12.5.11

Hello Gents and Judies!  I hope I find you dry on this dreary Monday afternoon!  We've had a busy day of winding down our classes for 2011!  I came in to a very special surprise today...

meet, Mortimer - he now greets us at our classroom door!

Hayden brought me an oh-so very cool new owl!!!  I have named him, "Mortimer" and he now hangs outside our classroom door!  What a sensationally, AMAZING gift that I am so touched to have!  Hayden, you reeeeeaaaaally made my day and I am so grateful for your thoughtfulness!

WRITING:
This week, we are studying words that have multiple meanings (homonyms) like: fall, land, fan, check, change, raise, roll, beat, etc.  Shellby pointed out that we have some multiple meaning words on our vocabulary (Arctic - a noun of a place, and arctic - an adjective)...good i-Spy eyes, Shellby Sue! I also read them a story entitled The King who Rained so we could look at words that are not only spelled the same, but have different meanings, compared to words that sound the same yet have different meanings (homophones). 
HOMEWORK: none tonight!

READING:
We are continuing our focus of identifying the Main Idea of a nonfiction text and finding details within the text to support our thinking and prove our reasoning.  Today, we read a story entitled, WildFires, about how wildfires are not always detrimental to an environment and can actually be beneficial which is quite interesting compared to the picture of how these are typically painted. 
HOMEWORK: Complete Exercise 1 for our vocabulary this week which is Lesson 5.  Also, complete ONE "Tic-Tac-Toe" activity of your choice. 

our WOW! Words this week are:

accommodations

Hanukkah

enthusiastic

kaleidoscope

onomatopoeia

SCIENCE:
Ms. Frederick worked with students on consequences of earth processes (rapid or slow - meaning earthquakes, hurricanes, erosion, etc.)
HOMEWORK: none.

In division, the DIVISOR is the worker bee, separating the dividend into equal groups!

MATH:
I worked with students on DIVIDING!  Currently, we are using place value charts and chips to draw out our division and working on making groups of each place-value.  We have learned that the number you start with is the DIVIDEND; the number that divides is the DIVISOR (the "worker bee"!); and the answer in these equations is called the QUOTIENT.  For example, in 565 divided by 5 (which equals 113), the dividend is 565, the divisor is 5, and the quotient is 113.  Students have been doing 3-digit by 1-digit division!  Tough stuff, but they are catching on and L.O.V.I.N.G. it!
HOMEWORK: none tonight, but PLEASE work on multiplication facts!

Have a terrific night and stay dry!  I'll see you in the morning!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

Christmas is only 20 days from TODAY!
and Winter Break is only 9 school days away!