Computer Update

Good evening everyone,

Well, report cards made it home today. :) Please sign the report card and return only the first page (you can keep the rest).  If your child returns the report card signature page tomorrow they will get THREE tan PAWS that can be used to buy things next week at our PAWS store sponsored by Sears Home Goods. If he/she returns the signed report card after tomorrow, he/she will get two tan PAWS. 

Our computers at school are up and running, which is great news for us. This means Class Dojo was working along with our Smartboard and our Document Camera. We were a very happy bunch today. :) You never realize how much you use technology in the classroom until it is all taken away from you.  We managed pretty well on Monday, but we are very happy to have all our tools back today.

Email is still not working. :( I know the district is working hard to fix the server, but for now I do not have email. If you need me you can always email me at my gmail account (Yes, it took me until tonight to think about using an alternate email account. Sorry!) michaelynblake@gmail.com  I don't usually check this account but I will make sure to check it now. :) Hopefully our server will be fixed soon, but until then we now have an alternate. :) As always, you can also post of the blog and I will respond.

Have a great night. Look at the blog tomorrow for some updates on what we have been up to this past week. :) 

Mrs. Blake

Computers Down

Our school computer system is completely down and I am unsure when it will be up and running again.  We are hoping things will be fixed by tomorrow but if not, please call the school to reach me or post a comment on the blog and I will respond. 

With the computers down, I was unable to send home report cards today. Even if the computers are down tomorrow, the report cards will go home...some of it will just be hand written. 

Also, while the district is trying to fix the system they are asking us to randomly shut off our computers. This can make it difficult for us to use Class Dojo.  I will be doing my best to keep Class Dojo up but if you do not see behaviors posted, this is why. 

Hopefully this problem will be fixed soon as I am finding it very hard to live without all the technology we have grown to love in our classroom (computers, smartboards, dojo, document cameras).  

Thank you for your patience in this situation. 

Mrs. Blake

Turkey in Disguise

Yesterday we started our Turkey in Disguise project.  I introduced the project by reading the story Turkey Trouble. In the story the turkey doesn't want to get eaten for Thanksgiving dinner so he dresses up as other animals to try to trick the farmer. The only problem is that his disguises are not very good and all the other animals know it is him. At the end of the story, the turkey comes up with his best disguise yet and dresses up as a pizza delivery guy and the family  has pizza for Thanksgiving  dinner instead of turkey.  

Your project is to help turkey disguise himself so that he is not eaten on Thanksgiving. I sent home a turkey template. Please CUT OUT the turkey and disguise him as something other than a turkey. Remember, we have some very smart farmers around here so make sure your turkey does not resemble a turkey!!!! Once you have completed your turkey disguise, please return the turkey to school.  We need the turkeys back no later than Tuesday, November 12th.

Once we have our turkeys back (and in full disguise) we are going to write a persuasive paper on why you should NOT eat our turkey.  Your turkey and the persuasive paper will be hung on display outside our classroom for everyone to see. :) 

Here are a couple of examples of how you could disguise your turkey. Use your imagination and creativity!!!!

Have fun and I can't wait to see your turkeys!!!

Weekly Updates...a litttle late

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I am so late getting this up, but I wanted to give you our updates for the week.  

This Friday will be our Unit 3 Math test.  I sent home a study guide for the test on Monday.  Please have your child complete the study guide and return it to school on Thursday.  We will go over it in class and I will answer any questions your child may have.  Remember, the questions on the study guide are the same type of questions as on the test, just different numbers. If your child understands how to solve the questions on the study guide they should have no problem on the test. :) 

Our spelling list went out on Monday also. This week we are working with the "wh" digraph. This is a tricky one for many kids in the class.  Please study the words with your child every night. Our sight words for the week are: she, do, if, how and their. 

We started our new incentive program this week for PBIS. The students are collecting tan paws that can be used to buy things in our school store on Tuesday, November 26th. Sears Home Goods has been kind enough to supply the school with awesome prizes for the kids to buy.  We will have everything from pencils to headphones for the kids to buy. Everyone is really excited and the kids are working extra hard to earn their tan paws. (Just a hint, each child can earn a tan paw for each homework assignment handed in on time).

Today I sent home a family project, I will post a different post just on that. Until then, know the turkey is due back at school by Tuesday, November 12th so we can do a writing project with it. The kids loved the idea and I hope you have fun with the project too.

This Thursday will be another restaurant night. If you eat at Noodles and Company in the Arboretum and let them know you are from our school they will donate 25% of the sales to the school. :) 

This Friday is the end of the first trimester grading period. Report cards will be going home on Monday, November 18th.

We began  Guided Reading last week. Some of our groups are already able to bring home their books to share with you.  When your child brings home his or her Guided Reading bag, please read the book with him/her and return it to school along with the bag.  The packet in the bag will be yours  to keep. 

I think that is it for now. Have a great rest of your week!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Blake

Halloween Party!!!!

Next Thursday, October 31st, is our class Halloween Party. Students are able to bring their costume to school (not wear their costume to school) and we will change into them around 12:30. If your child's costume comes with weapons, please leave those at home.  Around 1:00/1:15 we will begin our parade around the school.  Classroom K-3 will parade down our hallway and through the upstairs hallway to show off their costumes to the older kids. Around 1:15/1:25 we will return to our class for our classroom celebration. 

We had 7 wonderful mom's volunteer to plan our Halloween Party this year and it is looking to be a lot of fun!  We will have the students participating in 3 centers and enjoying a snack. For the centers, students will be making and decorating ghosts, playing Mummy Wrap and playing Mark the stem on the pumpkin (like pin the tail on the donkey).  We will also have Monster Mash dancing. :) 

To pull off this wonderful celebration with the class, we need your help.  There are a few supplies we will need for the party that we were hoping you could donate.  I have set up a "sign up genius" with a list of things needed for the party.  If you can able to, please sign up to send in an item.  If you are having any trouble viewing the list or signing up for a supply, please email me right away.  We are asking that you sign up and send in your supplies by October 29th so we can get any remaining supplies needed before the party.  If you would like to join up for the party, you are more than welcome to come to school.  Just email me so I know how many people (and siblings) to expect. 

Sing up genius link: http://www2.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4DA5AB2FA7FB6-halloween

Thank you for all your support and I can't wait for our party. :) 

Mrs. Blake

This week

Sorry I haven't had a chance to post this week.  We have been very busy and time just got away from me.  On Tuesday the Hoffman Estates Police Department came to school to talk to us about fire safety.  I was unable to attend the assembly due to a previously scheduled meeting, but the kids filled me in on everything they learned.  We made a poster of the most important facts learned.  

In Math we started a new unit.  We have been working on patterns and even/odd numbers. I even taught the students a neat trick to know is any number is an even or odd number.  Ask your child if they can show you how smart he or she is. :)

In writing, we began a new story about what we like to do with our friends. We are currently at the rough draft stage and are getting ready for our final copy.  Again, we are making sure we have a topic sentence, at least three supporting sentences and a closing sentence. We are also making sure all of our sentences stay on topic!

In reading, we are working on showing our comprehension of stories by working on a story map and making text-to-self connections. In science we have been working on the life cycle of a pumpkin/plant. 

Just a reminder, next week is Parent/Teacher conferences. I will be meeting with parents on Thursday evening and Friday (No school Friday). Please make sure you are on time for your conference as we only have 15 minutes to meet. I am looking forward to talking to everyone. I am so impressed with my students and can't wait to show off some of their work. 

Mrs. Blake

Fiction vs. Nonfiction

Today we worked on understanding the difference between fiction and nonfiction text.  We talked as a group about what a fiction book is and what a nonfiction book is.  We then talked about the differences we see in fiction vs. nonfiction.  After our discussion, the students were asked to go through Scholastic book flyers to find fiction and nonfiction books. 

EEKK

We have been working really hard on learning all the parts of our Daily 5 reading schedule.  Lately we have been working on EEKK buddy reading. EEKK stands for elbow to elbow, knee to knee, I read to you, you read to me. It takes a lot of practice to learn the proper way of working with a partner on reading so that both partners and getting something out of the experience.  I have to say, the kids are doing a great job working together.  So far, I have chosen the groups of students working together but starting this week I am going to let them choose their partners. Hopefully everything still runs smoothly. :)

Staley the Bear Came to Visit Timber Trails!

We had an amazing assembly today with Staley the Bear, the official mascot of the Chicago Bears. He talked to us about the different types of bullies we could encounter and what we can do if we are being bullied or see someone else being bullied.  The kids LOVED the assembly and had a great time. After the assembly, we decided to write letters to Staley thanking him for his visit and telling him what we learned.  We brainstormed some ideas of what we could say to Staley and I modeled what a friendly letter should look like.  So far, we have made it through our rough drafts and have begun work on our final copies. as soon as everyone is finished, I will send them to Staley.  Hopefully we will get a letter back.  Here are some pictures from the assembly and some picture of us working on our letters. 

Staley the Bear is coming!!!

Staley the Bear from the Chicago Bears is coming to our school tommorrow!!!!  Wear your Chicago Bears clothes (or anything orange or blue) to show your support. He will be talking to us about bullying. Pictures will be posted :)

I want to be writing activity

Last week we were talking about what we want to be when we grow up.  The kids had great ideas of what they wanted to be but I wanted them to go farther. So we started talking about why we wanted the jobs we talked about.  Next, we worked on putting our ideas into writing. We discussed what a topic sentence was and came up with the sentence starter "I want to be ..." Next, we talked about supporting sentences. These are sentences that describe or add to our topic sentence. All these sentences have to stay on topic and add to the readers knowledge of our topic sentence.  Last, we discussed closing sentences.  Then I asked the students to put their new found knowledge to use and write a five sentence paragraph. :)  Everyone did a great job on this task.  Here are a couple of our works in progress. 

We can't wait to share our final copies with you at conferences!!!!