Math,science, and number corner                                                                   

In math this week we have been mostly working on multiplying  money. We have learned that it is harder than it looks because it has certain rules. Mrs.Crowther taught us a few different ways to do it. Many people have come up and shared the way that they are most comfortable with. We also found out what other people like to do at home when we made a list of different ways to solve multiplication problems .Even Mrs.Crowther did not know some of them!

In science this week we have worked on the study of Vermont. With our road maps we have done a little outlining/labeling. We have started a test on a laptop that makes us have to do a lot of research on specific websites. A “build a map project” has come home. Each student has ten days to finish it.  You can  build with all sorts of things like wood,paper mache,clay,and much more! They have a checklist to follow in order to get good grades but if they finish and they want more they can add things that are not on the list!

In number corner we did not do much, but we made a few observations  and predictions about the calendar. Some of  the observations were... “I observe that it goes 1 white then 2 Yellow then 1 blue and then it starts over again.” And some predictions were...“I predict that the 15th will be yellow.” Mrs.Crowther was very proud of our thoughts!

Reading and Writing       

    This week in writing we are working on our informational (or non-fiction.) pamphlets. The pamphlets are about the human body. Everyone has chosen a system in the human body to focus their pamphlets on. We have also picked a major organ or a part in the body to explain something about that part of the body.We are in partnerships of our choice to work and help each other. Partners must be writing about the same system. We are hoping to finish our pamphlets before winter break.

In music we have been writing to music. We have been writing whatever comes to mind while listening to the music. It could be a poem, a story, or any kind of writing.

    This week in reading we are still reading a book with our partner. We have been leaving tracks of our thinking throughout the book.  None of us have finished, but some are close! We have also been making a word wall. When we are reading our books we find words we can’t pronounce or don’t know the meaning of  and write it down on our own word walls. You can also put words you like on your word wall. At the end of reading, everyday Mrs.Crowther calls on a few people to share a word on their word wall to put on our class word wall. We are also working on “Someone, Wanted, But, So”. We each have a sheet which we kind of answer “Someone, Wanted, But, So” by writing the main characters name, what they wanted, what was in their way and we are still waiting to find out what happens in the end of the book which is the answer to “So”.We are also doing our usual reading.

Other important news and events
    -Chorus concert 12/13/12
    -Big Vt project came home! Due 12/17/12
    -Reduced weekly homework to make time for the VT map.

    By Nigel Wormser and Heidi Berger

 

Math, Science/Social Studies and Number Corner

In math this week we built “skeletons” to frame double-digit multiplication problems. Inside the “skeleton” frame we put base ten pieces. That helped us see the answer and it helped us understand the equations better. We also made “dinosaurs”. The “dinosaurs” are the area models when the “skeleton” and the base ten pieces are put together to finish the area model. We learned how to build, draw and finally we learned how to sketch the area models. We will also be playing quite a few games to help us multiply larger numbers.

In science and social studies we finished up our study of the human body by having an assessment before break. We are now studying Vermont!!! We started the study with reading some VT related read-alouds. We also learned some special things about VT. For example, we learned what the breed of our state horse was and which presidents lived here. We have all gotten a Vermont Attractions Map and we are starting to find places in VT. We are also finding the boundaries of VT and which states or countries border us. We will learn more about VT’s geography as the week goes on.

In number corner this week we will learn the new activities our number corner keepers will be keeping up to date. The new activities will start on Monday and we will observe the new calendar squares. We recently played a game called Buzz. To play Buzz you go around and count by ones. When you get to a multiple of the number that you decided on (we did four) the person whose turn it is says “buzz”. In the November calendar the squares showed a triangle. The calendar  squares were divided into four squares. The squares are called quadrants. The triangle move position everyday. The triangle either slid or it turned or it flipped. During number corner we learned the fancy words for slide, turn and flip.

                   

Reading and Writing

    This week in writing we have been working on our personal narratives...well, some of us. Others have been working on either Young Writers Project (YWP) or pamphlets. YWP is when some people go out in the kiva with Kelly (A faithful volunteer) and look at what the writing prompt is that week. It is always a fun thing! Then they write about the topic.Then they can post it on the web or, if they're lucky, in the news!

    Pamphlets are what some writers put information in. This time we are making our own! We are doing it about the human body.You get to pick a system and make a pamphlet about that system! It is really fun because you get to cut and paste on things.

    In reading we are doing partner reading for character and plot. We have paired up based on level and ability with reading.The first thing we did was to interview our partners about their reading. Then we got to pick our books based on our JR level! Readers have to figure out how many pages that they have to read a day.
    
 Other Important News and Events

    - Chorus Concert 12/13/12
    - We will have a VT map project coming home. Students will have 10 days to finish and will receive lot’s of sources to use as references.
   

Math, Science and Number Corner

    In math this week we did story problems and building arrays! We did some story problems about a girl named Maggie on a farm and we built arrays with base ten pieces to figure them out. Also at the end of the week we did a page in our student workbook independently where we had an array to build and find out the product for it.

    In science this week we read different problems and we tried to figure out systems are working in them. For example, “A teammate kicks the ball to you during a soccer game and you kick it across the field and make a goal.” In this problem a lot of systems work together. Also we wrote questions down about the human body on a piece of paper and then we gave them to Kristy and she chose some to ask the class. We did this because we are finishing our human body unit and on Friday we did a test.

    In number corner this week we talked about our calendar which has 4 quadrants on it and a triangle that is moving around those 4 quadrants.  We talked about the vocabulary we can use to describe the triangle’s different movement each day. For example, rotate and slide. Also, we talked about how each day of the month we have been adding 6 inches to a meter. To keep track of this, our number corner keepers have filing in a chart.

 Reading and Writing

    In reading this week we have been finishing up our summary of the blood cells article. We are basically taking the main idea and the 3 supporting details from the planning sheet and making them into a summary. We have also been reading in our just right books and still continuing with our book talks as usual.

    In writing this week we have been working on our narratives. A lot of us are almost done and all that needs to happen is Mrs. Crowther edit it, but some of us are taking our time and succeeding as well. We also did a lesson on dialogue. We learned about quotation marks and that you need to put a comma before you put a quotation mark. That when you're writing and you want someone to talk in your writing, you need to use quotation marks.

 Other Important News and Events

    -Thanksgiving Break!!!
    -It’s too late to hand in forms, but the pie sale at the Holiday Craft Fair is December 1st.
    - On Friday November 30th at 6:30pm Jenny Land is having a launch party for her new novel The Spare Room at the Flying Pig.
    - And just to tell you this is our (Maddy Krupp and Greta Powers) last blog. We had  fun writing it and now new kids are going to write it. I hope you enjoyed it!

 PTO Notes & News for November 2012

We've sold 28 LOCAL COUPON BOOKS. They are still available (c:
sweeneyrs@gmail.com) and they'll be for sale at the Holiday Fair.

HANNAFORD HELPS SCHOOLS program continues through 12/1. Please remember
to bring in your "Hannaford Helps Schools" receipts to the office or put in the kiosk
at Hannaford.

We made over $700 on business listings for the SCHOOL DIRECTORY. Please solicit
these businesses listed in the back of the directory that have supported our school!

There will be a table collecting donations for the Shelburne Food Shelf at the
HOLIDAY FAIR. Please consider bringing something to donate.

The FALL GRANT COMMITTEE will meet on Thursday, 11/15 to decide on PTO
grant recipients.

The COAT DRIVE is still on. You can drop off gently used winter gear in the box in
front of the office.

Congratulations to DELANEY BRUNVAND for her published piece in the Young
Writers Project anthology.

Librarian KARI AHEARN was quoted in the e-zine, Amplify regarding the success of
e-reading at our school.

Joplin James has again brought the IMAGINATION PLAYGROUND to our school.
Thanks to the Green Mountain Children's Museum for their donation of this!

RED RIBBON WEEK, the week of 10/29 was a week to "stand proud and loud
against drugs and bullying". The week included presentations by middle school
students from Project LEAD, a middle school assembly and a faculty flash mob!
Check out the video on the SCS library page (https://sites.google.com/a/cssu.org/
scslibrary/)

Thank you to David Southworth for organizing a schoolwide MOCK ELECTION.
Students were given the opportunity to experience registering to vote and
completing a sample ballot. Interestingly, the mock election results mirrored the
actual election results.

UA CURRICULUM NIGHT was very well attended - over 150 families!

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS has included harassment policies
training, common core development specifically for math and language arts, and
Functional Behavior Assessment training.

PTO sponsored speaker MARILYN NEAGLEY gave a wonderful talk last night
about Mindfulness and how it's being used in classrooms (here at SCS!) and
at home. If you weren't able to attend you can check out her website (http://
www.talkaboutwellness.org/) for more information on this very interesting subject.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS:
• Holiday Fair - Saturday, 12/1, 9:30a - 1:30p

HELP WANTED:
• Math Counts Coordinator (contact Allan Miller )
• SKAT Class leaders - Needed for cooking class, science class and UN
Delegation class (contact Sue Schaefer - sschaefer@cssu.org)

THANK YOUS:
• Dawn Fragola for coordinating the most lucrative Newberry Bake Sale ever!
• Everyone who helped at the Newberry Cup or donated baked goods.
• Everyone who helped distribute Genevieve gift wrap..
• Mark Fragola for printing up our colorful Holiday Fair.

By Maddy Krupp and Greta Powers

Math, Science, and Number Corner
   
    In Math this week we have  been working with the base ten system. We have been working with units, strips, mats, strip mats, and mat mats. We also built “THE GREAT WALL OF BASE TEN!!!” Which has a unit, strip, mat, strip-mat (10 mats put together) and a mat-mat (10 stip-mats put together. That is why we call it,“THE GREAT WALL OF BASE TEN!!!” We also did a pre- assessment to unit 2.

    In Science this week we did a lot of learning! In the beginning of the week we were trying to figure out what systems work together. We figured out a lot of them work together! Also, we watched a video the nervous system and we did an activity on the computer as a class on the overhead.
   
In Number Corner this week we have been looking at the calendar to see so far what the pattern is. We estimated and and even when over some things in class to maybe help us make more predictions, observations, and noticings. 


Reading and Writing

    In reading this week we have been putting the last touches on our Non-Fiction posters and we also read an article called, “What Do Blood Cells Do?” After we read this we filled out a sheet with boxes that were titled the Main Idea and 3 supporting details. Basically we were practicing doing a summary.

    In writing this week we have been continuing our Narratives and we should have them done by next week! We also did a lesson about paragraphs. We learned what a paragraph is and when you start a new one in a piece of writing. After we talked about this as a group we went back into our Narratives and checked if we had places where there should be a new paragraph. We also went back to make sure there was punctuation, spelling was correct, and capitalization at beginning of words.

 
 Other Important News and Events

    -Pie forms due Wednesday 11/14/12
    -Conferences 11/12/12
    -Report cards 11/9/12

-I also just wanted to give a heads up that  the 19-23 is  No School.

By Maddy Krupp and Greta Powers

Reading and Writing

    In Reading this week  we started a new project. We started making posters that explain different features of Non-Fiction. We need to say where you can find it, what it is and how it helps you. For example: the index, glossary and captions. Also, we need to get 2 examples from either a Non-Fiction book,  a magazine or newspaper. Another new thing that happened this week is the Fluency Center. The Fluency Center is where kids work and track their fluency in reading. Finally, we have been practicing reading Non-Fiction articles and after we read it we write a summary about it. To write the summary we have to pick what facts we thought were most important and at the end of the week we were comparing and contrasting ourselves with the main character in the just right book we are reading.

    In Writing this week we have been writing more and more of our Personal Narrative. We have been having content conferences with Mrs. Crowther, writing our 2nd draft on lined paper, having peer conferences, and a lot of other things in the writing process.

Math, Science, Number Corner

    In Math this week we have been learning about the system Base 4. We have been relating it to Base 10. We have been making observations and comparing what is different about each system. Mr. Madden (the math teacher) has been coming into the class this week to be our math teacher. He has been explaining what system is more efficient to use and what one isn’t more efficient to use. We have also been building models with the Base 4 pieces and trying to build the minimal collection.

    In Science this week we have been watching videos and taking notes about the skeletal system. We learned how our bones work and the 5 functions they have. We learned why an owls head can almost turn all the way around and why we can’t do that. We also looked through national geographic magazines and learned some more information on the skeletal system.


    In Number Corner this week we have been wrapping our observations for the October calendar (since we are going into a new month!!!!!) and just noticing things about our new November calendar.
 
 Other Important News and Events

    11/9 - Unicef money is due, report cards come home.
    11/12 - Conferences will be held, no school
    11/19-11/23 - No school (Thanksgiving break)
    12/1 - Holiday fair, Endeavor is doing a pie sale!!!!!!!!!!!!

Written by: Maddy Krupp and Greta Powers
       

Reading and Writing

    In reading this week we have been reading our just right books (like we usually do), writing responses and doing book talks when we finish books. Also we performed our Reader’s Theatres skits! It was a lot of fun to watch all of them and they had good lessons. Some of them were commit to your commitment (that was in the play Commit to Commitment), rumours travel fast (the other reporter Maddy was in the one Oh No you’re Kidding), be chivalrous (I was in that one and it was called The Girls of the Round Table) and finally don’t bully because you will get a taste of your own medicine (How Animals Got their Beautiful Coats).

    In writing we have been talking more and writing more about our narratives. We have been doing self conferences (SC), peer conferences (PC) and a lot of people have signed up for content conference (CC). If you are wondering what all those things are I’ll tell you. A self conference is a conference that you have with yourself and give yourself 2 suggestions to make our narrative better. A peer conference is when you have a conference with a friend or a peer. You swap notebooks with them and when you are done you give them 2 suggestions and they give you 2 suggestions. Last but not least a content conference is when you have a conference with Kristy or Mrs. Crowther and they give you 2 suggestions. Gee there are a lot of suggestions in writing! 

Math, Science, and Number Corner

    In math this week we have been working with tiles and trying to show a couple different arrays and then write an equation to go with it. We did this to go with the story called Spaghetti and Meatballs For All. The characters get into this situation tried to explain but nobody understood. The situation was that everybody wanted to sit together so they pushed all the tables together and there wasn’t enough room for everyone to sit. Do you know why? Our classroom does! We figure out why and we also did a page in our Student Book about the book. Finally, on Friday we did an assessment to see how much we learned in the unit. We did an assessment before the unit started and Mrs. Crowther is going to compare them to see how much we learned.

    In science this week we have been exploring Non-Fiction books and and looking for different types of Non-Fiction.  Some of the different ones we have found in class are biography, autobiography, and science. We did a Non- Fiction scavenger hunt and also in science we have been learning about the respiratory system. We have been watching videos about breathing, lungs, and we have been learning about the heart, lungs, blood cells, the trachea and lots more.

    In number corner this week we have been working with cups, quarts, and gallons and have been connecting them to division and multiplication. Sometimes we even have to do multiplication to do division! We are doing this to go with our October calendar.
 
 Other Important News and Events
      This week Kristy (our regular PARA) has been substituting for  the awesome Mrs. Crowther because she has to take care of a family member.

By Greta Powers and Maddy Krupp

Math, Number Corner and Science

    In Math this week we have been finding hidden arrays and recorded them in our student book. To do this we split up in 2 groups so everybody would have more time to think and to share our thinking. We also tried to figure out the pattern a manipen. A manipen is when you take a number, multiply it by 3, then you subtract 1. So 8 would be 23 and 100 would be 299. On Thursday we mixed Math with our work period (since we had Friday off). This meant that some kids were doing Fastt Math And others were correcting homework. Mrs. Crowther told the rest of us to do a new activity, workplaces. We had 2 games to do in workplaces. In 1 game you had to fill a 100 array with smaller arrays without any overlaps (the first person to fill the array wins). The other game we could play was about multiplication statagies and we had to spin 2 spinners to get factors and then we had to determine what kind of fact it was. Was it a decade minus 1 set fact? Or a Clock fact? A doubles-doubles fact? Or a doubles-doubles-doubles fact?

    In Number Corner we have been noticing more patterns in our calendar and still pouring a quart of water each day. We figured out that every 16 days we make a gallon with all the water we poured and that there is always going to be and animal or 2 each 4 days and that the amount of legs they have will match the number of that day.

    In Science we are studying more about the respiratory system and Mrs. Crowther told us a story about when she had pneumonia and her lung was affected.

Reading and Writing
 
    In Reading this week we have been reading our just right book and doing book talks. Some interesting ones that I have seen and heard are The Titans Curse, The Adventures of Tintin, and Brian’s Winter. We also have been doing responses in our response journal. We do these things  to tell Mrs.Crowther we finished a book and to recommend books to others. We have also been practicing our readers theater  to practice fluent reading and so we can have some fun!


    In writing this week we have been choosing our narratives and digging deep to try to get really specific on our small moment.  Each student is to come up with a moment that they think has some feeling and emotion to it. They are you use details,expression, and try to paint a picture in the readers mind.

Other Important News and Events
   
        -UA curriculum night is on Tuesday October, 23 at 6:30pm to 7:30pm.
    -Gift Wrap pick up is on Tuesday October, 23 at 2:00pm to 8:00pm in the small gym. Kids can NOT take orders home on the bus you have to come pick it up.
    -Math Club will be different this year it will be held after school and you should have gotten an email from Mr. Madden. Good news is anybody that wants to can join. It will start in November.
    -Report Cards will come home on 11/9
    -Conferences are on 11/12 with a few spots 11/19 and 11/20
    -Thank you for everyone who sent in a treat for NECAPS we still have treats to eat. We are going to save some to eat for after our Reader’s Theatre performances.

Written by Maddy Krupp and Greta Powers

Math, Number Corner and Science

        In Math this week we have been learning about prime and composite numbers and what the definition is. We have also made all the ways to make arrays of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12 with one inch square tiles.We recorded all the ways in our  student workbook. On Friday Mrs. Crowther said by the end of fourth grade we should have all our multiplication facts memorized all the way up to 12x12. To help us memorize these facts we talked about strategies and looked at a multiplication table.

        In Number Corner we wrote down some observations and predictions on our new calendar which so far has an interesting pattern. We also are going to pour a quart of green dyed water into a container each day. We will trade in quarts for gallons and keep track of all of this on a grid.

        In Science we finished learning about the digestive system and we now we are learning about the respiratory system. We have watched a video about this system and read two articles about it. So far we have learned that the three main organs in the respiratory system are the lungs, trachea and the diaphragm.




Reading and Writing
 In reading this week we have been doing book talks, readers theater(which is a little skit we do to help us read fluently), and we also did a little bit of the read aloud. We have also been reading our just right book and been recording them in our reading log.

 In writing this week we have been doing free writes and been choosing which story we like best to do our narratives. Some of the class is farther than others, but each one is going to be done and right now are just taking their time.
 Other Important News and Events

       For all of you Skippyjon Jones lovers out there Judy Schachner (the author of Skippyjon Jones) is going to be at the Shelburne Town Hall Tuesday, October the 16th at 4pm for her launch party of her newest book, Skippyjon Jones: Cique de Ole. R.S.V.P with the number of people in your party to 985-3999 or email flyingpigevents@gmail.com.

       Also no school on Friday 10/19 so don’t forget or else you’ll come to school to find nobody there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Reading
    
      In reading this week we have been continuing our read aloud of Ida B. and we have also been reading articles in a new magazine from Scholastic called “Storyworks.” We also have been signing up for book talks after we read a book and continuing to write in our reader’s response journal.
    


Math, Number Corner and Science
     
       This week in math we have been building arrays with 1 inch square tiles and drawing them in our math journal. We have also been talking about different terms that we use for arrays like, dimensions, area, and factors. One other thing is that all of us kids have learned the new saying “ commutative property of multiplication”.  Another thing I would like to tell you is that this week we have started “Dynamath.” “Dynamath” is a Scholastic magazine that has articles that have math problems on every page to go with them. For example , this week, we all split up into groups and  read an article about koalas and the article made us write number sentences to show our work. We had to read the story the article gave us, then, we had to figure out if the article wanted us to solve multiplication or division. After that we had to write the number sentence (number sentences) to go with the problem the story was giving you.
    
            In Number Corner this week we have not done much because we got a new  calendar for October and it has not  given us many clues about what to predict, but as the month goes on we will start to make predictions about what we think will happen next or what we think the pattern is.
              
            In science this week, we have been studying the human body. We have been focusing on the digestive system. We have learned about the esophagus, the large intestine (which is really a long tube inside your body that that is 20-25 feet long inside your body), the small intestine, the liver and the pancreas. We have also learned that tissue makes cells, cells makes organs, organs makes systems and systems make THE HUMAN MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Other Important News and Events

         Last week on Thursday we started NECAPS. We have been doing the reading sessions first and we will soon be moving into the math sessions. Families have also been welcome to send in treats for the students to keep us awake (because we do the tests in the morning) to help us do our best work.

        Also on Friday Mrs. Crowther gave us a catalog of non-fiction books from Scholastic. If you are going to buy books from there the orders are due 10/15/12.

By: Maddy Krupp and Greta Powers

READING:
     In reading, we have have been reading our just right book and we have been reading a book in class called Ida B. We’ve also been using our book boxes to hold our book, reading log, light read, back up book(which is our book in case we finish the one we are reading), a pencil to write and our reading response journal. What is a reading response you ask? Well, it is where we write letters to Mrs. Crowther about our reading life and what books we are reading.   


WRITING:
             In writing we have been brainstorming different ideas to get ideas to write our personal narratives that we will publish. This is the second writing project we have done this year. The first project was the bio-poem. 



MATH

    In math this week Mr. Madden (the math teacher we have been working with) has been working with us with 1 inch square tiles and linear pieces. With these tools we have been building models representing multiplication and division. We have also been working in our student work books where we write observations and other math problems.
    In number corner we have been working with centimeters, meters and decimeters (which is 10 centimeters). We’ve also been observing the calendar and figuring out the Egyptian numeral patterns that people actually used!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Other Important News and Events

          This week our team went to Shelburne Farms to make pizza and work on team building.  Some groups went on the tractor and all groups got to cook and play awesome games. We learned how to work together and how much work goes into making a pizza! The trip was really fun but the best part was that Mrs. Crowther’s baby Poppy, came too!

          This week we will also be starting NECAPS. NECAPS are when we do a big test through 10/4 to 10/11 and if you’re sick on one of those days we are having a make up week! Get ready and put your thinking caps on students!

Written by: Greta Powers and Maddy Krupp

Dear Writers

Dear Students,

        Thank you for being so open and honest and writing to me about your “writing selves.”  I very much enjoyed getting to know you better as writers, and as individuals.  Before I share some of the things I learned about you, I thought I’d share a bit about “ my writing self”. 

        I am a writer who writes with a purpose – usually, to communicate something.  I often write non-fiction and usually keep things pretty procedural.  Currently at home, I’m writing a journal to Poppy and even that is pretty straight forward.  I also have to confess that I do not love writing.  It is not my strength and I don’t spend much of my free time doing it.  However, because of this, I have made “To Become a better writer and writing teacher” a goal for myself each of the last 3 school years.  And I think my efforts are slowly paying off – but each year, it’s a lot of focused, hard work.  I take classes and read books to help me become a better writing teacher for YOU! J  And finally, I like to learn a lot of my lessons about writing, from AUTHORS!  I study the art of writing in the reading I do – and in the read alouds we do in class.  We’ll be doing this together all year! 

        So now, I’d like to share with you some of the MANY things I learned about the writers in our classroom!   Some things that came up often were that you need a QUIET environment in order to do your best writing.  I also read that you need private think time, help with ideas, you like to be alone, and that you need to slow down and/or to reread your work often.  I also learned that many of our classmates want to improve their spelling, handwriting, and they like to SHARE their writing! 

        Many of our fellow writers like to write about: family, animals/fish/pets, friends, funny things, and yourselves!  I also learned that the majority of you like to write fiction and use your imaginations!!  On that note, I learned that you too use other books, your imagination, and inspiring stuff in nature to help you get inspired to write. 

And finally, I was so happy to read over and over again how many of you LOVE to write!  How exciting for our classroom. J  We have many future authors in here!  It was refreshing to read how much you enjoy writing – I heard that it allows you to express yourselves, calms you down and motivates you, and even helps bring you back up when you’re feeling down.  How wonderful to know that writing plays such an important role in so many of our lives!!

Thank you again for your thoughtfulness.  I look forward to writing with you this year – both teaching, learning and growing together!

Love,

Mrs. Crowther J