We have 3 full weeks until Christmas break and there is a lot of work to do!!  Your student will continue to receive homework that utilizes our Storytown website.  Please let me know ASAP if you have problems accessing it.  In Reading, we will be working on the /ch/ digraph and will be continuing our work on sequencing a story, what happens first, next, then, after that, and finally.  You can help your child with this concept by asking them to tell you about a book they are reading, a TV show they watched or a movie that they have seen.

In Math we continue with story problems.  How do we know when to use subtraction or division.  Again, you can help by telling your child a story problem (There were 20 pieces of spaghetti, grandma ate 7, how many are left?)  and have them figure out the answer.  Use numbers that add up to 20 or less.

In Social Studies, we will be discussing celebrations around the world.  If you come from a culture that has an interesting autumn/winter celebration (my mother was Italian and we celebrated the Feast of St. Nicholas as well as listened to stories of la Befana who brought presents to children) and would like to share, please let me know.  It would be much more authentic for our students!  As we move towards Christmas, I will also have a craft or two for the students to do. Please let me know if you would like to come in and help (parents who were in on the day before Thanksgiving break know I need all the help I can get when it comes to crafts!)

In Science, we continue with weather observations and discussions on climate and animals.

In Writing we will be working up to writing our own version of the Ukranian folktale, “The Mitten”.

Questions or comments?  Please let me know.

This week we have only 2 days of school.  On Tuesday, it is our annual Storybook Character Day.  Students are allowed to dress up in a costume that represents a character from a story.  Students are not allowed to have their faces covered nor are they allowed to bring in anything that could be construed as a weapon (no toy swords, guns, etc.) On Tuesday afternoon (11/24)  from 1:30 – 2:15, we will be doing a craft for Thanksgiving and parents are invited to come in to school at that time.  Information was sent home a few weeks ago (a green sheet of paper) that informed you of this event.

Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving with your families and friends and I am sure I will hear all about the festivities when we return to school on 11/30.

Dave Ostheimer

The “turkey project” is due on Monday.  It is important that the writing component is done as well as the artistic component.  I will hang these up in the hallway to decorate for conference time.

This week we have been learning about our polar regions in our ELA section, reading the story “On the Ice”.  I was able to find some interesting videos of polar bears and penguins at www.arkive.org  (the link to the site is in parent resources to the right).  If you search for polar bears and penguins (esp. king penguins) you will see some cool videos of the animals in their natural habitat.  www.kids.nationalgeographic.com is another interesting website which has information on these and other animals.  Unfortunately, the Harcourt website is unable to show the stories that we are working on.  When it is fixed, I will let you know.

This week we will finish our discussions on citizenship, have a visit from Smokey the Bear to learn about fire safety and start our unit on Colonial America including the Pilgrims and our Thanksgiving traditions.

In Language Arts our stories will revolve around the Arctic and Antarctica and we will learn a bit about these polar places for Science.  We will be learning about “r-controlled vowels” (the dreaded “bossy-r”) and continue with story elements of details and plot.

In Math, we will be adding numbers to make another number and figure out all the possible ways we can make 11 with 2 numbers (1+10 = 11, 2 +9 = 11 …. 9+2=11, 10+1 =11).  Our story problems are things like “I have 11 toys, some are marbles, some are blocks.  How many of each could I have?  I have shown the students a strategy of putting down _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 11 blanks and filling 1 with a m for marbles and filling the others with b for blocks and writing 1+10=11. Then you put 11 more blanks _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and put in 2 m’s and 9 b’s and 2+9=11 and so on until you get to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 10 m’s and 1 b for 10+1=11.  We will have an assessment on this concept Friday for our last Math grade of the Marking Period.

This week you will be receiving confirmation for next week’s conferences.  If the time I am able to give you does not suit you, please let me know so we can schedule a telephone conference or make other arrangements.

Looking for something to do with the kids outside?  On Saturday, my family and I went to down to the C&D canal and went fossil hunting as suggested in this week’s  News Journal and in this website sent by a friend  http://www.fossilguy.com/sites/canal/canal_col.htm After you turn off towards Ft. DuPont State Park just before the Reedy Pt. bridge,  you take the road all the way down to the canal, take a left go under and past the bridge and you’ll see a road veering to the left with a closed gate. Park there and walk up the gravel path, staying to the left.  Go over a rise and you will see the “spoils”.  You can find 80 million yr. old fossils without much effort (check out the website to see what you are looking for).  My 5 yr old son thought it was the “best day ever” and my 10 yr old daughter wants to bring her finds into school to show her classmates. Its not often I find an activity that appeals to both kids.

Thanks,

Dave Ostheimer

I am pretty amazed at how well our students are reading our rapid word charts and how this is translating to better reading in the classroom.  If you look at the top of this blog you will see a section called downloadable information.  Here you can find our high frequency words that are used in our stories and which your child will be assessed on for the end of the marking period (stories 1-12).  You can print out a copy of these words to go over with your child.

In Language Arts we are learning about “ng” , about the story element “plot”, the contraction” ‘ll” and phrasing in our oral reading.  We are also working with plural nouns, differentiating between 1 and more than 1.  If you would like to read our stories, please look to the right of this page under parent resources and sign in to the Harcourt website.  We are currently on book 2 lesson 10.  If you need info for our district and school name please email me.

My expectation in writing is that students will write at least 3 sentences on a given topic.  They will write neatly with spacing between words and they will sound out words to spell them.  They will use capitals and punctuation most of the time and they will begin to vary their word choices (not “I like… I like…  I like…).

In Math we have just taken our assessment on Geometry.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well most of the students did.  We are now starting our unit on story problems.  Today we went over a problem:  I have 9 toys.  Some are blocks and some are marbles.  How many of each toy could I have.  Show as many combinations as you can.  This is a variation of “peas and carrots” which we learned in the 1st marking period.  Students needed to come up with 5 of the 8 different combinations we could have.  (1 block + 8 marbles = 9 toys, 2 blocks + 7 marbles = 9 toys, 3 blocks + 6 marbles = 9 toys……. 7 blocks + 2 marbles = 9 toys, 8 blocks + 1 marble = 9 toys).    We will be learning how to differentiate between addition problems and subtraction problems.  Students historically have difficulty understanding when they should add and when they should subtract when solving a story problem.

In Social Studies we are finishing up a unit on laws and rules and responsibilities and will be having our assessment at the end of the week.  Upcoming in Social Studies we will be exploring Colonial America with special attention given to the origin of our Thanksgiving tradition.  In Science, we are waiting to receive our new kit on  Solids and Liquids.  In the meantime, we will follow discussions that the students are interested in (i.e.: space, the sun, the seasons etc.).

Questions or comments?  Please email or call.

Dave Ostheimer

Dad, Beth and the Pens

In Language Arts we are learning to identify words with the digraph “th”, words with initial blends “s” and “p” and our story words.  We will also be using our  story words in a sentence both orally and written.  For Reading we will be working on noting details in a story and we will be working on fluency by reading with expression.  Writing will concentrate on mechanics of a sentence, capitals at the beginning, punctuation at the end – with a special emphasis on the question mark, spacing between words and sounding out words to spell the sounds we hear.

In Math, we will continue working with 2 dimensional shapes, identifying shapes, describing shapes and discussing what shapes can make other shapes.

Our computers seem to be up and running and I will be working on having the students work on earobics and starfall during center time.  You can access these sites at home:  www.starfall.com and  www.earobics.com/gamegoo/gooey.html

If your child is absent and has access to a computer, you can go on the Harcourt website and read the stories that he or she misses.  If you look on the side of this page at parent resources, you will see a link for Harcourt Storytown with the username and password listed.  Mondays we usually read the Getting Started Story and work on the other selections on Tuesday through Friday.

Questions or comments?  Please let me know!!

Dave Ostheimer

I also promised some information about Junie B. Jones at Borders.  She will be arriving around 6:00 and I know that there will be some children and teachers from other classes.  I am not sure if I will be able to make it due to other family obligations.

Finally, Friday is the last day to order from the new Scholastic Book list.  You can order easily on-line using the info that came home with your child.  If you would like that info again, please email me.

Unless noted, a BP is not a reflection of a student’s effort in the classroom. Grades are usually not a reflection on effort (although lack of effort may keep a student from reaching a particular level of achievement).  Effort can be reflected in a student’s comments.  Parent teacher conferences are not scheduled until after the 2nd Marking Period but I am available before school, after school or during my planning period by appointment (I have school, grade level and family commitments that need to be scheduled around).  A telephone conference is also an option.

Junie B. Jones will be visiting our local Borders book store on Thursday.  My family and I will try to attend and I know that many of our 1st grade teachers are also planning on attending.  More info will follow.

Have a great week (and I hope to have some new pictures up later this week!)

Dave Ostheimer

In Math we are starting with geometry. We will be discussing shapes and how they relate to each other (1 hexagon = 2 trapezoids = 3 rhombuses = 6 triangles). We will continue with story problems (Mrs. Ostheimer said Mr. Ostheimer has to eat 9 vegetables. Some have to be peas and some carrots. How many of each does Mr. Ostheimer have to eat to equal 9 vegetables? 1 pea and 8 carrots: 1+8=9 or 2 peas and 7 carrots: 2+7=9, etc.

In Writing we will be illustrating our Fall writing: What I like to do in the Fall and we will continue to write in our journals.

In Science we will continue our Weather observations and in Social Studies we will continue to talk about rules, consequences and fairness in the classroom, the school, and society as a whole and we will have a unit on Fire Safety.

******* Wednesday is picture day. Please return the envelope that was sent home with your child even if you are not ordering pictures. This information is used to make sure that your child’s photo ends up in the proper class for the yearbook.

Thursday and Friday there is no school for children as the teachers have in-service days.

Questions or comments? Please email me or call the school and leave a message.

Thank you for your support.

Dave Ostheimer