Fun in First: October 2018

Notes from Ms. Rau:
- Our Halloween Celebration will be Wednesday, October 31st from 8:30-9:30. Students should come to school dressed in their costume! We will begin our party first thing in the morning and it will be followed by our school wide Halloween parade at 9:45am. We will end our morning watching a Halloween movie. Remember this is a half day for students.
- Webber Student Council Invites You to Help Honor America’s Veterans! On Wednesday, November 7^th, we will be raising money for GI Go Fund. Students that donate $1 or more can wear a hat to school on this day. Staff members that donate $5 or more get to wear jeans to work. Each participant will receive a sticker that recognizes their participation in this event. For more information check out this site: https://www.gigo.org/
- Webber Student Council is hosting a Food Drive November 12^th through November 16^th. All donations will go to the Lake Orion Lions Club. We are accepting the following donations: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, muffin mix, mushroom soup, evaporate milk, turkey gravy, canned pumpkin, pie crust, canned fruit, Jell-O, and any other non-expired, non-perishable food.
- As part of our new phonics program our class acquired Rasheed the lion, a mascot who helps us with our word work. Rasheed will take on many roles this year (including detective, construction worker, and super hero, among others) as he helps us learn to read and spell. To help Rasheed look the part, I am asking for donations of any clothing or accessories that may fit him. He is a stuffed animal about 13 inches tall, with a torso about 5 inches high and 5 inches wide. Most clothing for infants, Build a Bear animals, and American Girl dolls should fit Rasheed. Even small dog outfits might work! If you have any bits and pieces at home that you would be willing to donate, the class would enjoy dressing him up. This is just for fun, so please don’t purchase anything new for Rasheed. Thank you!
- APPLES! We are studying apples next week as in introduction into our Feature Factor unit. If you are able to donate an apple for us to taste test please send one in on Thursday, Nov. 1st. I'm hoping to get a variety. Thank you!
Important Dates to Remember:
October 31st - Halloween Celebration 8:30-9:30, school wide parade at 9:45, 1/2 Day for Students
November 6th - No School for students - Election Day 2018
November 11 & 13th - PT conferences

Learning This Week:

Writers will...

study the difference between story books and informational writing
be immersed in How-To writing
review how to write a How-To book

Readers will...

investigate what makes a good partner
use a special detective checklist to make sure they're being the best partner they can be
play guess the covered word during partner time
use sentence starters to help their partners

Mathematicians will..

play the addition and subtraction number quilt game
complete a Halloween math exemplar (a higher-level thinking, multi step story problem)
complete the Quarter 1 common assessment

Scientists will finish our pumpkin investigation by tasting pumpkin seeds and observing how a pumpkin decomposes. They will investigate apples this week by cutting them apart and observing the seeds, learning the life cycle, and taste test different kinds of apples.

Photos from Last Week:

Using a writing checklist and tools such as our mini word wall to edit our writing. We added a blurb about our book to the back of our writing to readers to preview.

Readers got to work in our reading detectives unit by getting magnifying glasses to look closely at words from the Super Secret Detective Agency (SSDA).

Friends sort short and long vowel picture and word cards in phonics. We are learning about the silent e.

We kicked off our pumpkin investigation by learning about the life cycle of a pumpkin.

We weighed and measured the height and circumference of our pumpkin using a scale, cubes, and links.

Next we predicted if our pumpkin would sink or float. We tested our prediction and many were surprised to find out that pumpkins float!

We cut open our pumpkin and separated pumpkin guts and seeds. We counted our seeds using groups of 10. Our pumpkin had 632 seeds!

We celebrated the end of our writing unit by reading our writing to Mrs. Lucia's 2nd grade class. The 2nd grade buddies gave us compliments about our writing. Our published pieces are hanging outside our classroom!

Notes from Ms. Rau:

Our Halloween Celebration will be Wednesday, October 31st from 8:30-9:30. Students should come to school dressed in their costume! We will begin our party first thing in the morning and it will be followed by our school wide Halloween parade at 9:45am. We will end our morning watching a Halloween movie. I was able to get two volunteers for Halloween bingo, so I am all set, thank you! Remember this is a half day for students.
Box Tops - Last year we were one of the top two classes for the box top contest. To keep the trophy in our room we need your help! Please clip and collect box tops for our school and glue them onto the sheet given. If you need more sheets you can find them in the email Mrs. Goethals sent out last Friday!

Important Dates to Remember:
October 25th - Trunk or Treat 6:30-7:30 at Friendship Park
October 31st - Halloween Celebration 8;30-9:30, school wide parade at 9:45, 1/2 Day for Students
November 6th - No School for students - Election Day 2018

Learning This Week: