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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!