Week in Review 10-12-15

BOOSTERTHON

What an amazing time we had at our Boosterthon Fun Run today! Your runners were unstoppable. We have had such a fun time learning about the character traits and helping our community and our school. Thank you so much for all the support you have given. Today an envelope is coming home with your runner with his/her pledge promises. If our class turns 100% of the money raised in by next Friday I will give them the next level on our Pledge O' Meter and we can have a hat day! I have included some silly selfie photos we took today and our class picture.

Language Arts

We are finishing up our unit on asking questions before, during and after we read and will be moving on to our unit on inferring next week. Spelling will also resume next week. We will be finishing up our personal narrative writing pieces we are working on and will be publishing them at the end of the week next week. This week we also took time to write letters to our first responders to thank them for risking their lives to help our community. Thank you to Dolly's mom for donating the stationary and taking the time to cut out the state and thank you words that we glued to the stationary. The writers did a great job. You will receive an email with photos from Fresh Grade once your writer has been tagged. But here is a sneak peak at the card.

Math

We have finished chapter 3 on subtraction and will have the test next Tuesday or Wednesday. We will begin our review on Monday. If your mathematician has not yet mastered rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 please continue to work on this at home. We will continue to have weekly addition and subtraction fact fluency tests each week. It is very important that your learner master these operations with fluency. 

Social Studies

We have finished chapter 2 South Carolina Rivers and Regions. We are working on our study guide together in class and this will come home on Monday, the test will be Thursday, October 22nd. Once the study guide is completed it will be loaded to the SC History blog page. We will begin chapter 3 on Tuesday.

Science

We have finished our unit on plants and a study guide went home today. It can also be found on the blog on the Science page. The test will be Tuesday. Please remember to sign and return the study guide on Tuesday. 

Other Information

Early Release is next Thursday.

Week in Review: 9-28--10-2

Boosterthon

Boosterthon is off to a great start! Our class is up to $4 a lap and only needs $1 more to reach an extra recess. Woo Hoo, who doesn't love extra recess? There is a special weekend challenge this weekend for a special prize to those who raise $60 or 2 people to pledge $1 per lap. Our classroom receives 10% of the money we earn. So log on to funrun.com or just click on the picture below.

This week we have learned that TOGETHER WE... 

 AND...

Math Updates

We have begun our unit on subtraction. Please have your mathematician continue to practice fast fact fluency for subtraction. Next week we will be working on subtraction fluency with numbers 20 and less. This is so important to know these basic facts quickly as we begin subtraction with regrouping next week. 

Social Studies

This week we have been learning about South Carolina's regions and land features. The test on Chapter 2 will most likely be next Friday so be on the look out for the study guide next week. 

Science

We are currently studying plants and plant life cycles. This test is scheduled for Tuesday, October 13th. A study guide will come home next week. Ask your scientist to tell you about the life cycle of the plant. Below is a link a video we watched this week. Have your scientist tell you what is happening in the videos.

Literacy

We continue to work on asking questions while we read to help us understand the text. We also continue to look at blends in spelling patterns. We will begin weekly vocabulary word study as well. 

Week In Review 9-10-15

Don't forget that tomorrow is Grandparent's Day here at BES. Click on the link to see important information about parking.

Reading

We continue to work on building our reading stamina and strategies. I enjoying getting to know your readers. We continue working on stopping to make sure what we read makes sense. This is very important because third graders are reading to learn, not just learning to read.

Math

We have begun chapter 2, addition. Look for the chapter 1 test in today's blue folder. 

Social Studies

Don't forget our maps and globes test tomorrow. There is a copy of the study guide on the SC History page on the right. Please sign and return the study guide by tomorrow. 

Science

We are finishing up with scientific method and will be beginning plants next week. 

Week in Review September 3rd

Important Dates

September 7 - Labor Day - No School

September 11- Grandparents Day Breakfast (must have already turned in form)

September 24 - Early Release Day (all students dismissed at 11:40 a.m.)

 

For Your Information...

BES Cafeteria

The cafeteria does sell ice cream and extras such as chips and flavored water.  Please remember that your child is able to charge these items on their lunch card unless you send a note to let me know they are not allowed to charge these items. Please discuss this with your child and make sure they understand your wishes with regard to charging extras to their lunch account.

Field Trip Information

In the red folder today is a letter regarding our February field trip to the orchestra. Mrs. Lee needs the $15 by Friday, September 18 so that she will have time to order the recorders for each student. If money is not received by the 18^th your child will be able to borrow a recorder, but will not have one of his/her own. If you need assistance with this fee, please email me so that we can find resources to support

Information from P.E. Teachers

We are excited to participate in the ACTIVE GAMECOCK LOG again. The log went home last week in your child’s Thursday folder.

*Please have your child bring in an old sock to keep as a slate eraser if you have not already done so.

We have finished our chapter on place value and will move into chapter 2, addition, on Tuesday.

 

My Math Online Resources

Students can access practice activities and additional My Math resources by clicking on this LINK. The log in codes came home today in the red folder. We will also be taping one to the inside cover of the agenda.

 

ELA Updates

Reading

We read lots of great picture books this week to wrap up our Reading Is Thinking focus from the past 2 weeks. Students now have multiple ways to stop and think about their reading that we will refer to often in class. Be sure to ask them about the book Stellaluna that we read on Wednesday. In this text we were able to identify many different thinking spots.

Writing

We will be taking a brief pause from our narrative writings to work on special grandparent writings. Grandparents will be recognized at BES on Friday, 9/11 with a special breakfast. You must have turned in the yellow form. We will be sending home these special writings for you to share with grandparents.

Science Process Skills

This week we continued to look at the science process skills. The following science standard is our focus.

3.S.1A. Conceptual Understanding: The practices of science and engineering support the development of science concepts, develop the habits of mind that are necessary for scientific thinking, and allow students to engage in science in ways that are similar to those used by scientists and engineers.

SC History

We will be studying the different regions of SC over the upcoming weeks. Students will be researching each region and organizing their information.

SC Regions - Elementary | StudySC

studysc.org

Also don’t forget to check the side link for the Bear Bulletin and Paw Print.

Have a wonderful Labor Day!

Week in Review August 27, 2015

Fall MAP Testing Dates

Reading- Friday, 8/28 @ 8:05

Math- Wednesday, 9/2 @ 12:35

Math Updates

This week in math we have learning concepts related to place value. Using the class pretest data, I was able to quickly see that we needed to focus on digits, value, and writing numbers in different formats (standard, expanded and word). We spent most of our math time this week working on rounding. Students are expected to be able to round numbers to the nearest 10 and 100.

*Please have your child bring in an old sock to keep as a slate eraser.

ELA Updates

This week during our reading time our whole group lessons focused on the things that good readers should be thinking about while reading and building stamina for reading independently. Initially, we covered the basic ideas of:

1.) What is this story/text really about?

2.) Who? What? When? Where? Why?

3.) How is this story put together? (Plot)

4.) What questions do I have while reading?

5.) What new words have I encountered while reading?

Writing

During our writing time we have been working on generating ideas for a personal narrative piece. We are doing this by filling our writer’s notebooks with ideas from our lives. We have been reading Ralph Fletcher’s Writing Notebook and modeling our notebooks after ideas we read about.

A writer’s notebook is a place to notice and catch all of our…

·         Unforgettable stories.

·         Fierce Wonderings.

·         Small moments.

Science Process Skills

We have been learning about the different ways that scientists must think and act in order to learn new things. To help us remember the different process skills we will use the acronym, COMIC-E (Classify, Observe, Measure, Infer, Communicate and Experiment).

SC History

During our SS time together, we talked about the different ways that history is discovered over time and map and globe skills. We have also begun our notebooks.

Don’t forget to send in pictures to decorate your notebooks if you choose.

School News

Dutch Fork High School Football “Elementary Night” will be this Friday, August 28. Kick off is 7:00 pm. Bring the little yellow ticket that came home in your child’s blue Thursday folder today.

Also in the Thursday folder is important information about grandparents day and the Active Gamecock activity log. 

Happy New Year!!!!

Welcome to the 2015-2016 school year! I am so glad you are here.

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Week of April 27th

I hope you all are enjoying the beautiful spring weather we are having. This week we will be taking the ACT Aspire Test. 

Tuesday:      Writing 30 min.
                     English 30 min

Wednesday:  Reading 60 min

Thursday:      Math: 55 min

Due to testing we will not have any homework or tests this week. Be sure to get plenty of rest, eat a good breakfast and be on time. We will begin the test promptly after announcements.  

Re Post of Valentine Class list

class list

Week of January 26th

This weeks happenings...

Reading

In reading we continue to look closely at elements of a story and how these elements help us to visualize the story. Visualizing the story helps us to comprehend or understand the story. We will continue over the next couple of weeks to explore story elements through various texts. This week we focused on setting and how great descriptive writing helps us to visualize the story. We read Owl Moon by Jane Yolen. She does an amazing job of using words to paint a picture in our minds as readers.

Writing

This week we spent 3 days working with Mrs. Gramling in the library on how to research information about topics we are interested in writing about. Writers learned how to use the call numbers to find books in the non-fiction section of our library. They learned how to take notes and develop essential questions around their topic. Once they had 2-3 essential questions around their topic they learned how to use both encyclopedias and online encyclopedias to try and find answers to their essential questions. We will now take the information we have gathered in our research to begin writing non-fiction books. 

Math

This week we finished unit 7 and our 4 x tables. Mathematicians need to continue to practice facts until they become fluent. Fluent is being able to recite facts without using fingers or scratch paper. 

Social Studies

We have finished our unit on Colonial Times and will move on to the Revolutionary War next week. Today we had a visit from The Traveling Trunk and learned about what life was like for children in the 1800's. Historians were able to play different games and even write their name with a quill pen and ink. They learned that many of the games we play today were also played long ago. Click the link below to see a slide show movie of our visit. 

Ball and Cup

Jacks

Marbles

Pick up sticks

Spinning tops

Stereoscope

TRAVELING TRUNK

Science

We have begun our study of earth materials and are learning about different types of rocks. Look for new information coming soon to the science tab about these rocks. 

General class news

Be sure to check the class calendar link to stay up to date on things happening in our classroom and around the school. We will exchange Valentines on Friday, February 13th. Click the link below to get a class list. 

Class List

Week of January 12th

We have been working on a class goal of putting first things first. A lot of times we get caught up in things that aren't necessarily the first thing that has to be done. As we work as a class to discuss priorities and what we should focus our energy on first it will help us work more efficiently. Have a conversation with your learner about what your family feels like are the most important priorities. If you would like to send a note in or an email I would love to share your thoughts with the class--it would really help our class discussion!

This weeks happenings

Math: 

Chapter 6 Multiplication and division patterns

We will take our Chapter 6 end of unit assessment on Thursday.
Next week will begin Chapter 7, Multiplication and Division.

Math Vocabulary Chapter 7:

decompose: to separate into parts

known fact: a fact that you know by memory

Identity Property of Multiplication: when any number is multiplied by 1, the product is that number

Zero Property of Multiplication: when any number is multiplied by zero, the product is zero

READING AND WRITING

Reading:

We will be reading both fiction and fiction and review the main idea and key details. Then, we will tackle some more difficult texts and practice inferring (using clues from the text help us know what's going on). Before break we practiced figuring out what words meant by using inferring...now we will go bigger to infer what the main idea of a passage and to infer characters feelings/ motives in a text.

Writing:

We will begin working on writing to a prompt and begin our research for our non-fiction pieces. We will focus on vivid verbs that we can use to improve our writing. We are also continuing to learn cursive.

Spelling: This week and next week will focus on Long I spelling patterns. I have added our class link for spelling city to the "Spelling activities at home" page. I am including a link here also.

 

SOCIAL STUDIES AND SCIENCE

Social Studies:

We will continue our study of Colonial Times this week. We will be filling in the test review next week, so look for it to come home.

Science:

We are continuing our study of Earth Materials.

Team Madelynn Update

We enjoyed our special hat day to benefit Madelynn and her family. I am truly amazed at the compassion and generosity of our school community! Truly and utterly amazed!!

BES's grand total for the four days of collecting donations is.....

drum roll please...................................

$2031.00

A-mah-zing!!

BES HONORS MADELYNN

I would like to take a moment to share the following information with you that is very close to my heart. I am very active in supporting the Ronan Thompson Foundation. The Ronan Thompson Foundation is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to finding a cure for neuroblastoma, a form of childhood cancer. Pediatric cancer is the number one disease killer of children. Neuroblastoma is the fifth most common cancer in children, and tragically, less than half of these patients are cured. Neuroblastoma is the deadliest form of pediatric cancer. 

Many of you have older children that have gone through or are currently at Crossroads Middle School. They may or may not have had Todd and/or Ginger Nelson. Madelynn Nelson is the 3 yr old granddaughter of Todd and Ginger Nelson. Her parents are Amanda Jo and Rob Nelson.

Madelynn was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma in November 2013. She went through a year of chemotherapy,  stem cell transplant, radiation, two surgeries, and immunotherapy. She was declared cancer free during her treatment.

Unfortunately, Madelynn's latest CT scan shows a significant  growth in the size of her tumor. It has spread to her bile duct and lymph nodes in her abdomen and has invaded a kidney . She has been in lots of pain, but with medicine is being made comfortable.

There is no cure for Madelynn's cancer, and she is not responding to the latest treatment. Her blood and platelet counts continue to remain low and are not improving.  Her parents have contacted Hospice and have brought Madelynn home to Irmo to be with her family and friends.

Since BES is one of the feeder schools for CRMS, we consider it a part of our extended family. As such, we would like to show our love and support as a school for this sweet little girl and her family during this difficult time.

So on Tuesday, Jan 13, we want to honor Madelynn and her courageous fight with cancer.  Students and staff are encouraged to wear PURPLE (her favorite color) or something with owls (her favorite creature.) Also, for a $1 donation, your child can wear a hat all day on Tuesday.

BES Beta Club and Student Council members will also accept additional donations each morning in the theater and Beacon's Point through Tuesday. All donations received will go to the YouCaring.com account for Team Madelynn to help with her medical expenses. If you would like to donate additionally I have included the link here. 

YouCaring.com

Thank you ahead of time for your support and generosity.
If you would like to see a clip of WLTX's coverage of Disney princesses visiting Madelynn Tuesday evening,  visit http://www.wltx.com/story/news/local/2015/01/06/cancer-irmo-disney/21371945/.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!

General News

I hope everyone had a safe and fun Christmas! It was nice to spend time with family and unwind a little. I am excited to return to the classroom also. We have lots to do to finish up the second nine weeks and make our way into the second semester. Wow, it has really flown by. 

Please read the following very carefully!

Starting with the third nine weeks I will NO longer be reading their tests/quizzes to the class.  I am not allowed to read the MAP nor the spring ACT/Aspire test to them so the kids need to be prepared to "fly on their own"! I will continue to read questions or answer choices for science and social studies on an as need bases. If a student needs something read to him/her on science or social studies they can raise their hand and I will read it to them, but I will no longer read aloud to the whole class. Third nine weeks is also, historically, a transitional time for students becoming more independent. Please help your child to be more independent with their work, studying, and reading! We continue to work on note taking in the classroom also. 

ELA- We are continuing to focus on Nonfiction texts. By learning to how to use information presented in various types of nonfiction material, students will prepare to use the multitude of expository texts that readers of all ages encounter daily, including newspapers, brochures, magazines, instruction manuals, recipes, and maps.

Math- We are moving into studying ways we use multiplication and the strategies and application procedures it requires when solving multiplication problems. It is VERY important that students know their basic multiplication facts. We will be picking back up with our weekly fact tests this week. These are not timed. Go to the math games tab of the blog to see some fun ways to practice math at home. 

SC History- We will soon be moving into the American Revolution era to study the impact of breaking ties with the British had on our land, people, and area we know as South Carolina. This is the first major war the students will study and is always a favorite!!!

Science- Earth Materials:  The students will be learning about the rapid changes made to the Earth. They will also soon be learning about slow changes to the Earth and take a closer look at fossils from our Earth.