Greetings Team 201 and 202!

I am so excited to see you all tomorrow. 

Follow this link to find some fun Halloween jokes: https://www.kidactivities.net/halloween-jokes/

You will find articles and activities about the history of Halloween posted on Readworks.

Enjoy your snowy trick or treating and be safe out there.

See you bright and early tomorrow morning!

We'll See Wednesday

Hello Parents,

We will see what happens the next few days. I am sure that you have already heard that the Mayor has cancelled school tomorrow. I am not sure if schools will be open to provide child care tomorrow, as was planned.  I advise you to watch the news to get the latest information. WBEZ and Raise Your Hand have updates that may be helpful.

https://www.wbez.org/

https://www.ilraiseyourhand.org/news


In the event of a strike, teachers will not be available for communication or to assign "strike homework." Here are some ideas to keep you engaged:
-IXL Reading I have certain Grade 4 skills highlighted
-Readworks:Students can read AOD and complete the BOK for each article.
-Read! Work toward the 40 Book Challenge.
-Learn those math facts! Like that!

This evening at home...
-I am sending home a regular reading assignment. It contains two reading passages about the Northern Lights, and a response for each passage. I will collect it whenever we return to school.


Here is a link to learn more about the Northern and Southern Lights:

https://www.britannica.com/story/what-causes-the-northern-and-southern-lights

Time Travel Tuesday

Today we dedicated out morning reading to learning a bit about Christopher Columbus. Do we know the whole story? Probably not. This afternoon, we will spend our Social Science block learning some facts and debunking some Columbus Myths.

We also read Antarctic Journal, this week's Journeys text. I can tell that some of the kids read over the weekend. Thank you!  We will be spending more time discussing the text tomorrow. There was also time today to celebrate our writing and share our Haunted House For Sale stories. They are pretty creative, and I can say that I am NOT in the market for any of these haunted houses!


This evening at home....
-complete the grammar sheet:front and back.
-Use Antarctic Journal to complete the "5 Looks on a Book" activity. There is a list of adjectives provided on the back.
-read!


GTK:

• We will not take any Language Arts tests this Friday, due to the short school week.
• Picture Day is next Wednesday, October 23.
• There is an LSC meeting tomorrow at 5:30. The meeting will be held in the C.A.C. and all parents are invited to attend.
•  In the evening homework, you will be seeing more grammar practice.  We will be working hard to master writing sentences that are complete and correct. 
• In the event of a strike, I will not have access to CPS email, nor will I be posting on the blog. We won't have any news on this until late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. Read, read, read, read, read, IXL,IXL, IXL....

Freaky Friday

201's Haunted Mansion pop up cards are looking frightfully creative. We will be finishing these up in a couple of hours. If you are absent today, why not try making one at home? All of the directions are posted on the previous post. I will warn you, this project is not easy! Many of us had to start over. It was a lesson in perseverance.

This weekend at home...
-Read Antarctic Journal in Journeys.
-Show someone the note about tutoring
-Don't forget that there is no school on Monday, in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day, which some call Columbus Day.
-READreadreadreadreadreadreadreadreadread.
-IXL Please do a Thirty Minute Session. Our focus is on Letters D and N in Grade 4.



If you are absent today, please log on to Think Central this weekend and take the Reading Test. We don't want you to miss anything on Tuesday.

Click here to learn about Indigenous Peoples Day.
https://illinois.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/indigenous-peoples-all-about-the-holidays/indigenous-peoples-all-about-the-holidays/

Haunted House For Sale

Good Morning Team 201 and 202,

Let's try some crafting! These pop up haunted houses are a bit tricky, but really cool and fun once you get past the initial cutting and folding stages. I made a sample this evening, and I did make some mistakes. I will share my errors with you, in hopes that you can learn from my mistakes.

These cards will look great next to your Haunted House Real Estate Listings! Your final product will look something like this. Adding personal touches is encouraged.

Here is the guide that I followed:

https://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/kidscraftsactivitiesblog/2012/10/how-to-make-haunted-house-pop-up-cards-for-halloween/

Tips:
Draw the lines before you cut!
Use a ruler or straightedge to make sure that the lines are the same length.
Crease the folds, hard!
Don't give up! This is difficult and you will need to be patient.
Ask for help! I am sure that there will be some "experts" in the room.

Think Green Thursday

Today's trip to the Garfield Park Conservatory was fantastic. Ryan and Bauer proclaimed that it was "the best field trip ever." That pretty much says it all.  We spent our day exploring the plants and grounds at the Conservatory, which we learned is the largest conservatory in the United States.  We saw fish and several turtles. We saw grapefruit, orange and banana trees. We marveled over the Venus Fly Trap. We avoided the many cacti, and we were amazed by the Century Tree.  What is her name? I can't remember. Maybe your kids do. This plant is so tall, that they had to open up the roof!

Thanks so much to all of our wonderful parent volunteers: Eliana's mom, Justin's mom, Gabriel's mom and Chloe's mom.  I am sure they are tired!

Parents, if you have not begun the CPS volunteer approval process, I urge you to do so! We need all of the paperwork to clear so that you can join us on trips or for special classroom projects.  Here is the link to help you begin:   https://cpsparentu.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=319488&type=d


This evening at home....
-Reread The Right Dog for the Job. You can use the Study Guide, found on the "Journeys Study Guides" tab, to find the spelling and vocabulary words.

Way to Go Wednesday

Wow Wednesday! I LOVED reading the creepy stories that came back to school today. Way to go 201and 202!

This evening at home...
-complete Readers Notebook pp. 207 and 208
-read for thirty minutes, about.

Don't forget to bring a bag lunch to school tomorrow. We will eat our lunch in 201, after we return from the GPC, but there will not be cafeteria service.

Parent helpers should plan on arriving at about 9:00 a.m.. We will leave between 9:15 and 9:30.
Students, don't forget a sharpened pencil or colored pencils. We will be going on a scavenger hunt at the Garfield Park Conservatory.

Thinking Tuesday

Today we...
-spent some time discussing the sequence of events in The Right Dog for the Job.
-worked on our spooky real estate listings.
-used our ipads to practice our vocabulary workshop unit one words
-drove around the Northeast region and saw some sights

This evening at home....
-edit and recopy your Haunted House For Sale real estate listing. Remember that your job is to sell this house! Describe it's most enchanting features to the future owners.
-read!

Magnificent Monday

What a gorgeous day! Your kids are out at recess enjoying a well deserved vitamin D break right now.
Today we...
-read The Right Dog for the Job in Journeys. Please make sure that your child is reading the story over the weekend!
-discussed chronological order and sequence of events, and talked about this week's vocabulary words.
-began a descriptive writing project. Today we are in brainstorming mode.
-read an Article of the Day and completed a Book of Knowledge entry. Ask your child to show you their Read Works account.


This evening at home....
-In Journeys, read the Classroom Conversation questions.page 514
-Answer each question on a separate sheet of paper. There are only three questions, so show me your  best effort! :-)
-Be ready to discuss your ideas in class tomorrow.
-Read for 20 minutes or more in a book of your choice
-Do your Math homework!

*There are a few kids who have not handed in field trip forms/money. The cost is $8.00 and I can still accept money tomorrow morning, as long as I get it by 7:30!


Here is a link to the You Tube video we will watch in class today. Northeast region; here we come!  The reading material that we will be using is linked under the Social Studies tab found on this blog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EGaSP2-LHM

Freedom Friday

This weekend...
Read The Right Dog For the Job in Journeys
Read some more
Get your Progress Report signed

Temperature Tuesday

We are enjoying the cool breeze today! Thanks again to Gabriel's mom for providing 201 with this hard working and high tech fan!

This evening at home...
-complete the vocabulary page. This will help you prepare for tomorrow's test.
-review your spelling words.
-read!

Learn more about Romare Bearden, the read Uncle Romie. I think that you may find his work and life inspirational. I do!

https://multiculturalkidblogs.com/2015/02/02/art-romare-bearden-kids/


  

wOnce Upon At Time Wednesday

Today we are working on our Imaginative Narrative stories. We are in publishing mode, and I am hoping that we will be ready to share our original stories tomorrow, or even tonight! Today we also focused on Me and Uncle Romie, and discussed the difference between a story's main idea and theme. We'll work more on this difficult topic tomorrow.

This evening at home....

• make a plan to join us for Open House! We will be here to greet you between 6-7.
• read for 30 minutes or more and get a signature.
• do your math homework.