Newsletter 12-22-11

The Green Meadow Gazette

December 22, 2011

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, December 23^rd – Winter Break begins at the end of the day

·        Monday, January 2^nd – No school

Classroom News:

Hannah: Last week was the 5^th time we’ve gone to reading buddies. What we do when we go to reading buddies is we go to Ms. Burns’ room and sit on the rug.  Then we find our reading buddies. Our buddies have a box of books that they pick from, so what books are in the book box are what books we read!

Thomas: Yesterday we learned how to multiply by 8. We did a problem that was really hard.  When we solved that problem we played a game. How you multiply by 8 is, say you have 8 x 4. You could make an array and you make it 8 down and 4 across to get 32.

Graham: Last week in Music we worked on our recorders. I liked it because we got to put our mouths on it. The week before last week I didn’t get to because I didn’t bring mine.

Joseph: This week we made a list in phonics. The list had long i words on it.  We made our list and we all put tons of long i words. We looked for long i words in our books and we looked around the classroom.

Morgan: We read a poem called “We’ll Win Tonight.”  This poem has 3 paragraphs in it.  I liked the poem because it rhymed.

Robbi: Yesterday we used 3 factors to multiply. For example: 3 x 4 x 5 = 60. First you’d multiply 4 x 5 = 20, then 20 x 3 = 60, so 3 x 4 x 5 = 60.  For another example: 8 x 2 x 3 = 48. First, I did 8 x 3 = 24, then 24 + 24 (or 24 x 2) = 48.

Aiden: Last week in Library we read a book.  The book was about a rabbit that turned into a nail. I liked the book because turning into a nail might come in handy.

Kyleigh: Last week in Ms. Little’s class we did Writing Workshop. In Writing Workshop we made draft booklets. First we drew it on a storyboard, then we drew it and wrote the whole story on little draft papers.

Kyle: Sometimes Samantha’s mom, Mrs. Grundstrom, comes in to teach us yoga. Last time she taught us the poses for cat, turtle, mouse, crocodile, donkey, and more.  It is to help us multiply by 4.

Hunter: In Math, we solved multiplication word problems.  For example, Vinny has 1 pet snake and Hunter has twice as many. The way you’d solve it is 1 x 2 = 2 pet snakes.

Dorinda: Yesterday during Reading we worked on reading to a partner.  The teacher gave us coaching sheets and it helped us with reading to our partner because we would know what to do if we didn’t know a word. It also helped us help our partner if they didn’t know a word.

Lindsey: On Monday we had an assembly. We sang a lot of songs. My favorite song was Yuki A Kong Kong. I liked it because it was creative.

Henry: 5 days ago we were writing statements, exclamations, questions, and commands. We were having a contest to see who could make the most of each type of sentence with at least one long a word in each sentence.  I wrote thirty three last time.  We started phonics about a month ago.

Cara: In Writing Workshop we are doing something different. We are writing stories about people we appreciate.  We are writing to people that we will see around the winter break.  It can be a friend or family member. We will have to do it fast because we only have a couple days. I hope we get it down!

Rory: Last week we received postcards from Mississippi and South Australia.  I received the one from South Australia and Kate received the one from Mississippi.  We hadn’t received a postcard from Mississippi yet so we colored it in on our map.

Vinny: Yesterday we went to Gym. We did the set shot and dribbled around cones.  There’s little cones and I did all of them five times and I shot 100 hoops. I lost my ball so I chased it. I got so many hoops that I was proud.

Kate: In Art we worked on our houses. We took sticky notes and wrote what room we wanted it to be.  Some of us are on gluing and some of us are on the wallpaper.

Alonso: Last week we read about the BFG and Sophie.  Sophie told the BFG to mix dreams so he can blow one into the Queen of England’s ear so that she will get rid of the giants.  I think it’s a good book and I hope we read more of it.

David: In Math we learned about multiplying by 7. We played a game called sum of the dice x 7.  Some of us count by 7s with our fingers to figure out the math problem.

Samantha: In Reading we are working on read to someone. That is when you get a partner and read to your partner. You can choose to read to yourself or read to someone. When we read to someone, we sit EEKK, read calmly and quietly, stay in one spot, get started right away, and check for understanding.

Reese: Last week in class we worked on long a words. For example, bait is a long a word. It’s a long a word because in the word you hear the “a.” We all thought of lots of long a words.  Happy holidays!

Ms. Little:  Thank you for contributing so many useful items to our classroom supply at the beginning of the year. We are running low on disinfecting wipes and extra snacks (goldfish, pretzels, etc.).  Any donations would be greatly appreciated! Enjoy the winter break. J

Newsletter 12-22

Newsletter 12-15-11

The Green Meadow Gazette

December 15, 2011

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, December 16^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Friday, December 23^rd – Winter Break begins at the end of the day

Classroom News:

Joseph: Once our class did this thing when you write sentences with periods, question marks, and exclamation points.  So what we did was make sentences for each type. For example, “Are you blind?” is a question. “Wow, that’s cool!” is an exclamation. “I have a bruise.” is a statement.

Robbi: Yesterday we made a multiply by 8 book.  The first page was 8x2=16, then 8x3=24, 8x4=32, and 8x5=40. That’s what we have in our booklets so far. We broke the x8 facts into 4s. For example 8x2 would be 4x2 + 4x2 = 8 + 8 = 16. We broke apart the 8s for each page.

Graham: Two days ago we made story mountains in writing workshop.  Story mountains are the order you want your story to go in.  I liked it because I like mountains.  You make a story mountain by drawing a mountain in your notebook and writing the problem, the ways the character tries to solve the problem, and the way the story ends.  My story was about a boy named Walter.

Aiden: This week in Art we made a house out of a book.  First we picked out what color book we wanted for what color house we want. Then we picked out rooms in our houses.

Dorinda: Last week we received postcards from Montana, Alabama, and Delaware. The people that received a postcard read it for the class to hear.  I liked the one from Montana the most because of the picture on it.

Hannah: Lately in Reading, a few weeks ago we have started phonics. This week we learned about long o antonyms and synonyms. When we started working we had a choice: to list long o antonyms or long o synonyms.  When I started I chose to list antonyms.  I already had a long list of long o words so I had a bunch of ideas for antonyms. So did everyone else!

Kate: Last week in Library we got to play on a new program called Brain Pop Jr. On Brain Pop Jr. we watched a movie and then either wrote about it or drew about it. It was about how characters memorized their lines. The setting was a farm but it was supposed to be a planet because there were aliens. Then we got to write or draw about another movie.

Henry: Last Friday we had Spelling. Spelling is when you partner up with someone. You give your partner their spelling words first. Last time I had six spelling words. I didn’t get many words because they were words I got wrong from writing workshop. This week I have eight spelling words. The hardest one is motivation. If we get a spelling word wrong, Ms. Little puts it on your next spelling sheet. You can tell if she adds it because it is in pen. This week I do not have any extra words.

Alonso: Yesterday in writing workshop we worked on storyboards. A storyboard is a picture version of a story mountain.  We worked hard on them. My opinion is that we did a really good job.

Brianna: The past week we read a story called Big Al. It’s about a big, ugly fish who wants to make a friend.  He tried all kinds of things but they didn’t work. One day all of the fish he was trying to be friends with got caught in a net except Big Al. So Big Al saved all the fish and then all the fish were Big Al’s friends.

Vinny: Yesterday we learned how to multiply by 6 in Math.  If you have 6x3 it would be 18. I counted by 3s six times. We played a dice game to practice x 6.

Morgan: We went to watch Mr. Mehigan’s play last week.  It was about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. Mackenzie was the narrator. I liked the play because it was educational.

David: We played our recorders in Music. We practiced notes. One song was called Rizzeldy Razzeldy. I called it Rizzeldy Razzeldy Do because it was weird.

Samantha: Last week we read a play in groups of 4 or 5.  The play was called Herbie and Annabelle. My group had 4 people in it. There were 5 parts: Mr. Hodgekiss, Herbie, Annabelle, the SFX (sound) person, and the narrator.  It was about how Herbie had to deliver get well cards to Annabelle because she was sick.

Reese: In class this week we have been working on long a words. Mrs. Adamson came in to help us with long a words. We read our books and then if we found long a words, we would write them on a sticky note. I had lots of fun.

Kyle: We wrote long o stories last week. This is an example of one: Joe went to Toe’s house. He played with Toe. The both played the adventures of Toe and Joe. They wrote a long o story.

Rory: Last week in writing workshop we made a story mountain for Big Al. Big Al was a story about a very nice but very scary fish. So at the bottom of the story mountain we wrote Big Al’s problem, and then we put the 4 ways he tried to solve that problem.  Then at the top of the story mountain we wrote how he solved his problem. Then we wrote how the story ends.

Thomas: Yesterday we had Gym and we played Stinky Rotten Fish Tag. People run with a fish and tag someone. You can’t tag the same person because then it wouldn’t be fair.

Cara: In Reading we did Read to Someone. We had to sit EEKK.  We had to keep our voice level down. We had to ask the questions, “Who did you just read about?” and “What happened?”  Or if you want, the person that was listening would say, “I just heard you read about…” It was fun.

Kyleigh: Last week Ms. Little’s class was doing writing workshop and working on the struggles and wants of their characters. We drew a line in the middle of our paper and wrote struggles on one side and wants on the other.  Struggles means what your character is having a hard time with and wants is what your character wants to happen.

Lindsey: Yesterday we looked at each other’s December calendars. We didn’t look at all of them. We did it so we can learn more about each other.  I liked the way the calendars were decorated.

Ms. Little:  Thank you for contributing so many useful items to our classroom supply at the beginning of the year. We are running low on disinfecting wipes and extra snacks (goldfish, pretzels, etc.).  Any donations would be greatly appreciated! Enjoy the weekend. J

Newsletter 12-1-11

The Green Meadow Gazette

December 1, 2011

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Thursday, December 1^st – Dismissal at 11:25 for Conferences

·        Friday, December 2^nd – Dismissal at 11:25 for Conferences

Classroom News:

Hannah: Lately in Math we have been multiplying by 0s and 1s.  The strategy for multiplying by 0 is that the answer is always 0.  The strategy for multiplying by 1 is that the answer is always the same number you are multiplying by 1.

Cara: We got new phonics notebooks.  The color I got was Christmasy red.  We were working on long e, so we had to think of words with long e sounds and write them in our notebook.  That’s what we did.

James: Last week in Writing Workshop we created a character and made problems for our character.  My character’s problem was that her best friend moved away.  I have already created the title.

Robbi: Two weeks ago we filled up the marble jar.  We decided to have pajama day with stuffed animals. We also had a special snack. We had to wait two days to have the special snack.  It was popcorn, hummus, celery, and carrots.

Lindsey: Two weeks ago we had Music.  We played games. I liked playing Stella Ella Olla and Down Came Johnny.

Joseph: Once our teacher Ms. Little read a story called The Magic Lunch Bag.  It was about two girls who had the same exact lunch bags.  The two girls hated what their moms and dads packed them for lunch but a lunch they liked was always in their lunch bag by the time they got to lunch. They didn’t know they had the same lunch bag.

Aiden:  Last week in Math we learned how to multiply by 9.  How you do it is you put 1 finger down and you look on the left side for the number in the tens place, then look on the other side for the number in the ones place and you get the answer.  I like it because it gives you the answer.

Reese: This week we finished reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. It was about a rabbit named Edward that goes on a crazy trip.  Ms. Little read it to us.  I thought it was a really good story. I liked the story because of the really good ending.

Vinny: Last week we learned how to multiply by 10.  To multiply by 10, you would count by 10s.  For example, to do 5 x 10, you would count 5 times like this: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50.

Dorinda: Last week we thought of Native American names to go along with the sunsets we painted after we read The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. My Native American Name was Little Leaping Dolphin.  I loved making up a Native American Name.

Graham: In Math we did a multiplication by 10 game.  I liked it because it was easy.  My technique is putting a zero at the end of whatever number you are multiplying by.

Hunter: On Monday in Art, we made little winter houses out of clay.  They are coil houses.  We used clay and we rolled a ball, squished it, then made another ball to roll into a long snake.  Then we wrapped them around the flat bottom.  Then we made a pinch pot roof to put on top.

Morgan: We have Kindergarten Buddies in Mrs. Messina’s class.  We watched the Legend of the Indian Paintbrush movie with them.  Then we painted sunsets with our buddies.  I had fun with my Kindergarten buddy.

Brianna: This week in Writing Workshop we made up characters so we could write stories about our characters.  We also got to draw a picture of our character.  We made a list of what they look like on the outside and what they’re like on the inside.

Kate: On Monday we changed seats.  We split into tables with three desks at each table.  I have Thomas, Alonso, and myself at my table.

Thomas: Yesterday we had Gym.  At Gym we had basketball practice.  How to shoot the basketball is you try to flick it up into the net.

Kyle: We made up a dice game for multiplication called Cover the Product.  It has cards and dice.  First you roll the dice.  Then you pick a card.  If it is a two on the dice and a six on the card, the problem would be 2 x 6. Then, you’d figure out the answer and color in the product on the game board.

Henry: In Literacy we are starting something new.  We are doing phonics.  Phonics is about word families.  Word families are like long e, long a, and other vowels.  We got notebooks to do our phonics work in.

Kyleigh: Last Library at Green Meadow School, Mrs. Patino taught us about dictionaries.  We worked on looking up words.  We also checked books out and played games on the computers.  Then we went back to class.

Samantha: Last Wednesday we went to Mr. Mehigan’s class and watched Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving.  It was about when Charlie Brown and his friends had Thanksgiving dinner.  They also went on the Mayflower in the movie.  I liked the movie because I thought it was very funny.

Rory: Last week we received dictionaries from the Maynard Elks.  They are very nice people who help other people.  Then we wrote thank you notes.

Ms. Little: I am looking forward to meeting with parents for conferences. We will discuss your child’s progress and their report card will be given to you at this time.  If you have questions, comments, or concerns after our meeting, please contact me.  I’m also happy to set up an additional time to meet. Have a great weekend. J

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush

We met with our Kindergarten Buddies in Mrs. Messina's class for the first time a few weeks ago.  We watched a movie about The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush by Tomie DePaola. After watching, listening, and talking about the story, we felt inspired to paint.  Using watercolors, we painted a sunset with our kindergarten buddy, just like Little Gopher did in the story.

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Newsletter 11-17-11

The Green Meadow Gazette

November 17, 2011

Upcoming & Important Events:

·  November 18^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·   November 23^rd  – Dismissal at 11:25

·  November 24^th  – Thanksgiving (no school)

·  November 25^th – No school

·   December 1^st – Parent/Teacher Conferences

·   December 2^nd – Parent/Teacher Conferences

Classroom News:

Thomas: This week and last week we got D.E.A.R. spots.  A D.E.A.R. spot is where you would read by yourself.  My D.E.A.R. spot is by Ms. Little’s desk.

Morgan: In Social Studies we learned that Pilgrims only had a little bit of space in their houses.  The Pilgrims were lucky though because the Wampanoags only had beds made out of sticks.  I learned a lot about the Pilgrims.

James: Yesterday we talked about the Pilgrims.  We all read a packet titled “Home Sweet Home.” I learned about daub.  Daub was a thick paste made from water, sand, and straw. They used it to make houses. I liked the highlighting.

Hunter: Last week when we were at the Library we learned about atlases and used Google Earth. Then we lined up, and then we left.

Kate: This Monday in Art we put paper mache on our bowl.  We dipped pieces of newspaper into the bucket of mache.  We did it three different ways.  There is vertical, horizontal, and the inside of the bowl.  There were three buckets.  The mache was made out of water and wheat.  When you take the newspaper out, you have to squeegee it first.

Henry: In Writing Workshop we wrote stories that could happen in real life but didn’t really happen.  We took our seed stories from our notebook then used it to write the realistic fiction story on the next blank page.  I wrote two stories that I think are kind of funny.  One is about how my shoe got loose and hit someone in the shin, and then the soccer ball hit my face.  The other one is about me getting hit in the face by a ball, flying into the net, doing backflips, running into a soccer net post, and getting knocked out.

Brianna: This week we read Time for Kids.  I learned that there are bats called bumble bats.  I also learned that bats are mammals, have wings, and can fly. I enjoy reading Time for Kids. 

Vinny: Yesterday we read Time for Kids.  It was about bats.  I learned that bats aren’t blind.

Alonso: Last week we learned three ways to read a book.  One way is to read the pictures.  The second way is to read the words.  The third way is to retell the story.  It was interesting because I did not know that before.

Kyle: We read a story called Brave Irene.  In Brave Irene there was a snowstorm and Irene has to go through it to deliver a dress.  First we read the pictures together and then we read the words. Last, we retold the story.  To retell a story first you have to read the story. Last, you have to tell how it went without reading the words.

Hannah: Lately in Math we have been studying multiplication.  A few weeks ago we read a book called Sea Squares.  In the book there was a rhyme about an animal that lives in the sea, and with each animal there was a multiplication problem.  After we went through most of the book, we made our own sea squares page.

Kyleigh: Last week our class read the pictures from the story Brave Irene.  How you read the pictures is you look at them and think about what’s happening in the story. I bet we learned a lot from Brave Irene!

Joseph: Once our class read a book called Brave Irene.  First we read the pictures, and then we read the words.  When we read the words we checked to see if we had read the pictures right.  Then we went back to our seat and sat down for the next lesson.

Dorinda: Sunday was Morgan’s birthday.  So on Monday she brought a book to read.  It was a duck book.  It was about ducks who liked to skate.  It was a great story.

Cara: We have been reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.  We are at the part where he gets a new name.  We’re also at the part where he gets another new owner.  The owner is very loving and caring.  Oh and I forgot to tell you that Edward’s new name is Jangles.  We predicted his new owner is about four years old.  I hope it never ends.

Lindsey: This week we made book bags.  We put 3, 4, or 5 books in it.  Some were chapter books and some were picture books.  I think we are good at picking out books.

Rory: Yesterday in Writing Workshop we made up our own characters.  For example, the character’s name might be Jane, and Jane might hate cows and love roller coasters.  We made lists in our notebooks of things like that except more.

Robbi: In Math this week we worked on multiplying by 5.  We played a game called Find the Sum x 5.  How you play is you roll the dice, then add up the numbers, then multiply the answer.  For example, if you roll a 3 and a 5, you would do 8 x 5 = 40 and color in the square about 40 on the game sheet.

Aiden: This week in Gym we played Crazy Tag.  How you play is you tag people with different things.  We also played a game that you kick a bowling pin down. I liked Gym because we get to run when we play crazy tag.

Samantha: On Thursday we went to Ms. Burns’ class for Reading Buddies.  My reading buddy was Prisca.  We listen to our buddy read until we hear a timer.  We sit elbow to elbow and knee to knee.

David: This week we learned how to Read to Self.  We read in our reading spots around the room.  During Read to Self the kids are reading quietly and the teacher is reading with the kids.

Reese: Last week we started multiplication and made books called Circles and Stars.  It helped us with our times facts.  We rolled the dice and then whatever numbers we rolled would be turned into a times sentence.  For example, if I rolled a 2 and an 8, it would be 2 x 8 = 16. So we would draw 2 circles with 8 stars in each circle.

Graham: Last week we were multiplying facts by 2.  The trick to multiply by 2 is to add the 1^st number to itself or to double the number.  I liked it because it was easy.  After we learned about it we played a game.  I lost.

Ms. Little: Parent/Teacher Conference reminders have been sent home in your child’s backpack folder.  Please contact me if you need to change your conference time and we can reschedule.  Have a great weekend. J