Newsletter 9-20-12

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon

September 20, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Thursday, September 20th – Back to School Night 6:30 – 8:00

·        Friday, September 21^st – Scholastic book orders due

·        Friday, September 24^th – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Sophia: In Art on Monday we got our idea books so we could get ideas for how to make faces out of our initials. We cut out our initials with colored tissue paper. Then we glued the letters on a big piece of paper.

Colin: Yesterday we played a game in the classroom about Math. The game was about three ways to write a number. They are word form, standard form, and expanded form. Expanded form looks like this: 200 + 60 + 2.

Phaydan: Our class is doing a postcard project. We contacted our family and friends and asked them to send us postcards. Four people in our class got postcards already.

Lily: In Music we sang one song called a choice of our song name. We had fun in Music. We worked in groups, too.

Madison: We wrote about a story called How I Spent My Summer Vacation after we read it with a partner. It’s about a little boy who has an overactive imagination.

Jesse: In Math we played a place value game. One person read the card they chose from the bag out loud. The other person made the number with the place value blocks.  Then we checked that they made the right number.

Brenna: In Writing Workshop we thought about objects that matter to us. For example, the object I thought about was my doll. I wrote about the day after I got my doll.

Tatyiana: We got big United States maps. On our maps we are writing the names of the states. I live in the state of Massachusetts. I like the map.

Ali: Last week we started our acrostic name poems. First, we got a chart and wrote down all the adjectives that started with each letter on the chart. Then, we wrote the real poem and added words to make the lines longer. Then we were finished.

Katie: We voted on our class newsletter name. Last Tuesday we came up with ideas for a name. Then we made a list of the names. The name we chose was Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon.

Seanalee: Last week we read about the Olympics in Time for Kids Magazine. I read about a guy who had no legs that ran the race. I also read that Missy Franklin came home with four gold medals and one bronze.

Seamus: We have Library on Wednesday. Last time we had Library was last week. We had so much fun because we got to play on the computer.

Jameson: In Writing Workshop we wrote about places that are important to us. I wrote about Johnny Camp because it was my grandma’s birthday and we always go there for her birthday. I also write about Coco Keys. Jake, Anthony, Jake’s Dad and I went to Coco Keys and we had fun. I went in the hot tub, too.

Daniel: At Gym on Friday we practiced passing soccer balls. We played Freedom Ball and warmed up by doing relays and stretching. We all were sweating.

Emily: On Tuesday we used watercolors for our poems. We drew a picture and then put black crayon over our pencil lines. Then we took our watercolors and started painting.

Molly: Last week our class went over to Ms. Burns’ classroom and had first grade reading buddies. My buddy was named Megan. Then we helped them read.

Logan: Last week we started chip trading in Math. This is how it went. We had a white board, an eraser, a dry erase marker, and a big piece of paper with four up and down lines. We had a partner to help. The 1^st column was the thousands, the 2^nd column was the hundreds, the 3^rd column was the tens, and the 4^th column was ones. We rolled the dice and say it ended up as a 3, you have to put 3 chips in the ones space. When you get 10 chips in the ones place, you have to trade the 10 chips in for 1 chip to put in the tens column.

Tyler: I like Writing Workshop because we do it in our notebooks. I wrote a story of when I went to Ocean City. It was awesome there. We wrote about people that are important to us and moments we had with them.

Nathan: We started cursive on Monday. We learned the letters of the word “it.” For example, it looks like this:             . We liked it because we all wanted to learn cursive.

David: Ms. Little is reading us the book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. The main character is a china rabbit. He is the toy of a little girl named Abilene. Abilene’s grandmother made Edward for her. Abilene’s parents don’t really care about Edward. Edward doesn’t like this because he thinks he is a perfect rabbit. Every night Abilene says to Edward that she’ll come home to him when the little hand is on the twelve and the big hand is on the three. One night when she said that and left, their dog Rosie snatched Edward in her mouth. When Abilene’s mom came in she said, “Rosie, drop it!” Rosie dropped Edward. Soon after, Abilene’s family went on a boat to London. Some boys were tossing Edward around. One boy didn’t catch him and Edward went overboard and sank to the bottom of the ocean. He was caught by a fisherman and so he lived with someone named Nellie. Then he lived with Bull, and then with Sarah Ruth. Now he lives with a boy named Bryce.

Ms. Little: Our Back to School Curriculum Night is tonight from 6:30 – 8:00.  I will present important information about the third grade curriculum, expectations, and daily routines. If you are unable to attend, I will send home handouts of the material that was presented with your child on Friday. Hope to see you there! J

Newsletter 9-13-12

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon

September 13, 2012

 

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, September 14^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Thursday, September 20th – Back to School Night 6:30 – 8:00

·        Friday, September 21^st – Book orders due

·        Friday, September 24^th – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Jesse: In Math we made sunflower glyphs. We cut out the stem, petals, head, and seeds. Each part of the flower stood for something about us. My sunflower had 11 seeds because I was born in November.

Madison: Ms. Little is reading a story to us called The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. It is about a rabbit named Edward. Right now in the story he is lost. I like it so far.

Emily: Last week we learned how to do Read to Self. When we do Read to Self you have to read in your head and don’t move around. I think people enjoy it.

Tatyiana: Last week we made license plates with our names on them. I decorated mine with stars and hearts. I loved making them.

Logan: Last week our class did the Pledge of Allegiance over the loudspeaker. We did it slowly because the people that are saying it with us in the school are little and big kids so we went slow. I was nervous because it feels like you are on a stage speaking in front of a big audience.

Seamus: Last week we had Gym. It was so fun when the fire alarm went off. We also did a relay race.

Jameson: On the first day of school Ms. Little read Chrysanthemum to everyone. During the story I ate my snack. The girl in the story liked her name a lot and everyone was laughing at her because she had a long name. Then we talked about our names and why we have them. I’m named after my dad.

Nathan: In Writing we made Me Books. We drew and wrote about family and friends. We added as much detail as we could.

Katie: Last week we went to Library. We went to the story corner so Mrs. Patino could read us a story. After that we checked out a book. Sometimes after Mrs. Patino reads us a story we do an activity. I think people enjoy it.

  

Molly: This month we made September calendars. We had to write things we did or we were doing to help other people know more about ourselves. First, we wrote the month up top, and then we wrote the weekdays.  Next, we numbered the days. Finally, we wrote in the things we did.

Lily: This week in Music we learned how we could work together with music. We worked in stations. The instruments we used were drums and voices.

Daniel: Each person in our class has a job. Our jobs change every week.  Some of the jobs are messenger, line leader, and substitute. I hope to be the sharer soon.

Ali: Last week in class we drew self-portraits. We added lots of color and detail. We also had a lot of fun drawing them.

Tyler: In Art we colored the front of our ideas book and we made postcards.  I like Art because Mrs. Santillo teaches Art and I want to be an artist, and we do fun things too.

Brenna: Last Friday we made a rule list for our class. One of the rules we said is that we will respect each other.  Then we traced our hands and decorated them.

Sophia: Last week Ms. Little assigned us to bring in pictures to decorate our writing workshop notebook. We glued the pictures on our notebook. Ms. Little let us design it ourselves.

Seanalee: On the first day of school Ms. Little read us First Day Jitters. Then we wrote about our first day jitters. My picture said I was feeling happy. I drew a picture of me on the school bus smiling. I saw all of the pictures hanging up.

Elizabeth: Last week decorated our book boxes. Our book boxes were blank so we colored them or some people brought in pictures from home to put on their book boxes. When we finished they looked really good and colorful. I thought it was really fun.

Phaydan: Yesterday Mrs. Dankner read to us. The book she read was called A Fine, Fine School. It was a fine book because it was funny.

David: Ms. Little read us a story called Chrysanthemum on the first day of school. In the book, nobody liked Chrysanthemum because of her name. When she went home she said that school is no place for me and that she hated her name. Her parents wanted to make her feel better so they said, “Your name is beautiful!  And precious and priceless and fascinating. It’s everything you are.” This made her feel better. The next day at school they had Music. They thought the music teacher was fabulous and they would do anything to impress her. During Music, everyone was saying mean things about Chrysanthemum, like she’s named after a flower, or her name is so long. Then the Music teacher said, “I’m named after a flower, too!” Then they all liked Chrysanthemum’s name.

Ms. Little: Our class had a busy and productive start to the school year!  We hope to write and send our class newsletter home once a week.  Please read it carefully to find out what has been going on in our classroom.  Have a great weekend!

Welcome Back to School!

Third grade is off to a terrific start! 

We have started to settle into the classroom and become comfortable with our classmates.  Each day we participated in different activities and games to help us learn more about each other.  We played "Grab a Question" and "Stand Up, Sit Down" games to learn about each others' likes and dislikes, and went on a "People Hunt" to find classmates with similar interests. We also chose a partner to interview and then introduce to the rest of the class.

In the first two days of school, we visited Mrs. Patino for Library and Ms. Lilley for Music.  Together, we read First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and afterwards discussed the significance of our own names. 

We are adjusting to our new routines, becoming acquainted with our classmates, and ready to begin a fantastic, eventful, and successful school year!

Newsletter 6-7-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

June 7, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Thursday, June 7^th – Wax Museum for Biography Project (1:15 – 2:00)

·        Thursday, June 7^th – 3^rd Grade Concert (7:00)

·        Tuesday, June 12^th – Walking field trip to Erikson’s (12:45 – 2:30)

·        Thursday, June 14^th – Last day of school (dismissal at 11:25)

Classroom News:

Thomas: Last week we went to the bank. We walked there and saw the inside of the ATM. Mrs. Copley asked me a question and my mom gave me the answer. We also saw the vault and the door weighed 18 tons! It also tells how many hours that it stays closed. At the end, they gave us a snack and we walked back to the classroom. I liked it because I’ve never been to those places in the bank before.

Lindsey: Yesterday we went to watch Ms. Burns’ class play. It was about Frog and Toad. My favorite one was The Shivers. There were six or seven plays. I had the best time.

Morgan: Last week we planted seeds in Science. We did it for the beginning of our soil unit. We have to water them almost every day. The kind of plants we planted were green beans. We each had a cup of soil. We took our pointer finger and made a small hole almost to the bottom. We took two green bean seeds and put them in the hole, and then we covered them up. After we did that, Ms. Little gave us little sticks to write our name on and what kind of plant it was.

Samantha: On Monday we had yoga with Mrs. Grundstrom/my mom. We had our greeting during yoga. We said good morning to the person and then did their favorite pose. For example, my favorite pose was the giraffe. We went all the way around the class. I had an awesome time. It was our last yoga class.

Kyleigh: Last week Ms. Little’s class watched a play. It was about the American Revolution. The play was by Mr. Thomas’ class. They tried their best! It was only words, no costumes, but it was still great! My favorite part was when Mr. Thomas told a funny joke. Then we left and went back to class.

Robbi: Last week we had Spring Fling. At recess, we did the conga line, we danced, we blew bubbles, we had leis, and we wrote on a big piece of paper to celebrate Spring Fling. We also did the cha cha slide, cotton-eyed joe, and the chicken dances.

Rory: Field Day is today (6-5-12). The theme is Survivor. I am on Team Tiger Survivors. The other team is called The Cucumbers. The Tiger Survivors’ colors are orange and black. The Cucumbers’ colors are green and black. I am very excited.

Reese: Samantha’s mom (Mrs. Grundstrom) comes into our classroom every month to teach us yoga. We have learned tons of poses. My favorite is the snake pose. It is fun to do! To thank her we made cards for her. We made a giant book of the cards, too. I think Mrs. Grundstrom deserved it because she is an awesome yoga teacher!

Aiden: This week we made buttons for our wax museum. How we made them was we took a bottle cap and a piece of paper. Then we taped them down to the paper. I turned my button into a football because I am going to be Tom Brady. I liked decorating my button.

Vinny: Yesterday we had indoor recess. We had it because it was raining. I played a game called Make 7. Some other choices during indoor recess are board games, building with cubes, using string, or coloring. I like outdoor recess better because we get to run around.

Henry: Lately this year we have been trying to finish up projects. One of those projects is the biography project. We will be practicing for our Kindergarten and 1^st grade buddies. Some parents are coming to the practices, too. For my biography project I am being David Beckham. Also, the Wax Museum is June 7^th. For our practices, we will dress up and pretend we are the person we are being for our project and pretend it is a real wax museum.

Kate: Last week we changed seats. There are six tables. I’m with Hannah, Henry, and Joseph. Another table is Kyle, James, Alonso, and Daniel. Another is Aiden, David, Graham, and Vinny. There are three other tables and they are Kyleigh, Reese, Dorinda, and Morgan. The other table is Thomas, Rory, and Lindsey. The last table is Brianna, Robbi, Samantha, and Cara.

Graham: Last week in Art we made bags to put our art supplies in. We each made a design to put on the bags. I drew a castle on my bag. The things we got to put in our bags were a stick of chalk, a mini pencil, and an eraser. You could choose a handful of either crayons or colored pencils. I chose colored pencils.

James: Last week we learned two more cursive letters. They were capital I and capital J. They looked like this: I and J. It was very easy to write. That is what we did for cursive last week.

David: Last week we went to Library. In Library we went on the computers. I went on a website called ABCya and I played a weird game called Kick Off. To play, you have to kick the soccer ball into the net. You have to press the key to move the soccer ball into the net. We didn’t check out books because it’s almost the end of school.

Hannah: Lately in read aloud we have finished reading book three in A Series of Unfortunate Events. We started reading a book called The Witches, but some people got a little bit freaked out. So, instead, we started the fourth book of A Series of Unfortunate Events. By now we have already finished it and hopefully we will start reading the fifth soon. But if we start the fifth book, then we probably won’t finish it in time for the end of the year. Even though we won’t finish it in time, A Series of Unfortunate Events is still a great series.

Kyle & Alonso: Mrs. Reilly is a teacher that comes into different classrooms to help the people in the class, so we made her thank you cards/letters.  We will give them to her on the last day of school. I think she will like the cards. Everyone worked hard on them. I wrote about when she brought flint in to show us what it looked like when we were learning about the Pilgrims. It was really nice of her to bring it in. We were writing her letters because she helped us a lot this year.

Dorinda & Brianna: Last week on Friday we practiced for our 3^rd grade concert. We practiced with Ms. Thomas’ class and Mr. Mehigan’s class. For the practice concert we had to sit on the floor. Everyone had to pick a song and I picked Jingle Bells. The choices were Jingle Bells, Pop Goes the Weasel, Hush Little Baby, When the Saints Go Marching In, Starlight Starbright, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and the Theme from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. At the concert, we are going to sing songs and play our recorders. I hope you enjoy the show!

Ms. Little:  Please visit the “Wax Museum” for our biography presentations! It will be Thursday, June 7^th from 1:15 – 2:00. We have worked very hard to research, write, and practice our speech about our famous person. Please note that this will be our last class newsletter. If you have any questions or concerns regarding upcoming events please contact me. Enjoy the weekend.

Newsletter 5-31-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

May 31, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, June 1^st – Book orders due

·        Friday, June 1^st – Biography projects due

·        Monday, June 4^th – Biography costumes due

·        Tuesday, June 5^th – Field Day

·        Thursday, June 7^th – Wax Museum for Biography Project (1:15 – 2:00)

·        Tuesday, June 12^th – Walking field trip to Erikson’s (12:45 – 2:30)

Classroom News:

Hannah: Lately in cursive we have learned 3 more letters: uppercase X, V, and W. The way we write them in cursive is X, V, and W. The only letters are have left to learn are B, F, G, I, J, L, P, Q, R, S, and T, and we are done. We have already finished lowercase letters and we have moved on to capital letters and are almost done. It’s a good idea to have kids know more than one way to write.

Graham: Last week Ms. Little read us a book about colonial jobs. These are some of the jobs. The cobbler is someone that made shoes. Then there was the hatter which made hats. There was the blacksmith which made things out of iron. There was the pewterer which made things out of pewter. There was the tanner which made things from leather. There was the silversmith which made things out of silver. There was the cabinetmaker which made things out of wood. There was the clockmaker which made clocks. There was the miller which ground wheat. There was the wheelwright which is someone who makes wheels. Then there was a cooper which makes barrels. Then there was a barber which makes wigs. There was the tailor which makes clothes. There was a whitesmith which made things out of tin. For the game, I was a blacksmith.

Samantha: On Tuesday Mrs. Titus and Mrs. Ablard came in from Fowler to answer our questions after we went to Up Day. We asked all different questions. For example, Morgan asked where we go to get in the building. Mrs. Titus said we have to go in the side entrance with the 5^th graders. I did not ask any questions but other people did.

Lindsey: Last week Mr. Marc came in from the Library. We played bingo. I was on Team B. We had to do all of these games. We would get cards to get bingo. We had to answer true or false questions. If we got them right we got a card. If we got them wrong we wouldn’t get a card.

Thomas: Last week we did adding and subtracting money in Math. We practiced on the Smartboard and on our white boards. We did this because in life you have to add and subtract money. If you’re trying to buy something at Best Buy like a computer and a video game, you’d need to know how much it costs. If the computer costs $25 and the video game costs $0.99, that’s like a dollar, so total amount would be $26 or $25.99.

Aiden: Last week we started a new book called The Witches. It’s about a kid whose parents die and he now lives with his Grandmama. She tells him about witches. We stopped reading it because some people were scared. So we started reading the fourth book of A Series of Unfortunate Events instead.

Joseph: In Cursive we did the letters K, U, and Y. We got to listen to music when we did the sheet. When we did cursive at the beginning of the year everyone was excited. Once we finish the page in our packet we do practice. Practice is when we get an extra sheet with the letter we just learned and practice on it.

Brianna: On Monday it was Memorial Day. Memorial Day is to celebrate veterans who have passed. We normally have a parade and then we go to graveyards to celebrate how they fought for us and our country. So on Memorial Day kids didn’t have school and adults didn’t have work because it was a holiday.

Kyleigh: Last week Ms. Little’s class had Library. We checked out interesting books. We also went on the computer and played some fun games. I played a game called Create a Car. It made me learn how to build! Thank you for reading this!

Robbi: Last Thursday we went to Up Day. Up Day is when we go to the Fowler for 4^th grade buddies. We got to do a project with them in the classroom. We also had lunch with our buddy. The cafeteria is big so the way you get lunch is you walked into the big room and pick your lunch. We also had a 30 minute recess.

Morgan: In Writing we have to pick a poem for our class poem book. The reason we are doing this is because we want to have a book of all our poems from each person in the class. We picked one poem that we think is our best. Everyone gets to have one poem in the book.

Dorinda: Two weeks ago we finished reading A Series of Unfortunate Events #3 – The Wide Window. This week we’re reading A Series of Unfortunate Events #4. A Series of Unfortunate Events is a nice book and lots of people like it. There are 13 books in the series. Aunt Josephine got eaten by leeches in the third book.

Cara: Last week in Music we practiced our songs for the concert. We learned part three of the song. We also practiced our recorders. I am doing Beethoven. At the end of music some kids played the song in front of the class.

Rory: After Up Day we got brochures. The fourth graders made them. Mine was made by a girl named Kayla. It had specials like Gym, Library, and Art. And it had the field trips they go on, like Erikson’s and more! They had a map of the fourth grade hallway which was great because it will help me when I go to 4^th grade.

Henry: Lately in poetry people have been finishing the drafting papers and are doing final copies. So far I’m on my final copies. So far, I’ve written eleven poems. I’m not even done with all my poems. There are about ten more. My topic is soccer players. The only two players I did were Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. I also wrote one poem about Iker Casillas but that is the only poem I wrote about him.

David: This week we did spelling. First we put our words on cards. Then we had to pick something to do on the Smartboard. A friend and I were partners to practice our spelling words. When you practice with a partner, you give your cards to your partner and they say the word. Then you have to say to them how to spell it.

Kate: Last week we celebrated filling up the bulletin board with paws. We went outside to do it. At the celebration we got bubbles. Some bubble cases were orange and some were black. We also had a dance party and they gave us popsicles.

Vinny: Yesterday we went to Gym and we made some posters for our teams. We had to decorate them. The posters are for field day. There is one team called The Cucumbers. There’s another team named the Tiger Survivors.

Reese: Last week in class we made colonial job signs. There are tons of jobs. One is the hatter. The hatter made hats out of beaver skins. My colonial job sign said “The Mad Hatter.” I liked making the signs. It was fun!

Alonso: In Math we did grocery shopping. We had $20 to spend and we had these grocery magazines. We used them to look at the things to buy. We had a group of four or five people and we each took turns picking something to buy. We wrote it down on a piece of paper. We put the name of the item and its price. We added all the items up at the end.

Ms. Little:  Biography projects (timelines and paragraphs) are due this Friday, June 1^st. Costumes and/or props are due Monday, June 4^th.  Our “Wax Museum” for our biography projects will be Thursday, June 7^th from 1:15 – 2:00. Please contact me if you are unable to come at this time as there are times we will be practicing for other classes that you may come to instead. Enjoy the weekend.

Newsletter 5-24-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

May 24, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Monday, May 28^th – Memorial Day (no school)

·        Wednesday, May 30^th – Field Trip to Middlesex Savings Bank

·        Friday, June 1^st – Book orders due

Classroom News:

Samantha: On Monday we started drafting our poems for our poem books. Our poems are all about one topic. My topic is nature and I have 10 or 11 poems. There are all different kinds of poems. For example, a ballad is one kind. I like the poetry unit.

Cara: In Music we learned a new part of a song. Then we sang it in groups. We practiced our assigned song on the recorders. We have assigned seats to sit. Some people sat in the hall and some in the classroom.

Hannah: The four choices in literacy are read to self, read to someone, work on writing, and spelling. Lately, in literacy, Ms. Little is keeping a list of people who aren’t behaving, and those people don’t get to choose what they do next time during literacy. She will choose what literacy activity you do first and what order you do them in. But if you behave, you will be able to choose what activity you do first and what order you do them in. I think it was a good idea to make a list of kids who are not behaving.

Robbi: Last week we played dodgeball. We played because we filled up the marble jar. I loved playing dodgeball because dodgeball is my favorite game in gym. We went to the gym during a time when Mrs. Hazel did not have other students and played with our class. I got out only three times.

Kyle: Last week we went to Library. I like Library because there are computers. My favorite computer game is Sugar, Sugar. Sugar, Sugar is a game where you get the sugar in cups. I also like checking out books. The books are really good. Some are also funny.

Joseph: Last week we had Gym. We played triple bucket relay. The triple bucket relay is something that we do for a warm up. This is how we do it: we stack 6 buckets face down, 3 on the bottom, 2 in the middle, and 1 on the top. Then we did the bone relay. We have to get a word out of the bucket and put it on a certain part of the body on the skeleton. The team that gets all the parts right first wins! But the team that gets all the bones right last or gets one wrong loses. Then you take a sheet that has a skeleton on it and the word you picked out of the bucket you put on the rectangles on the sheet. Then Ms. Little picks us up.

James: Last month we started Book 3 of A Series of Unfortunate Events. The Baudelaires just rescued Aunt Josephine but the leeches are attaching the boat. Count Olaf is going to get rid of Aunt Josephine. That is what happened and what will happen.

Kate: In Art we drew faces from a card. I got a jack. After that, we did an eye exercise. There are two hard ones. One of them is a horse and the other one is an owl. This is how you do the eye exercises. You get a paper and copy what’s in the first box. In the box there is a shape and then there is a shape over it.

Morgan: On Monday, Ms. Little read a book to us in Math. The book was called Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday. The book was a math book about money! As Ms. Little read, we were subtracting from $1.00 because Alexander was losing his money.

Reese: Last week in Poetry we wrote Shape Poems. What you do is you choose something about your topic. For example, my topic is seasons, so for my shape poem I wrote about Santa Claus. We made a list of 20 describing words or more. Then we would draw a shape of something related to what we wrote about. I drew a Santa hat. Then you would write those describing words around the shape. I liked making them. J

Vinny: Last week we compared some money in Social Studies. We looked at different kinds of money, regular (2012) money, and colonial money. Then we tried to sort them into different groups and talked about what was the same and different. The 2012 dollar has George Washington and the colonial money didn’t. The colonial money had a picture of a flag. They both had signatures and borders. I liked looking at the money.

David: This week we did Spelling. We got out new lists and we wrote our words on cards. When we were done making our cards, we picked a spelling activity from the list on the Smartboard. Some spelling choices are practice with a partner, write your words three times on your white board, write in rainbow words, or put your words in ABC order.

Brianna: Last week we did a reading thing. The reasons why we did it was 1. To be a better reader, and 2. To read and know what you’re reading about. We had to go with different teachers like Mrs. Corke, Mrs. Matthei, and Mrs. Enneguess, and we had to go to a different room.

Lindsey: Last week we went to Mr. Mehigan’s classroom to see a play. It was about Paul Revere. I was sitting in the front row. It was a very short play. I had a great time. I liked Amelia’s part. She did a great job as the narrator.

Graham: Last week in Writing Workshop we wrote free form poems. Free form poems are poems that you can write however you want. On a Ballad you have to have stanzas, a Mentiras has to be a lie, a Diamante has to be in the shape of a diamond, and so on.  And you can write whatever you want on a free form, and you can make it rhyme if you want. For example:

Sardines are very bland

But when they land

They’re canned.

Kyleigh: On May 21, 2012, Ms. Little’s class was collecting postcards and reading them during meeting. Morgan had a postcard from Hawaii and I received one from Paris. It was from my grandparents. People were traveling places and sending postcards because they wanted to help us fill up the whole map! And we did it! We filled the whole map! And more postcards can still be sent.

Dorinda: Last week Ms. Little read us The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. It was a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Before we read the story, we acted out a play. I learned that Paul Revere married Sarah, and Sarah died, so he married Rachel. I also learned that Paul Revere’s ride was dangerous, and that Paul Revere was a silversmith.

Rory: On Monday we played Sparkle. Sparkle is a spelling game. It is when Ms. Little says a word like mouse. Then someone says “M.” The next person says “O.” The person next to them says “U” and two other people say “S” and “E.” Then the next person says the part of speech, like if it’s a noun, verb, adjective, or adverb. If that person is right, then the next person uses the word in a sentence. The person after that says, “Sparkle!” And the person who is sparkled has to sit down.

Thomas: Yesterday in Math we were reviewing how much each coin was worth. We also did adding and subtracting with money. A penny is worth 1 cent, a dime is with 10 cents, a quarter is worth 25 cents, and a nickel is worth 5 cents. There is money all over the earth except it’s not all the same.

Alonso: Last week we had 1^st grade buddies. It was one of our last times with our buddies. I had a great time. We read Frog and Toad. I thought it was funny. I wonder when it will be over. I think it’s fun to have reading buddies.

Aiden: Last week in Cursive we learned uppercase H, N, and M. M looks like this:  M. N looks like this: N. H looks like this: H. I like cursive because it’s a different way to write.

Henry: Lately in Social Studies we have been learning about Colonial times and money. So we made our own money. Mine is called Henry Socks. The value of my money is 7 dollars. The colors on it are black, purple, and magenta. My money is square shaped also. We did this after we compared colonial money to 2012 money.

Ms. Little:  Homework assignments are going to become less frequent for the remainder of the school year. Your child will be responsible for reading 20 minutes, studying spelling, and working on their biography project each night, but will not always have a worksheet to complete. Please let me know if you have any questions.  Enjoy the weekend.