfast, packing healthy snacks for each morning, and making sure that they get plenty of sleep at night.

Illinois

We have started learning about the state of Illinois.  We will be learning about the land, major cities, and the history of Illinois.  They will be learning about Abraham Lincoln and why he was such an influential President.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Caring Month


In addition to celebrating February with our Valentine's Day Party today, we also took some time out to show others that we care.  We made five blankets today to give to the 5th graders project for Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.  We had a great time giving back to others.  We also had a great time at our Valentine's Day Party.  Thank you to all the parents who made the party possible.















Mini Research

Our class has been busy asking their own questions about various topics.  We read about the Titanic and then the students did research to help them find their answers to their questions.  They posted their learning on their individual blogs.

Students also were given the opportunity to ask their own questions at the end of our light unit.  They were given time to do research or develop their own science experiments to help them find out the answers to their questions.  Here are some pictures and a video of students documenting their learning.







Thursday, February 12, 2015

Your Child's Blog

We have just started experimenting with each child having their own blog.  You can see what they are working on and access their blogs here:

http://kidblog.org/MelissaApplebaumsClass/

There were some complications with our blog, but now it is up and running.  You can click above and see what your child is learning and posting on their blog!  You can also share it with family in other states and they can see what your child is up to in class.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Bending Light

We conducted a science experiment today in class where we learned about transparent materials and how light passes through them.  He also discussed how light changes the direction when it passes through some transparent materials called refraction.  I am sending home an activity that you can try at home if you would like.  It is completely optional, but a lot of fun!


Wednesday, February 4, 2015

January Writing Words Test

We will be taking another Writing Words test on Friday.  Some students were looking for all the words we have had so far to help them review, so here they are!

October
by
buy
have
very
really
was
no
know
can’t
first
enough
off
November
won
one
are
our
before
myself
people
everybody
then
said
knew
new
January
except
hole
whole
what
friendly
your
you’re
they
could
didn’t
that’s 
until