Multi Cultural Day

We ended the year 2008 with celebrations. We studied traditions of various holidays. We learned about Hanukah, Kwanzaa, the Legend of the Poinsettia, Christmas, and Las Posadas. It was fun learning about different cultures and doing fun seasonal crafts. We began with Hanukah. We played the dreidel game. Each side of the dreidel bears a letter of the Hebrew alphabet: נ (Nun), ג (Gimel), ה (Hei), ש (Shin), which together form the acronym for "נס גדול היה שם" (Nes Gadol Haya Sham – "a great miracle happened there"). Our crafts included making a weaved a mat, called the mekeda, made on the second day of Kwanzaa. We made cards with poinsettias. Poinsettia is a species of flowering plant indigenous to Mexico and Guatemala which is also referred to as the Christmas star. We made traditional Christmas stockings and finished our day with decorating piñatas in honor of Las Posadas. It was an incredible learning experience for all.
We ended the week with Auntie Claus visiting from the North Pole to read us a story and enjoy chocolate milk and cookies. We are looking forward to what is ahead at Chets Creek in the New Year. Happy Holidays!

Polar Express

We enjoyed a great pajama day with Mrs. Meissner’s kindergartner class. We enjoyed the story and the video of the Polar Express. The story is about a boy who’s faith in Santa Claus is rewarded when the Polar Express stops by his house on Christmas Eve to take him to the North Pole to meet Santa. While enjoying the movie we had yummy homemade donuts and hot chocolate.

Chet with the Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins hosted their annual alumni weekend and Mrs. Lankford took me along. It was so exciting. This year they were honoring two famed Killer Bees players, Bob Baumhower and Doug Betters, the anchors of the defensive line throughout the 70’s and 80’s. I attended a pre-game tailgate party and the Honor Roll Induction Ceremony at half-time. The national anthem was sung by American Idol contestant Syesha Mercado and I felt as if she sang right to me. There was a flyover by Navy P-3C jets of the War Eagles of Patrol Squadron SIX-TEEN (VP-16). The flyover was so exciting and very loud. I got to meet the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders who performed for us wearing Santa suits. I also met two players from the only undefeated NFL team and Superbowl champs of 1972, Jim Klick and Mercury Morris. The honorary captains were all members of the pro football Hall of Fame: Head Coach Don Shula, linebacker Nick Buoniconti, quarterback Bob Griese, guard Larry Little and center Dwight Stephenson. It was so much fun. We had the best view from our private box. As you can see, I was held by Mr. Koslowski, another alumni Dolphin player, for the group picture. They all knew my name. The Miami Dolphins, lead by coach Tony Sparano, beat the San Francisco 49ers 14-9. It was a weekend to remember.

Diagnostic Testing

We will be reviewing for and starting our Diagnostic Testing this week. It is very important that your child comes to school on time and rested. Please remind your child to think about the strategies they have learned in Math and Language Arts. We are sure the students will do great. :) Good luck boys and girls! School Rocks!

Thank you for all the goodies for our cast party. Our play was a huge success and so was the cast party. It was a great way to end our week!

Have you checked our our school's lobby? Each class has decorated a holiday item for our silent auction. The auction will be open through 6:00 pm on Tuesday,
December 16th. Please be sure to check it out!

Will it Sink or Float?

We have been busy the past 2 weeks exploring and sorting objects in Math. Using a collection of common objects, the students explored, identified and sorted them into groups. Their work focuses on similar attributes, and developing and defining categories based on physical attributes.

Then we used that same collection of common objects to find out which things sink and which things float. The students had to find out as much information as possible about each item. Does it always sink? Does it always float? Does anything else happen to it? After their experiment was over the students had to draw a pictures or a graph to show what they found out about their collection. Each group were able to share their Representing Sink-and-Float Data.

Functional Writing

The students are currently working on Reading and Writing in the genre of Functional Writing. In other words the focus is on types of writing that tell you how to do something. In Reader's Workshop we are focusing on strategies that help them to read "How To" writing. They are reading directions on Map Quest, recipes, directions on how to build something. The students are also working on creating their own "How To" pieces of writing during Writer's Workshop. The sloppy copies are now almost complete and the children are working with Rubric's to assess their work and see how to take thier work to the next level. The next step is for each child to complete their own published piece.

Chet's Adventure With The "W" Family

Greeting from the most Magical Place on Earth (besides Chets Creek).
Seven and her family took me on a trip to Disney World. Our weekend started off with a side trip to Chets Creek Fall Carnival.
Where I got to go trick or treating with Seven and her brothers. Don’t tell anyone but Seven snuck me a piece of candy or three. The next day it was off to Disney World. Here I am ordering room service from our Hotel room. Seven and I are relaxing on the couch waiting to go to dinner at our hotel. We had dinner at The Turf Club, where I got to be a JR. jockey (the person who rides the horse) for the day. The next day we went to Chef Mickey’s for breakfast. I got to cook with Mickey and all his friends. I loved the Mickey waffles they had there. We rode on many rides at the Magic Kingdom. My favorite was the Buzz Lightyear ride, there I was captured by the Evil Zorg, and thankfully Seven saved me! Afterwards I got to meet a cute and furry blue alien by the name of Stitch. Seven then took me to find Pooh bear and gave me a smackerl of honey. As We made our way to Toon Town, I got to take a ride with Dumbo. In Toon Town I was a special delivery for a very special mouse (can you guess who?) After that I was tired so we headed back to the room for a nap. The next day I got to attend a very Un-Happy Birthday Party with the Mad Hatter, Alice and Mary Poppins. We a lovely time. Then it was time to head home. I had a blast at Disney World with Seven!!

Roll Tide Roll!

Wow! Thanks to Mrs. Lankford I was able to visit and meet some new friends in Alabama. I went to the homecoming game of Alabama and Arkansas State.
The University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team is unbeaten. Alabama's football program is widely recognized as one of the best in the nation.
During my visit I heard the sounds of the University of Alabama Million Dollar Band and I was able to watch and take a picture with one of the Color guards. They are the girls that twirl the flags.
After getting in on the parade floats I decided that I needed to take a rest and tailgate.
The weather was perfect and the leaves on the trees were orange, red, and yellow. I don't usually get to see those colors in Florida. It was so beautiful.
It was a Homecoming to remember!

To finish our study of Matter, we made ice-cream. After adding the ingredients (milk, vanilla, and sugar) we poured the liquid into small Ziploc bags. We then put those bags into a larger bag with ice and salt. The students had to shake the bags of liquid for about 10 minutes. To their surprise, the liquid turned into a solid which was ice-cream, YUMMY! As you can see, they were all engaged in this fun activity. During this activity, we discussed measurements and the properties of Matter. It was a great way to end the unit and the week.

Fall Festival

Capacity Of Liquids

It was a great week of learning! Our focus in Science was learning to accurately measure liquids. We had 3 containers of different sizes per group with 1 cup of water,a measuring cup, our lab sheet. The students practiced measuring the amount of water in each container to see which container holds the most liquid. We learned that just because the cup looks larger does not mean it will hold the most water. The children really enjoyed this lab. We hope you enjoy our slideshow.

In Math, we have started working on Story Problems. We are learning to visualize if the story problem is about combining (add) or separating (subtract). The children must write an equation, solve the problem, check it with a second strategy, circle their answer and answer the question with a complete sentence. We have lables on our desk to help us remember the steps. Great job boys and girls!

Field Trip To Wolfson Hospital

Our field trip was full of great information about the people that work in our community. We heard a picture story about a stay in the hospital. We also learned about X-rays, skeletons, and dental hygiene. We watched a pretend patient get a cast put on her arm. Mr. Darin, the Orthopedic Technician, explained how easy and fast it was to help heal a broken bone. We were given a cast leg to sign and we brought it back to school. How Cool! We also met "Roxy" the pharmacy robot. It was a great day!

Fix Up Strategies

Things are going great in Readers' Workshop. One of the things that we have been working on are strategies that help to clarify confusion when reading. Here are the "fix up" strategies that we have learned in class. These are great tips to remind your child of when you are reading together at home.

Fix Up Strategies
* Stop and think about what you have already read.
* Reread.
* Adjust your reading rate: slow down or speed up.
* Try and connect the text to something you read in another book, what you know about
the world, or to something you have experienced.
* Visualize
* Reflect on what you have read.
* Look at key words, bold print, italicized words, and puntuation.
* Notice patterns in the text structure.

The next time you and your child come to a confusing part in the book, try one (or more) of these strategies to clear up the confusion.

Another Incredible Week

We got Slimed on Tuesday! Our Science lab was so much fun! The students had to answer the question, Does slime have the properties of a solid or a liquid? Everyone started out with a hypothesis, I think.....because.

After creating their hypothesis we mixed up a batch of Slime. We tried 4 tests.

1. Set it on a paper plate.
2. Pour into cup.
3. Hold in your hand.
4. Roll in a ball.

After each test they had to decide whether the slime has the properties of a solid or a liquid. The students recorded their observations. So much fun!

In Math we skip counted by 2's, 3's, and 5's. We were introduced to tallies as a way of keeping track of groups of 5.

We are becoming familiar with coin equivalencies and using money as a model for counting by 5's and 10's. As a whole class we examined all the different ways to make 15 cents using, pennies, nickels, and dimes.

Did you know that Friday was the 31st day of school! Wow! Time flies when you are having fun!

We will have a Field Trip to Wolfson Hospital on Tuesday. 9-12:00. Please have your child wear his/her Chets Creek T-shirt and pack a bag lunch.

Open House

Thank you so much for a great turnout for Open House. We are honored to be your child's teacher. We look forward to an awesome year! The Journey Around the World in 180 Days has begun!

What an amazing opening of the school year. I have so enjoyed getting to know the students in both Homerooms. This group of children are very excited about reading. The class has just finished sharing the book The Wizard of Oz. They loved it and spent a great deal of time discussing the many differences between the book and the movie. Did you know that in the book the special shoes are silver? The students are fully enmeshed in Reader's Workshop. The students read independently for 40 minutes daily. The children have also started partner reading two days a week and are truly enjoying discussing books with their peers. The children have started a Reader's Response Journal. This is a journal where they can jot their thoughts about what they are reading. They write their noticings. wonderings, and opinions. It is also a place where they write their text to text, text to self and text to world connections. The children are learning so much about who they are as readers and are enjoying the opportunity to teach each other.

JJ Ossi

Our Work Meets the Standards

What's Popping in Science is our 1st Standards Based Bulletin Board. During this inquiry based lab our student's focus was on the 5E model. Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. This model operates under the premise that students learn best through concrete experiences from which they are able to develop complex thinking skills. The students featured on this SBBB are Andrew, Melina, Alyssa and Lily. Great job boys and girls.

Who Needs a Bathroom Break?

Say Hello to Scooby our class frog (yes, I did say frog :)), when the students need to use the bathroom they must put Scooby on their desk. This is a great way to let me and all the other students know where they are if they are not at their desk. Scooby got to enjoy popcorn from our PTA Popcorn Party.

Awesome Math Games

Can you beat the calculator? In this activity one partner uses a calculator to solve a number string while the other partner solve the number string by looking for combinations of numbers and adding them in their head. Mental Math! Partners take turns using the calculator and solving problems mentally. Learning Math through play! Awesome!

PTA Popcorn Party

No time for rest we played Close to 20 while enjoying our popcorn. The object of this game is to choose 3 cards that total as Close to 20 as possible. The children loved the popcorn and playing Close To 20! Yummy!

Our PTA has been voted Elementary PTA of the State for 2007-2008. We have won Duval County PTA of the Year for 4 years in a row!Thank you so much for your Support!

Math Strategies

Strategies in Math

Did you know that Friday was the 16th day of school? Yeah!
The students are doing great with our rituals and routines.Keep up the great work. We are proud of you! :)

It was a busy week in Math, we did a lot of work with adding number strings.We also explored how to use a calculator as a tool in mathematics.The students loved this activity! Mathematicians often use tools and materials to help them solve problems or to help them explain their thinking to others. Another tool we have used are interlocking cubes.

In Calendar Math were are counting everyday of school. We create equations or number sentences centered around the number. We are learning strategies for combining two numbers. Some of the strategies learned are called Legs, Counting On, and the Open Number Line. Ask your child to give you an example of each.

I sent home pages of cards for the students to cut out and continue to play the games we are learning in school. Tens Go Fish and Turn Over Ten are games to help reinforce Combinations of 10.
We are also learning about money. Have your child count your loose change and identify the coin.

Fun Cards Games

In Math we learned and played 2 card games to help us with our Combinations of 10. Tens Go Fish and Turn Over Ten. These card games reinforce Combinations of 10 with two or more addends. The students had a ball! We also learned about Doubles. Ask your child what happen when we put items in the magic pot. It was a great week of learning!

We Were Using All Our Senses!

In Science this week we learned about popcorn using our senses. We popped popcorn, and the students had to fill in a worksheet and make drawings explaining what senses they used for each section. It was a huge hit! Learning about Matter was also a hit! Did you know that everything around us is made of Matter. We also discussed the different properties of Matter, solid, liquid, and gases.

Combinations of 10

The students work with combinations of 10. They listed ways of making 10 with two and three numbers. The end result is a Book of 10, listing all of the possible combinations of 10 using two to ten addends.

Make Up Days for Duval County

Mark your calendar:

Makeup Days for Duval County Public Schools’ Students are Set
JACKSONVILLE – Tropical Storm Fay caused Duval County Public Schools’ students to miss three days of school at the beginning of this school year. The District currently has five days built into our school calendar in order to makeup any days missed due to weather.
Makeup days for students due to Tropical Storm Fay will be on November 10 and December 18 and 19. The storm also required us to move the end of the first quarter, changing the date for Teacher Planning Day from October 20 to October 24. Students will need to now attend school on October 20, not on Teacher Planning Day, October 24.

Plan Ahead ~ Upcoming Events

Mark your Calendar ~ September 2008

9/9 & 9/10~ Volunteer Orientation

9/10~ Early Release Day Dismissal @ 2:15

9/12~ Flag Raising in the Courtyard @ 9:00 am

9/15~Book Fair Opens~details to come!

9/19~ BUDs Pancake Pigout Breakfast 8:00 am

9/24~Early Release Day Dismissal @ 2:15

9/25~Open House

9/25~Campus Clean Up 9-11 am

9/26~Flag Raising in the Courtyard @ 9:00 am

9/26~PTA Family Bingo Night 6:30-8:30 pm

9/29 & 9/30~Vision Screening

The Journey Begins Again

Yeah! We did it! Our first week of school was awesome!
The children are quickly learning our rituals and routines. Please be sure to sign your child's planner every night. Thank You. :)

Diagnostic Testing is over!
We are on our way to learning about Every Day Counts Calendar Math. Every Day Counts Calendar Math will provide supplemental Math instruction that revolves around a variety of elements and components. More details to come!

In our Math Workshop the children are learning about Combinations of Ten. They list ways of making 10 with two, three, four, and five numbers. We are working on a "Book of 10", listing all of the possible combinations of 10 using two to five addends.

In Science our focus was on learning about South America
Did you know that our groups are named Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and Venezuela. This is a great way for the children to learn about the countries in South America. Next week we will spend some time learning about all the different types of animals in the Rain Forest.

This week the children will start Math and ELA homework. Be on the look out for their Homework folders.
Orange for Mrs. Lankford's homeroom and Green for Mrs. Ossi's homeroom. Looking forward to another great week!

No School Friday!

Parents,
Due to the current track of Tropical Storm Fay, All Duval County Schools will be closed on Friday 8/22. :(
Please continue to stay tuned to the local news for additional updates.
Stay safe and the journey begins again on Monday 8/25.

Please return all completed forms as soon as possible. Be sure to check the back of the yellow Duval County Schools handbook for additional forms.
Thank you so much for the requested supplies!
See you on Monday!

Contact Us :)
lankfordw@duvalschools.org
ossij1@duvalschools.org

No School Wednesday and Thursday!

Parents,
Due to the current track of Tropical Storm Fay, All Duval County Schools will be closed tomorrow, Wednesday, 8/20, and Thursday, 8/21.
We have not heard anything about Friday 8/22.
Please continue to stay tuned to the local news for additional updates.
Stay safe and we hope to see you all on Friday 8/22.

Our 1st day's journey was Great!

Today was Awesome!
Have your child wear his/her t-shirt tomorrow.
Please return all forms ASAP! We are looking forward to an awesome year! Thank you for all your support.

Meet and Greet!

It was such a pleasure to meet so many of you today at Orientation. We are looking forward to getting to know your child very well in the coming months.

Please return all completed forms and requested supplies as soon as possible.
School begins at 9:00 am and if your child's mode of transportation changes at any time, we must have instructions from you in writing.

Thank you again, have a great weekend!
Our journey begins on Monday. Yeah!

Ideas for Math Summer Work

Things that your child should know before entering 3rd grade:
1. Combinations of 10 (The student should fluently know the entire fact family for each combination such as… 3+7=10 7+3=10 10-7=3 10-3=7)

2. Combinations of 20 (The student should fluently know the entire fact family for each combination such as… 12+8=20 8+12=20 20-8=12 20-12=8)

3. Combinations of 100 (The student should fluently know the entire fact family for each combination such as… 40+60=100 60+40=100 100-40=60 100-60=40)

4. Skip counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, 25s (up to 100)

5. Time to the hour, half-hour, quarter-hour, 5 minutes

6. Elapsed Time (ex: Miss Russell started baking cookies at 2:30. She finished baking cookies at 4:15. How long did she bake cookies for?)

7. Knows the value of coins and knows how to add coins

Finding change for items purchased (Ex: If Bob bought a game for $3.20 and he gave the cashier $5.00 how much change would he get?)

Extra things that you could help your child work on before entering 3rd grade:
1. Skip counting by 3s, 4s, 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, 15s (up to 100) (also known as “multiples”)

Strategies for adding 9 quickly (ex: 45+9 is like 45 +10=55(-1)=54 )

Have a great Summer!

Oh My 8 more days!

Third grade here we come!

We are finishing the year engaging in all phases of data analysis, including collecting, organizing, representing, and interpreting data. For the past 2 weeks we have been discussing data about how many teeth our class have lost? We first collected the data as a whole class, and then worked with groups to organize the data. Most of the students used a line plot to show their representation of their data.
The students understand that one of the important things about making a representation is that it communicates information to others. In a way their data tells a story about the information they collected. Wow! in both classes we have lost over 100 teeth! This week we will be comparing lost teeth among other grade levels.

We are continuing to add and subtract numbers using all the strategies we have learned this year. Everyday the students figure out a Math problem centered around the number of the day.
Please help your child continue to add and subtract this summer, give them your grocery list and a total amount of money. Challenge them to figure out if they will have enough money and if they will be getting any change. This is a great way to incorporate Math in their everyday lives. :)

In Science we will finish our unit on the Nature of Matter. We did a fun lab on how long it took for the students to melt ice. They loved this experiment. We also did a lab with popcorn. The students had to use their 5 senses to answer questions about the changes in the popcorn. After the experiment they were allowed to eat the popcorn Yummy! another great lab!

In Social Studies we are continuing to enjoy and learn from our Weekly Reader.

Thank you for all your support this year. I am so proud of all the children! Our class average with our diagnostic is 90% in one class and 89% in the other class. Great Job Kids!

Diagnostic Testing in Math

Diagnostic Testing in Math is over! Congratulations students you did a great job!

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun!

Friday was the 157th day of school! WOW! We are counting down the days until the last day of school. The students are preparing and excited to move onto 3rd grade! I reminded the students that we have more work to continue before the last day. Please stay focused little people! :)


In Math for the past 2 weeks we have been working in the book How Many Pockets? How Many Teeth? This unit introduces students to organizing and representing numerical data. In the first investigation the students kept track of and organized data about the ages of the students in our classroom, how many siblings we have and how many letters are in our name. The students had to use conventional representations such as line plots and bar graphs.
I think it's amazing that 2nd graders can collect data, organize it, and create a representation of their data. You rock kids! Keep up the great work!

In Science we are discussing the Nature of Matter. We learned about the physical properties of solids, liquids, and gases. Solids have a definite shape and liquids and gases take the shape of their container such as a cup, a balloon, or a plastic bag.

We are enjoying our Weekly Reader for Social Studies. Some of the things we discussed last month:

• Being A Poet
• What's up in Space
• Earth Helpers: Celebrating Earth Day April 22nd.
• Getting Wet! What is the water cycle.

Arts Extravaganza Week

Our annual Arts Extravaganza Family Night is Fri., April 25th, 6 -8 pm.
Every student in the school will have a piece of art on display in the hallways. Students can participate in various arts and crafts in the dining room. Hot dogs, chips, and drinks will be available for purchase. Each class makes a basket to be auctioned off with the proceeds going to help fund our awesome art and resource programs. We hope to see you at this fun family event!

How Long? How Far? coming to an End

We are moving out of the unit How Long? How Far?
We started the week out walking and visualizing the paths we take to the dining room, Media Center and the P.E. hall. We also showed the different paths that students take to the water fountain in our cottage. It was a great visual. We discussed width and length.
On Tuesday my Math Coach Mrs. Ross helped us with a lesson about Andy the Ant. Andy the Ant walks to school. Andy always walks on the sidewalk. He had three different paths he could take. The students had to figure out which path was the longest and the shortest. Counting the blocks was how the students could figure out which path was longest/shortest.
We also worked on an activity about Allison the Ant. With this activity Allison rides an electric bike around town. The bike needs it battery charged every 10 blocks. The students had to show the paths Allison can follow. Remembering she has to charge up her bike battery every 10 blocks. We had a great time measuring paths and moving on a grid.
I have asked the students to pay more attention to their paths when driving in the car. They will be looking for landmarks to help. I encourage all the parents to help their child understand this concept.
We ended the week making vanilla pudding. The students had to measure out the ingredients and mix. Yummy! they all enjoyed every bite!

In Science we classified things as living and non-living

A Week of Review

Welcome Back from Spring Break!
We started our week out reviewing our Combinations of Tens and Doubles.

We also worked on measuring and measurements. We ended our week with 32 cups of blue/green water. All the students had to figure out how many pints and quarts equaled 32 cups of water. This is apart of our Calendar Math. The students love it! I also love to see them figure it out. We are truly learning to be self-directed thinkers and learners!

Mid-week we had a quiz on Story Problems with Addition and Subtraction facts.
Please continue to review with your child all the skills and concepts being taught in class.
Ask your child about the Measure man!

In Science we discussed living and non-living things. We also discussed ways we can care for the Earth at home and in school.

Another great week!

WOW! Friday was the 142nd day of school!

Thanks for all your support, have a super week! :)

Measuring in our Classroom

This week we learned about inches and centimeters. We explored using a ruler and measuring inches and centimeters. Using a ruler is a standard form of measuring. Earlier last week we measured things in our classroom using string which is a non-standard form of measuring. The students were quick to see the difference. They all noticed that the ruler had numbers and the string did not.
We also continued our work on measuring cups, pints, and quarts. We are very close to 2 gallons. We are adding a cup of water each day to our gallon containers. We ended the week with 27 cups of blue/green water. Ask your child to tell what we are doing with the blue/green water.

In Calendar Math our focus this week has been on going shopping. The students were given a problem to solve. Example: If I had $1.36 and spent 79 cents, how much would I have left? We also continued our work with expanded notation and rounding to the nearest ten. Everyday the students are given questions about "what time is it?" Please work with your child on telling time.

In Science we did a lab on "Why fish have scales?" It was a fun lesson. The students rolled a small amount of playdoh(this was the fish with out scales), next they were asked to poke the playdoh with a toothpick(the toothpick represents a predator, disease, and environment). They had to give and explanation about what happen. We put the playdoh in a plastic egg (this represented fish with scales) and poke the toothpick through the egg. Most toothpicks broke. The egg which is the scale of a fish protected the fish. We had a good discussion about why fish need scales. Another good week!
Enjoy your Spring Break!

The End of the 3rd Nine Weeks

Another great week of fun activities.
We finished the unit on Shapes, Halves, and Symmetry.
Please continue to encourage your child to look for different shapes in our environment, look for arrays, discuss fractions and symmetry.

We are having a great time figuring out and exploring with cups, pints, quarts, and gallons. Have your child point out the different sizes for you when grocery shopping. It's a great way to connect the real -world experience with what we are learning in class.

Our class begin a new unit on Friday.
How Long? How Far? is a unit about measurements. In our everyday world, we need to know how long things are. During this unit, your child will find several things in the classroom that are about the same length. The students will use a variety of materials, such as paper strips, interlocking cubes, string, rulers, and measuring tape as measuring tools to measure and compare lengths.
Our introduction lesson into measurement was great! Ask your child about it.
Thank you for all your support!

The End of Shapes, Halves, and Symmetry

WOW! What a week. We did some fun activities with fractions this week. We used colored tiles to find rectangles that can be divided in fourths (four colors) and thirds (three colors). The students did very well describing their rectangles. We also reviewed columns, rows and the area of our rectangles. Great Job!
Symmetry was another concept we covered in class last week. The students made pictures using symmetrical shapes cut from folded paper. Fun, Fun, Fun!

In Science we learned more about Polar Bears. Our class participated in two labs about Polar Bears.

1. Does the Polar Bear have an adaptation to help prevent its feet from sliding on the ice? If so, What?
2. Why do animals that live in Polar Regions have an extra layer of fat called blubber?

Ask your child to tell you all about our Labs in Science. They really enjoy them.

In Everyday Counts Calendar Math we started the week measuring 1 cup a day. Our goal is to figure out how many cups are in a pint, how many pints are in a quart, and how many quarts are in a gallon. To make it more fun we are adding blue food coloring to the water. Friday was the 129th day of school! 51 MORE DAYS TO GO!

The students are learning to write the day of school (Today's Number) in expanded form, rounding to the nearest 10 and discuss how many groups of 10's and 1's.

Thank you for all your support! Have a great week!

A Week of Rectangles

This week was all about building and describing rectangles. The students learned about the columns and rows in a rectangle and the area and perimeter of a rectangle. We also discussed a congruent rectangle. This rectangle has the same size and same shape.

We ended the week with halves and not halves rectangles. With half and not halves rectangles the students used two colors of tiles to make a rectangle that was half one color and half another color. The special rule about this rectangle is that we must use two colors. After the students created their rectangle they had to write how many columns, how many rows and tell me what the area of their rectangle was. It was a great way to introduce area, perimeter and fractions.

Did you know that Friday was the 124th day of school. WOW! time flies when you are learning and having fun!

For the month of March in Everyday Calendar Math we will

• explore and describe attributes of a sphere, cone and cylinder.
• read the clock to the quarter hour
• see fractional parts
• explore capacity with cups, pints, and quarts.

Please encourage your child to tell you something about what they have learned during Math, Science, or Social Studies. Thank you for all your support! Have a great week!

Tutoring with Mrs. Lankford

I am tutoring students on Mondays, Tuesdays, and /or Fridays starting at 8:15 - 8:45 am. Please come prepared with questions or things you might need help with. Tutoring is helping the student understand the concepts being taught in class.
If I am not available because of meetings or conferences I will let the students know the day before. If you need help please come by my cottage!

Weekly Reader

Using our Weekly Reader in Social Studies we discussed Presidents' Day which was February 18th. George Washington was our 1st president, Abraham Lincoln was our 16th president and George Bush is our 43rd president. We also discussed Famous African Americans in honor of Black History Month. Rosa Parks made history. She helped change a law that was unfair to African American people.
Nikki Giovanni is a writer. She is the author of books and poems for children and adults. She wrote a children's book called Rosa. It is about the life of Rosa Parks. So many people have made an impact on our society. Thank you!

Critters Everywhere!

Our Critters invaded or cottage today, luckily the predator only caught a couple of them. Congratulations boys and girls you really do understand the word camouflage. What a week! Thank you to all the parents who helped make sure their child had his/her critter at school by today.

In Science we have been discussing the adaptations (camouflage, body parts) animals have to help them survive in their environment. Today we did an awesome Animal Adaptations lab. We had 10 stations set up in our cottage and the students learned some incredible things about birds and alligators. A HUGE THANK YOU to Miss Russell. We couldn't have done it without you!

In Math we had a busy week describing , ordering, building and covering rectangles. We learned that these shapes are called Quadrilaterals (4-sided figures) We also discussed rows and columns. The students had to create several different sizes of rectangles. Each rectangle had a different number of rows and columns. Ask your child about rows and columns.

We also discussed the shapes hexagon, triangle, square, rhombus, and trapezoids. Last week we played the game Predict and Cover using these shapes. In the activity Predict and Cover students use the relationships they've discovered among the pattern blocks to make predictions about how many blocks it takes to cover shapes. So much fun while learning. We also used geoblocks and cubes to aide with our activities. Another great week! Wow! today was the 119th day of school.

Critter Project

The students are learning about habitats in Science. They are expected to create a critter to live in our classroom which will be the critter's habitat. Please this project should not stress anyone out. It is a fun way to extend our lessons on camouflage! :) Please be creative! Paper towels rolls, toilet paper rolls, yawn, pipe cleaners, paper plates, colored paper, alumini foil are a few suggestive items. If you are having a problem with this please write me a note in your child's planner. Again be creative and have fun. I hope the mysterious predator will not catch your critter!
The project is due Thursday, February 28, 2007.

The Jacksonville Zoo

Our field trip to the Jacksonville Zoo was a great way to end our week! The weather was beautiful and at the Zoo we learned about several different animals and their habitiats. This goes along with what we are learning in Science.

In Science this week we did a lab activity to determine how camels can walk across sand without sinking. First we classified the camel we would be studying.
Camels are native to the deserts of Asia and North America. Two kinds of desert camels are dromedaries and bactrians. Dromedaries have one hump and Bactrians have two humps. Camels are the only animals that can carry heavy loads from place to place in the desert because they can go for long periods without eating or drinking water.
Did you know that a camel's hump doesn't carry water, as some believe. Their humps are filled with fat, which is a built-in food supply.
From our lab we determined that camels can carry heavy loads and still walk easily on soft sand where trucks would get stuck. A camel's feet are large, so the weight on them is spread out. The students enjoyed this lab activity.

In Math we finished the unit Putting Together and Taking Apart. We started a new unit called Shapes, Halves, and Symmetry. In this unit we will be investigating geometry and fractions. We will investigate relationships among shapes and put shapes together to build other shapes. We will also investigate rectangular arrays and symmetry.We sorted and identified shapes by various attributes.
You can help your child at home by looking for opportunities to talk about shapes, fractions, and symmetry.

• Look for different shapes in the environment. Where do you see rectangles and squares?
• Look for arrays in floor tiles, calendars, and window panes.
• Look for designs that are symmetrical.
• Look for patterns in fabric, wallpaper, flags, or other places that are half one color and half another. How can your child tell that the patterns are half and half?

Thank you for all your help and support. Have fun exploring these ideas with your child.

Happy New Year Chinese Style!

Celebration Time! In Social Studies we learned about the Chinese New Year. February 7th was the Chinese New Year. The celebration last 15 days. Each Chinese year is named after one of 12 animals. This is the Year of the Rat. People prepare for the holiday before the actual day. They clean their homes and decorate them with flowers and poems. The poems are happy messages of good luck. On the first night of the celebration families and friends gather for a special meal. Many people wear new red clothing. People perform the dragon dance in a parade. The dragon is made of silk paper, and bamboo. It may stretch more than 100 feet!

In Science we did a Catus Lab. The lab experiment helped us understand how a catus live in the desert with such little water.

In Math we reviewed money values and discussed symmetry. We also learned about range, median, and mode.
Range is the difference between the highest piece of data and the lowest piece of data.
Median is the piece of data that occurs in the middle when the data is arranged from least to greatest.
Mode is the value of the pieces of data that occurs the most in a set of data.
The students must remember to organize the data from least to greatest FIRST!
It's awesome when the children understand and enjoy Math. Yeah!

Celebrating the 100th Day of School!

We started the week with visualizing what is given in a problem and what is missing. The students are understanding and developing ways to approach different sorts of addition and subtraction situtations.
We are continuing to discuss and use a variety of strategies when solving problems.
Decomposing and the open number line are a few favorites!

On our homework this week we introduced the "x" and "y" axis. We discussed points on a coordinate grid. Please refer to the study guide in your child's homework folder for help.

Yes, we made it! the 100 th day! how exciting. We skip counted by 5's and 10's. If the student keep the game going they got a piece of gum and a lollipop. It was hilarious because some of them were not paying attention to the number before they were called on. If there was a mess up we had to start over. We also skip counted by 2's. In the end all the students enjoyed the bubble gum and lollipops. We also mixed 100 different types of snacks to enjoy, it was a nice way to end the week.

Parts and Wholes

In Math the students played a game called Cover-Up. To play Cover-Up, one player puts some cubes or counters on a table and counts them. Their counts need to be accurate, so I encouraged the students to check their counts. One player then takes away some of the counters and hides them under a piece of paper. Together the students use the remaining counters to figure out how many are hidden. Solutions are verified by counting the hidden counters.

We played a few rounds as a group hiding a different amount of counters in each round,
then the students played girls against boys. It was a great way to work on Math problems with the missing part. Ask you child about the game Cover-Up.

In Science we finished our unit on the Weather.
In the coming weeks our class will start a new unit centered on The Processes of Life & How Living Things interact with the Environment.

Happy Birthday Chets Creek!

To prepare for a great week of fun filled activities in honor of our school's 10th birthday,
we graphed our very own birthdays in Math. It was great teaching the students about the different ways to graph. We are learning to collect , record, and represent data. The students are encouraged to examine the differences and similarities in a group of related data, which was our birthdays. It was a fun activity.
We are also continuing to work on solving story problems, tell time and count money.
Please let you child practice counting your loose change.

We are reading the Weekly Reader in Social Studies.
Last we we discussed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We watched a video about his life. How awesome! Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood for equality for all people.

In Science we will finish with the Weather unit this week. We have been graphing the temperature in Jacksonville this month. Another super activity to help the students understand graphs.

We are going to the Zoo!

Yes! we are going to the Jacksonville Zoo on Friday February 15, 2008. Please send in your child's permission slips and payment ASAP!

Working With 100

Our first full week went very well.
The students were introduced to more Choice Time games.
Choice 1: Get to 100, students take turns rolling number cubes (with only multiples of five on them) and moving that amount on the 100 chart. After each roll, players record their moves (but not the total), adding the numbers obtained in subsequent rolls to this equation.
Play continues until each player reaches 100. Students check their moves by adding up the equation, which should total 100. Players can begin another equation when they reach 100.

Choice 2: Pinching Paper Clips, students take a pinch of paper clips (each box has 100 clips in it), count how many they pinched, and then figure out how many are left in the box. The students were allowed to pinch paper clips in a variety of ways.
It was challenging at first but once they got the hang of it, the game was fun.

Did you know that Friday was our 87th day of school. Wow! how time flies when you are having fun!
Our 100th day of school will be February 1st!

Happy New Year!

Welcome Back!
Our three day week was a nice and slow start for the New Year.
We reviewed story problems, observed and discussed the 100's chart, and worked on telling time. Please encourage your child to tell you what time it is at different times of the day. :)

You will be receiving a Release of Digital picture form. Please sign and return as soon as possible. This form will allow me to post some pictures of the activities we have worked on in class.

Thank you for all your support!