Newsletter 1-26-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

January 26, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·      Friday, January 27^th – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Cara: In Math we made a snowman glyph. This is how you make one. Ms. Little makes this list and, for example, a girl would put a ski hat on their snowman but if you are a boy then you would put a top hat on your snowman. It goes on with tons of different things like that. That is how you make a snowman glyph.

James: We had Gym last week. We were working on gymnastics. I thought it was lots of fun working on points of balance and things like that.

Kyleigh: In Math we are working on subtracting across zero. Subtracting across zero is not so easy. Let’s just say you had 706 – 99. You can’t subtract   6 – 9 so you’d go to the zero in the tens place. Since there’s a zero there you’d go to the 7 in the hundreds place. You’d cross out the 7 and change it into a 6, change the 0 in the tens place into a 10, then change the 10 into a 9, and then go back to the ones place and make the 6 into a 16 so you can solve your problem.

Lindsey: Two weeks ago our class had kindergarten buddies. We played a game called “More Than” with cards. It’s the same game as War. I liked playing More Than.

Hunter: This week in Science we learned about matter. Solids, liquids, and gases are matter. We looked for pictures that had different properties in magazines. We found pictures of things that were shiny, hard, rough, flexible, and smooth.

Kyle: Sometimes our class looks at a magazine called Time for Kids. It is a magazine that has a lot of information in it. Last week there was a story about a twister that happened recently. There are a lot of Time for Kids magazines.

Henry: On Monday the 23^rd of January we were learning about homonyms and homophones. We were mostly learning about homophones but we were still learning about homonyms. Homophones are like these: dear and deer. They are words that sound the same but have different meanings. Then Ms. Little had us draw pictures of homophones. My homophones were the mane on a horse and the main character, like Spongebob.  I used a lot of detail.

Kate: Two weeks ago we learned how to write the letters i and t in cursive. We have cursive booklets with letters that have all the same strokes. We just did u and w. We already did i and t.

Aiden: Last week in cursive we wrote the word “it” in cursive and we made the “it” into a picture. For example, I made a bunch of “its” into the laces on a football. I like cursive because it is a different way to write.

Samantha: Last week we learned cursive w and u. Everyone in our class has a cursive packet and folder. We learned that w, u, i, and t all have the same stroke. It is called the undercurve stroke.

Thomas: Yesterday we learned how to round and subtract (estimate differences) in Math. We played a game with dice. We rolled to make 2 three digit numbers, then rounded them to the nearest 10 or 100 and then we subtracted.

Alonso: Last week we read the book Martin’s Big Words. It’s about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and how he grew up. I think his life was hard.

Robbi: Last Thursday we found out who our new 1^st grade reading buddies were. My new buddy was Rose. She read a poem book but I forgot what it was called. I had a really fun time and I want to go back!

Rory: Last week in Writing Workshop we started typing our realistic fiction stories on Netbooks. Netbooks are pretty much a small laptop. Before we started typing our stories we practiced logging on and typing in Microsoft Word because it was our first time.

Dorinda: On Monday we watched the BFG movie. I learned that Sophie and the BFG caught the giants and put them in a big hole so they wouldn’t get out. The movie was funny, that’s why I liked it.

David: In Music we played our recorders. We learned a new song so we played Merrily We Roll Along. Then we played a game called Stella Ella Olla.

Graham: Last week in Library we went on the computers. We watched videos of animals. I liked the shark video.

Reese: Last week in class we learned about MCAS. It’s a test we take. We practiced reading. The book was called Little House in the Big Woods. It was a short version of the book. After we read the book we answered questions. It was fun!

Morgan: In Art class we are making book homes. I have never done this kind of craft before. I like this craft because you get to put in towels for the bathroom.

Hannah: Lately for read aloud we have finished the BFG and started a new book called Swindle. So far it’s about two kids named Griffin and Ben who go to a sleepover in an old house that will be destroyed the next morning. At night when Ben is sleeping, Griffin finds a big desk and when he opens the drawer he finds an old Babe Ruth baseball card that he thinks will solve his family’s money problems. The next morning they escape as quickly as possible and when Ben asks what the point was of staying there Griffin shows him the baseball card and told him they should trade it for some money. So they walk over to a store where you could trade valuable things for money. The owner of the store said the card was not the original and he would only pay $120 for it. The boys took the money and Griffin gave half of it to Ben for staying at the house with him. But when he got home and turned on the TV he saw the man from the store on the news holding the baseball card! He quickly went back to the store and told him to give back his baseball card. But the store owner said he sold it even though he really didn’t. Griffin knew he was lying and wasn’t happy.

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 plastic spoons, disinfecting wipes, and dry-erase markers.  Any donations would be greatly appreciated! Enjoy the weekend. J

Newsletter 1-12-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

January 12, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·      Friday, January 13^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·      Monday, January 16^th – Martin Luther King Jr. Day (no school)

·      Tuesday, January 17^th – Professional Day (no school)

·      Friday, January 20^th – Book orders due

Classroom News:

Aiden: This week we started reading Swindle.  Swindle means to cheat, trick, steal, lie, rob, or backstab.  I think I will like Swindle because it sounds devious.

Hannah: Lately in Spelling we are trying a new thing where you have a paper covered with blank squares. The blank squares are for us to write our spelling words letter by letter.  After we are done, we cut the letters out and put them in order.  Then we get a colored piece of paper and glue the letters on to make our spelling words.  Last, we put the paper in the finished work bin.

Lindsey: Last week we read Time for Kids.  Cara and I were partners.  We only got to the 2^nd page.  It was two times the regular magazine size.  It was about 2011.

Kyleigh: In Math, Ms. Little’s class practiced subtracting with two digit numbers. First, you start in the ones place. I would subtract if I could. If I can’t subtract then I regroup. You regroup from the tens place so you can solve the problem.

Samantha: In Writing Workshop Ms. Little taught us to show, not tell.  We read A Weekend with Wendell and did a retell of it.  Then we tried to retell it by playing it like a movie in our mind.  I could picture it better when we tried to tell it like we were watching a movie in our mind.

Brianna: Last week in writing we wrote a sloppy copy about what we did over vacation and I wrote about Christmas.  We wrote details and used sequencing words.  Then we wrote our final copy as a paragraph.

James: Last week we received two postcards. One was from Oklahoma, and the other was from Rhode Island.  Now we only have five states left.

Kyle: Sometimes we play multiplication around the world.  The rules are that someone holds up a card that has a math problem on it. He or she shows it to two people and whoever answers it first moves on to another person.  If someone beats his or her whole class in a row then that person gets a prize.

Robbi: Last Thursday we read A Weekend with Wendell and talked about character. The book was about how Wendell went to his friend Sophie’s house. When Sophie played with Wendell he was very rude because he kept telling Sophie what to do. Then, when they played firefighter, Sophie made the rules and after that no one cared who was what. At the end they were friends and Sophie wanted him to come back.

Kate: In Art we worked on book houses.  They are books that we’re making into houses by writing rooms on sticky notes. Most people are on gluing their pages together.

Morgan: We read The Quiltmaker’s Gift. It was about a king who wanted a quilt, but the lady who made the quilts said he had to be poor in order to get a quilt.  He had to give away all his belongings.  The lesson was to not be greedy and not have two birthdays in a year.

Dorinda: At the beginning of each month we make a calendar. We write down the dates in that month, the days of the week, and the month’s name, like January.  I like doing our calendars.  We do it to learn more about people.

Thomas: Yesterday we learned to regroup three digit numbers.  It was a lot of fun playing the math game.  You roll the dice to make your numbers and if you regroup you get a point. If you don’t regroup then you don’t get a point.

Graham: Last week in Science we watched Brainpop.  It was about matter. I learned that people are made out of liquids, solids, and gases, but I’m not sure about plasma.

Alonso: Last week we finished listening to the BFG.  It was a fascinating book. I liked the author’s work. It really sucked me in!

Rory: Last week we filled our marble jar so we celebrated. Ms Little chose this time because we take turns.  She chose that we would watch a movie, so we voted on which one. We all voted to watch The Muppet Show 3.

Joseph: In Spelling we are making cards. We write our spelling words on the cards. Then we do this: put them in ABC (alphabetical) order, practice spelling words with a partner, or write every spelling word three times.

Cara: We had 1^st grade reading buddies! We read a couple of books. We only see them every other week. When we were all lined up the teachers said that we would have different buddies next time. I liked my first grade buddy but I can’t wait to find my new one!

David: In Music we played our recorders and we played games. We practiced Hot Cross Buns. It goes B-A-G. B-A-G and then G-G-G-G-A-A-A-A, B-A-G.

Hunter: Last week we went to Library. We listened to idiom stories and we got to check out a book. The book I checked out was about sign language. And then we left.

Vinny: In Gym we did stations.  They were balance stations because we did gymnastics.  We did the donkey kick at one of the stations.

Reese: Yesterday in Phonics we started to work on long u words. For example, unicorn is a long u word because you can hear the u in the word.  We read by ourselves or with a partner and looked for long u words in our books. Then we wrote lots of long u words down. I thought it was fun!

Henry: Yesterday the teacher gave me, Samantha, Brianna, and Rory cards. Each card had a quality on it.  We had to act the quality out to help us learn about character. She called on me first but I could not think of anything so she gave me a second to think by calling someone else.  Then she picked Rory. He was on the ground wailing, complaining, asking for popcorn, and acting like he was watching TV. His character’s quality was lazy. Brianna’s quality was mean.  Samantha’s quality was silly.  When it was my turn, I asked for Alonso’s help.  He dropped a dictionary and I helped him by picking it up. My quality was kind.

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! Have a great weekend. J