Peek at the Week of November 29-December 3

This is conference week.  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be Early Dismissal days with school ending at 1:25.

Progress reports (aka report cards) were sent home last Wednesday.  Please sign and return the white envelope.  You can keep the progress report.

It is December and there are a few fun holiday-related events happening in the classroom.  I will send home a memo listing the details of each event. I will also list reminders here on the blog each week, but here are some dates to mark on your calendars:
Friday, December 10th:  Pajama Day
Thursday, December 16th:  Class Cookie Exchange
Friday, December 17th:  Grab Bag Gifts Due
Wednesday, December 22nd:  Holiday Breakfast Party & Grab Bag

Homework
Monday 11/29
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Winter Word Work (there are 3 new activities in addition to the usual 5)

Tuesday 11/30
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Math:  Mixed Review

Wednesday 12/1
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Following directions/wreath

Thursday 12/2
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Review your words for tomorrow's test

Have a great week!

Peek at the Week of November 22-26

Happy Thanksgiving!

This will be a very short week of school.  There is an Early Dismissal day on Wednesday and no school on Thursday and Friday.  I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend.

Report cards will be sent home with your child on Wednesday.  If your child is not going to be here on Wednesday, please email me so that I can send the report card home a day earlier. 

Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held the week we return from Thanksgiving.  Your child's report card envelope will have the date and time listed on the front.

There will not be any Word Study list this week. 

Homework
Monday 11/22
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes.
2.  Ripe & Ready (ending sentence punctuation)

Tuesday 11/23
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues.
2.  Gobbling Good (subtraction using a # line)

Wednesday 11/24
1.  Read for at least 15 mintues
2.  Get ready for Thanksgiving Day!

Have a great LONG weekend!

Highlights of the Week November 19

• This week we went on the back playground.  (JF)
• On Monday we had a field trip.  We saw a play with the Berenstien Bears. It was called "Family Matters".   It was teaching us not to eat too much junk food, not to talk to strangers, always do your homework and be a good sport.  (CH, CF, Miss D.)
• Next week CH will be the captain.  (LJD)
• DG was a good captain this week.  (CF)
• In art we painted and made prints with ink and designs made out of glue.  The designs were all about music.  We didn't use a brush, we used a little roller.  (JF, LMD)
• Today we are going to have a Cranberry and Pumpkin tasting party.  Some kids might be afraid to try the foods.  (KS and Miss D.)
• We will have a Mystery Reader today.  (CH)
• We will have our last 5-word spelling test.  After Thanksgiving we will have 10 words on each test.  (KK)
• After Thanksgiving our Monday Word Work homework will have 8 choices instead of 5.  (CH and LMD)
• In Writing Workshop we wrote snapshots about people.  (MM)
• We will go to the computer lab today.  (JF)
• In music we played xylophones.  We learned 2 new songs. (KE)
• In Reading Workshop we added a new poem to our poetry notebooks.  It is a funny song/poem about leftover turkey.  (CH and Miss D.)
• In gym we jumped to try and touch lines.  We tried to beat our old score each time.  (CB and JF).  In gym we also played basketball.  (LMD)
• We also ran laps during a whole song.  (MC)

Balloon Parade

This Sunday, November 21st is the UBS Thanksgiving Parade in Stamford.  The website for information is: http://www.stamford-downtown.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=133

Tree Lighting

The Annual Tree Lighting will take place on Sunday, November 28th at 5:00pm at the Darien Sport Shop.

http://www.dariensportshop.com/

Mystery Reader

SM looks very happy to see her mom here at school!

Peek at the Week of November 15-19

This week we are going on our first field trip.  Thank you to Mrs. D. and Mrs. H. for coming with us.  It should be a great trip!

Checks for our second field trip (in December to the Maritime Center) are due on Tuesday, November 16th. A $17 check made payable to "Ox Ridge".

Thank you for the paper towels that many of you have sent in.  I appreciate it!

This Friday is our Pumpkin and Cranberry Tasting Party.  We will be sampling some delicious things like pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread, dried cranberries, cranberry juice and a few other things.  Thank you to the families who signed up to bring in these items.

Homework
Monday 11/15
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Fall Word Work

Tuesday 11/16
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Thanksgiving ABC order

Wednesday 11/17
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Thanksgiving Word Sort

Thursday 11/18
1.  Read for at  least 15 minutes
2.  Review your words for tomorrow's spelling assessment

Have a great week!

Peek at the Week of November 8-12

The weather is getting colder...please remind your child to wear jackets/vests.  It's a good idea to write your last name inside the jackets since so many of the coats look the same!

Thank you for all of the great books from my Wish List.  I sent Thank you cards home with students last week, but am mentioning it here as well just in case a card didn't make it home.

This week we will learn about Veterans and will be able to watch the 5th grade assembly on thesmartboard while the show is happening live in the Common Room. 

Math:  Counting with coins is a BIG challenge!  Please practice counting with coins at home.  Starting with 1 nickel and adding on pennies (ie: saying "5-6-7-8) and then try the same with 2 nickels ("5-10-11-12-13...).  This week we will be measuring the length of many different items.

Reading Workshop:  We are going to continue to look for patterns in books.  Last week we explored "word patterns".  We were able to find many examples of this in our books.  This week we will look a little deeper at the concept of patterns in a story's plot.  This will include noticing things like characters and how he/she solves the problem.  Many of our favorite books follow the pattern of a character facing a challenge, trying to fix it and ending with the problem solved. 

Writing Workshop:  We had a great time writing descriptions of some objects last week (shoes, backpacks).  This week we will write descriptions of places.  Basic sentence structure of beginning with a capital and ending with a period is being reinforced and reviewed. 

Homework

Monday 11/8
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Fall Word Work Homework

Tuesday 11/9
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Book Report:  Falling for a Good Book

Wednesday 11/10
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Math:  Counting Coins "Nuts for Sale"

Thursday 11/11
1.  Read for at least 15 minutes
2.  Review for tomorrow's spelling test

Have a great week!

Highlights of the Week November 5

• CF was a great captain.  (KE)
• JF is the next captain.  (CH)
• We had a pacer test in gym.  (LMD)
• In art we finished our pictures that we made out of leaves.  (MC)
• At snack time we started a new book called "The BFG".  It was written by the same author who wrote "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". (MM)
• We started writing snapshots in Writing Workshop.  (AK)  It is when you describe what something looks like.  (LMD)
• In Reading Workshop we learned about book patterns.  When you see a pattern in a book it helps you be able to read it better and you become a stronger reader.  (EW)
• EW was very excited this week to tell us that she has a new baby brother.  She brought in pictures and the new baby is very cute.  (Miss D.)
• We had gym.  We ran laps.  (AK)

Mystery Reader

LD's mom surprised our class when she came in to be the Mystery Reader.  LD was so happy to have her mom here at school.

Mystery Reader

MM's mom came and read a great book to our class.  It was a fun visit.

Publishing Celebrations

A few weeks ago we finished writing and illustrating our 'Small Moment' stories.  The stories were so great that we decided the Kindergarteners would want to hear them.  Here are some pictures of us reading our published stories to a Kindergarten class.

Mystery Reader

JF was so happy and surprised to have his mom come in to be the Mystery Reader.  It was his birthday too!  What a lucky boy!

October Superstars

MM, JF and MC were selected as our class Citizens of the Month for October.  They have a lot to be proud of!