Time flies when you are having fun!

I can't believe it is  December already. If your house is like mine it is buzzing with planning and getting ready for the upcoming holidays. There is nothing like wrapping presents, grading papers, baking, hiding the elf that is currently living in my house (Elf on the Shelf), writing lesson plans, dance performances and practice, holiday musicals, enjoying holiday festivities (like the Fire and Ice parade, The Nutcraker, Winnie the Pooh's Christmas at Old Creamery, and a lot more!) and having that cycle around while still enjoying my two little ones! :) Life is hectic at times, but I love it and wouldn't change a thing! 

Starting today, when students receive a red ticket, they will be bringing home a slip with their name on it and why they received a red ticket. This way they can share all the wonderful things they are doing with you at home! 

Math- For the last month we have been working on multiplication. We have gone through all of our basic facts, and a lot of strategies. We will continue to work on multiplication facts up until winter break. The kids are going to be introduced to arrays today. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED CUT! You would not believe the days of math classes you have saved us!

Reading-  Last week we read On Granddaddy’s Farm by Thomas B. Allen. This is an autobiographical account of the author’s life as a child on his grandparents’ farm in the 1930s. He describes how life on the farm revolved around his grandfather’s job with the railroad. He also recalls the farm chores and playtime typical of the era. We worked on sequencing events and applying the text to the knowledge we had of farm life.

Text Talk- This week we read Grandpa's Teeth by Rod Clement. This is a story about a grandpa who wakes up to discover his teeth have been stolen. He suspects the whole town of stealing them. Everyone in town has to smile all the time to show they are innocent. The mystery is solved when it turns out that the dog had taken them. Words we discussed were: complain, description, mystery, suspect, conspiracy, and sleuth.

Science- This week students created and shared their Carbon printing inventions. I wrote their scores on the Chromatography page (oops, I didn't even notice till the next day!). So, needless to say our inventions next week will be on the carbon printing sheets. Sorry! The kids loved finger printing, some had a lot of fun taking prints of other areas of skin for their inventions too! :)

Today, students were introduced to chromatography. Chromatography uses water to cary pigments from one place to another. Today the kids learned chromatography separates a mixture of pigments in watercolor inks. The process of water moving through paper is called wicking. We marked cut stripes of coffee filters, marked them with a marker and let the water move and separate the pigment. Monday, the kids will have to guess which mystery pen made the mark on the coffee filter I will have on the board, on Tuesday, we will create our last invention. Our chromatography invention will be a colorful snowflake created by the students. These will hang proudly in our room.

Junior Achievement this week the students examined the role of a builder and became aware of how that job is interconnected with the job of a city planner. Students learned to understand the importance of the construction business in the city's economy and recognized some of the skills a builder needs. They reviewed the zones, worked on blueprints and why things are scaled down, last but not least, students created their own buildings and had to place it in the correct zone on the map. Next Wednesday, they will talk about what it takes to run a restaurant. 

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Jodie Yuska