Math Mystery Monday

Happy Halloween! Thank you for sharing all of the yummy treats. They are tempting us!

We are finishing up a Math Mystery.  Someone has been turning unsuspecting trick or treaters into pumpkins!   Kids have been solving mathematical puzzles to help them eliminate suspects.  Most have already cracked the case.

This evening at home...

Enjoy Halloween! There is not any homework. At all.


Tomorrow we will....

• continue to discuss and work with Me and Uncle Romie.  
• work on using strategies to solve multi digit multiplication problems
• discuss the Branches of Government and learn about "checks and balances."
• talk more about Chemical Changes
• do Multiplication Madness.

Flying the W Friday

I wish that you could see the kids in 201 right now. Audrey and I both brought face paint to school. Most of the kids are sporting some bold Cubs gear and war paint. They are looking good! I should add that our die hard Sox fans are being great sports.

 This weekend at home....

• finish the hw and practice for lesson 3.5. We had lots of class time to get this done and most kids are coming home with the work finished.
• read for about 40 minutes! Parents, please sign to confirm that reading actually happens. It is fine to split this into two 20 minute sessions.

Halloween Happenings:

• kids may bring individually wrapped treats or trinkets. There are 27 kids in our class. We do have a nut allergy in the class.
• Please do not send in extra candy that you want returned. All candy that is brought to 201 will be distributed.  If you have a large bag, then just count out the 28 candies that you want to share.  Thank you for understanding. It gets really confusing!
• kids may bring a costume to school. We will slip into costumes for the final period of the day.
• kids may NOT use the bathroom to change.  Wear a "base layer."
• kids may not bring toy weapons to school.
• kids may not wear costumes on the bus.

201 will go to the Book Fair on Monday at 10:10 a.m..

Parents: I will need 2-3 helpers in the morning who can set up the treat bags for 201, and possibly other homerooms.  We may also need some bulletin board help on this day. Please send me an email if you are able to help on Monday for any amount of time.

The time frame for Report Card Day on November 9th has not been confirmed. As soon as I can, I will post appointment times on Sign Up Genius.  Look for the link on this site sometime early next week.

Thinking Thursday

Tomorrow is Cubs Spirit Day!  201 knows that I spend more time with the White Sox, but this week I am cheering for the Chicago Team: Go Cubs.

This evening at home...

• There is no regular math homework.  Get ready for Multiplication Madness.
• In Journeys, read How Do They Do That? on page 218.
• Complete the Text To Self activity in writing that is found on page 221.

Study the vocabulary. Test tomorrow!

Wonder Wednesday

Today we caught up on Wonder. We read about Mr. Browne's Precepts. I hope that you will have a chance to talk about this one at home.

If you have to choose between being right and being kind, choose kind.

This evening at home...

• complete the homework and practice for lesson 3.4
• R.N, Grammar Practice: 79-82
• Read. Really.
• Parents, as soon as I have approval, I will be posting a Parent Teacher Conference sign up sheet on Sign Up Genius. All ten minute conferences will be scheduled online. Report Card Day is Wednesday, November 9.

Tomorrow is Science Lab Day!

We need apples for tomorrow's lab! Can you spare an apple? I will be cutting them in to sections, so 5-6 will do.

Tomorrow we will create "Greek and Latin Root Trees." You won't want to miss it!

That's Hollywood Tuesday

This evening at home....

• complete the Facts and Opinion sheet. It is double sided
• complete the first page, that's just one side, of the Reading Packet.
• complete the HandP for 3.3
• read

Making Estimates Monday

Today we use both rounding and compatible numbers to estimate products.   I think we are getting the hang of it!  We also discussed this week's vocabulary words, most of which are in the "film lingo" category.   This week's text, Coming Distractions: Questioning Movies  is all about techniques that film makers use to capture and keep our attention.

We also kicked off our new Social and Emotional Learning program today. It is called Second Step. We are discussing Empathy and Respect.

This evening at home...

• complete the homework and practice for Go Math 3.2
• in the Readers Notebook, complete pages 75 and 76
• complete the Second Step Home Link Activity
• read
• don't forget that I need to approve your Book Buffet selection.

Extra Time....

• ST Math, IXL
• Check out the Social Studies Liberty Bell Mystery on Google Classroom. It is not ipad friendly, so we can't play  the game at school.

Book Buffet Inspiration

Hello out there! I am posting some Book Buffet ideas that I hope will be helpful. Some of them are quite elaborate, others are less so.  You food choice does not have to be related to the book topic.  Select a food that is most appealing to you!

Frightly Friday

Time flies...it is actually Saturday. I guess, that I never clicked the "publish" button yesterday.

I can't wait for you to read our Haunted House Real Estate Listings.  They are spooktacular! Next week we will make some crafty haunted houses to further entice buyers to read our listings.


This weekend...

• Please sign the corrected SS test. It should be in the Green Folder.
• Please read the Book Buffet packet. Please sign to acknowledge that you are aware of the due date. I will answer more questions about the project and post samples on this blog.
• Find a book to read! I need to approve all Book Buffet selections.
• Please see the Halloween note.

Topic Thursday

We are polishing up our Haunted House topic sentences right now! Most kids are now in the drafting stage of the writing process.


Today we...

• took both our Social Studies AND the Math test.  Please don't do corrections on the Math test yet! I want a chance to review all of the scores.
• epsarked!
• read.
• went to the Science Lab and measured Density.
• created bar graphs to display the results
• began drafting our Haunted House For Sale

This evening at home...

• finish the Graph
• finish the Invasion From Mars questions. I am providing the paper.
• complete page 143 in the Chapter 3 Math book

Field Trip Help

Hello Team 201 Families,

Yes, we are going to the Film Fest on November 16th. Yes, we do have our two parent volunteers for the trip.

On November 14th, we will go to the Field Museum to see the Terracotta Warriors.  It will be a busy week!

201 needs about 4 volunteers to come to the Field Museum. Please let me know if you can join us!

Both trip forms will be in the green folders soon. In order to get approval for the trip, we need the parent volunteer names first so that we can submit our paper work to the Board for review.

Email me at mport@cps.edu

Writing Wednesday

Right now kids are working on creating strong lead, or topic sentences, for their Haunted House Real Estate listing.  I can't wait to hear the results.

This evening at home...

• study for Math and Social Studies. Kids are coming home with a study guide that they created.  For math, all kids should have the correct answers in their Math book.  The test questions will be very similar to the review questions.  Study!
• read 
• in the Readers Notebook, complete pages 67 and 68

Test Ready Tuesday

Hello out there!

Today we took the CPS Beginning of the Year Benchmark Assessment.  I will use this test as a base line to assess students' needs and target areas. At the end of the year, we will take a similar assessment to measure growth.   Kids are asked to read a passage, identify main ideas and supporting details, summarize the text, and then respond to a prompt. All of the work we do in class supports the kids' development in citing text and explaining their ideas. It is a work in progress.  These initial scores will not be entered into the 201 Gradebook.

Today we polished up our Social Studies Study Guides. All students should have a map with helpful tips recorded on the back.  Each child should also have a one page study guide that contains key vocabulary, main ideas and details and a few brief questions and answers.  We are working on how to study, and I hope that these materials will help.
Terms to know include: industry, natural resource, elevation, landform and precipitation.   Today we discuss meanings and examples.  On a map, students were asked to label the source and mouth of the Mississippi, a tributary of the Mississippi River, the city of Chicago, the Great Lakes, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains, and draw a compass rose.  On Google Classroom you can view today's Map Assignment. The final test on Thursday will be very similar to this.


I hope that this Powerpoint slide show will help you better understand this week's grammar target: action, linking and helping verbs.
 Click here:   http://www.slideshare.net/JeanetteKropa/verb-powerpoint


Coming Soon.....

• Book Buffet project: You will receive the materials by the end of this week
• Thursday: SS test
• Thursday: Chapter 2 Math Test
• Thursday: Science Lab experiment on Density of Liquids
• Friday: Comprehension, Grammar and Vocabulary test

This evening at home....

• watch the powerpoint slide show
• complete the odd numbered problems of the Review Test in Go Math
• complete the first page of the Reading Packet. Do not do the other pages! I will explain them in class tomorrow.
• read!

Making Equations Monday

Let's make a plan! On tonight's Math homework, I expect to see your plan, a.k.a. equation.

This evening....

• Go Math 2.12
• Answer the "Analyze Text" questions found within this week's story, Invasion From Mars.
• finish your SS study guide.

I will stamp Gold Cards tomorrow. 

Freakishly Fantastic ST MatFriday

Guess what? For the first time, EVER, Team 201 is leading the ENTIRE SCHOOL in ST Math Progress.  Honestly, we are doing great. Honestly, there are a select few "ST Math Gurus" who are pulling up the entire class average. Thanks to everyone for their work on STMath. Thanks especially to Samantha, Hambalat, Cormac, Kaelyn, and Dhiren for raising the bar!   Other members of 201 will soon join these kids in the "Above 20% Club."


This weekend at home...

• read for an hour or more total. It is fine if you want to split it into two 30 minutes segments. Ten minute reading sessions are not O.K..
• Stormalong Packet: some kids need to finish the Character Traits or the Story Map page
• ST MATH, people!

Next week we will....

• Go to the Lab to explore the Density of Liquids
• Take the Chapter 2  Math Test on Thursday
• Take a SS quiz on Tuesday

Thinking Thursday

Hey there Team 201 Families!

We are busy at work. Today we are working on Multiplication with regrouping and we are doing it the old fashioned way! Whew. It actually seems easy compared to writing those long, drawn out equations.   At home, kids will notice that their homework once again contains lots of multi-stop problem solving.  We corrected in class today, and there were many errors. Tonight, read the questions with care. Take notes and do what makes sense. Practice makes permanent.


Today we also...

• worked on our SS study guides. We will take a SS test based on this information on Tuesday.
• went to Music
• worked in teams to discuss Stormalong
• finished the Stormalong comprehension questions
• read independently 
• went to the Science Lab, where we measured and graphed MASS
• worked on regrouping and corrected the homework
• ate lunch, had recess, etc.

This evening at home

• finish the Mass Graph
• complete the Stormy Interview found in the packet.  Get detailed and make it interesting.
• complete the hw for lesson 2.10
• we will take the Reading and Vocabulary sections of the Reading Test. We will not take the Grammar portion because we did not cover the concepts in depth during this short week.

Show Your Work Wednesday

Today we....

• spent a great deal of time working on the math.  Yes, Victor, we need to show out work and make models
• talked about character traits. Audrey pointed out that to determine a character's traits, we should examine their words and actions. Well said, Audrey.
• multiplied!  I will be ready with Brag Tags tomorrow.
• learned about States of Matter 
• worked on a SS study guide. We should finish these in class tomorrow. I will send home details about the upcoming SS Quest.
• Did you finish your Stormalong Traits? Parents, check on your child's progress on this task. They should be just about finished. We spent nearly 40 minutes on this .

This evening at home...

• complete the hw and practice for lesson 2.9
• complete the first side of the Stormalong comprehension questions ( 1-9)
• read

Options:

• finish the Multiplication Color by Products sheet
• ST Math 
• IXL

Field Trip Alert

Hello 201 Parents,

I am looking for Field Trip Volunteers for November 16. We are going to the Film Festival and the Music Box. I will accept the first two!  Thanks in advance for your help.


Wow!  Some of you are very quick to respond. We have our two volunteers for the Film Fest trip.  There will certainly be other opportunities to volunteer.  

Trip forms won't be going home quite yet. You will see them soon.

Taking Time Tuesday...not Making it Work Monday

Many of us are pretty tired today. We were up late wondering about what our day would hold. It was kind of tough not knowing until this morning. Well, we got through the day and made it work.  Thanks for coming to school 201, despite the uncertainty. I know that we will have a full house tomorrow!


This evening at home...

• work on the hw for lesson 2.8. Use the strategy that works best for you. A calculator is not a strategy.  Don't forget to look back at your classwork to help you.
• read! We will do a Status of the Class tomorrow.
• complete RN pp.51 and 52
• in the Reading packet, complete the Stormalong packet, complete the "Story Elements"   We circled it in class. 

Friday Thoughts

Hello Team 201 Families,

Maybe I will change today's title later. I need the students' help on this one!  Today we took our weekly ELA/Reading Test.  Before the test, we reviewed fragment and run on sentences. We also talked about how to read each question and answer with care. This is a skill that many kids will be working on this year. Finally, we reset the expectation for the short answer responses.  We modeled how to build a strong response. We will get there!  After reviewing today's results, I asked most kids to work on one or both of the responses.  I added extra points to the original score.

Parents, students will bring Progress Reports home today. Please sign them and return them in the green folders.  The Grade Book is open, and this is just a 5 week "snap shot." Many current grades have already changed in the last day!

I do not have any inside information about the possible Teachers Strike, and will be checking the News to find out whether or not we will be in 201 together on Tuesday.  In the event of a Teachers Strike, there are several things that kids should do at home to keep their academic minds active:

• Practice those multiplication facts. Kids who don't know the facts "like that" are not as prepared to handle the more advanced problem solving that is a part of our math lives! 
• Do ST Math
• Do IXL Reading and Math
• Read every day! If we are not in school, kids should be reading for an hour each day!
• Catch up with Brain Pop and Study Jams. Take the Brain Pop quiz of the day.
• Watch Bill Nye the Science Guy. Episodes are available on You Tube.

I will look forward to seeing all of the 201 Team members very soon! Please be aware that if there is a strike, I will not have access to my Cps email.

Theme Filled Cupcake Thursday

Here are some of today's plot points, in chronological order:

• we did a morning math, language and brainiac warm up
• we aced our Code Yellow drill
• we went to Music
• we learned all about Theme Vs. Main Idea: we worked on a group activity with task cards, we created a poster, we took a Kahoot quiz and we celebrated with cupcakes.
• we corrected last night's math homework and dove deeper into Partial Products.
• we went to the Science Lab and found the volume of irregular shaped objects
• we began a second attempt at creating an accurate  graph

This evening at home...

• Reread The Power of Wow. and The Kid's Guide To Money.
• Complete the Text to To Text, Compare Concepts writing found on page 129.
• Complete the Go Math homework and practice for lesson 2.7
• finish your graph if you have not done so already.
• Kids, you have a reading test tomorrow. Study those vocabulary words.

Thanks to Super Teacher Deb Hanson for providing the inspiration for today's lesson!

The cake represents the plot points in the story. The creme filling represents the underlying theme. This is a caption. Captions are text features that help the reader better understand details.

Wacky Wednesday

This evening at home...

• in R.N. Grammar pages 43,44,45,46.
• Go Math homework lesson 2.6
• read

That's Tricky Tuesday

Today we learned a new trick: multiplication using the Distributive Property.  It is kind of like solving a puzzle.  Tonight, kids will get some more practice.

This evening at home....

• complete page 39 ( first side only) in the blue R.N..
• answer the "Analyze Text" questions in found withing the Power of WOW. These questions can be found at the bottom of pages 113,116 and 121. Use evidence from the text to support your ideas.
• Math: homework and practice for Go Math 2.5

Making Sense Monday

Today we talked about using estimation to find answers that are reasonable.  We also applied this skill to reworking last week's line graphs. Graphs are designed to help us analyze data. They should "make sense." We went over how to use graph paper effectively too.  I will make sure to provide another opportunity  to create a line graph.

We could have also named today Midas Monday.  We began our new weekly story, which has a reference, or allusion to the King Midas myth. Well, we of course had to read King Midas to understand this allusion. Now they get it. Ask your child about "The Midas Touch."

This evening at home...

• complete the homework and practice for lesson 2.4
• work on Readers Notebook pages 37 and 38, You will need Journeys to do this.
• read and be ready for Status of the Class

New Gold Cards are going home today! Parents, don't forget that I will write a note on the Gold Card if your child is missing homework or materials. The Gold Card can be a simple communication tool between home and school.  Ask to see it each night!

Kids who have a "full" Gold Card for the month of September have earned a special incentive.  Look for these tomorrow.