Hola Amigos!!!  I hope everyone's Tuesday has found you well and wonderful!  Boy, was it a nasty, rainy day...and now, the wind may blow us away!!!

This morning, we began by continuing to work on our On-Demand writing pieces for November that are due to Ms. Sharp by Monday.  We are doing a fabulous job and are learning about writing about given topics on command...or ON-DEMAND!  This month, our topic (made up) is writing an article to our school's newspaper (hypothetically speaking, of course) about a project from Ms. Sharp in which students will take 5 minutes of their recess to pick up trash around our school.  The students must write to inform their peers as to why this is a good idea, what and how it can be done, and the meaning of the phrase, "All for one and one for all".  It is exciting seeing the students develop in their writing, especially through creating engaging leads and meaningful idea elaborations.  They will undoubtedly be "pros" at this concept before the end of 3rd grade...and especially when it is their turn to test in this specific area as 5th graders!


In reading, we had so much fun playing 'charades'.  Since we are still focusing upon learning to make inferences by using clues in a text to read between the lines and make educated guesses about what the author is implying, charades was a fun way to practice this skill!  Students had to use the clues from body language and actions of their peers to 'infer' their topic.  It really was fun...we are so competitive!  Tomorrow, we will be continuing to work on inferences and, will be making 'Stone Soup'!  So if you have items you are willing to send in or have extra to spare at home, we'll need them tomorrow!  Here are some remaining items we are still in need of:

**mung beans

**bean curd

dumplings

lily buds

giant spoon

taro root

sweet cakes

lychee nuts

**optional items

Instead of math, both classes (Mrs. Ingold and ours) have again, met their goals for PAWS for compliments in the hallway or classroom from other staff.  Therefore we watched the original 'Charlotte's Web' together in our room.  It was great for members of my reading class who read that chapter book in their reading groups last 9 weeks and we were all able to make text-to-text connections in comparing the similarities and differences between the events of the book and the events of the movie.


In lunch, we earned another GREEN paw!!!  We are on a roll!  After lunch, we were unable to have our 'Wellness Walk' due to the weather and then went to support the 4th and 5th graders in their KCCT Awards assembly in the gym.  Ms. Sharp asked us to attend so we could see what is store for us at this time next year as we will be taking on the CATS test endeavor this year!  As a former 4th grade teacher, it was so amazing seeing all my former students receiving awards for doing so well, and we had many siblings who were recognized today for outstanding performances!  Just think, in only a few months, that will be all of us!!!


You all make me proud everyday, and I'm absolutely CRAZY about you!!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

9 days  until Thanksgiving!

11.15.10

Happy Monday all!

Alonna and Fuzzy

Whew, it was a busy, busy day!  Alonna absolutely made my day right off the bat by giving me a "Build-a-Bear" owl that she had made me over the weekend.  It even talks!!!  I love, love, loooooove it and Elizabeth Turner Thomas, Fuzzy, for short became our new class mascot.  She went everywhere for us, the kids love her, I love her, and she absolutely warms our hearts!!!  Thanks Alonna...you are AMAZING!!!

Our new class mascot!!!

I love her!

In reading, we got to get back in our reading groups and on our normal schedule.  Tonight for homework: please complete your Inferences packet and begin working on your Spelling packet that is due on Friday.

In math, we began our new chapter over using bar models.  We will not be using much of these as they can tend to be pretty confusing, (more than helpful) so we will just be focusing on word problems as they involve complete real-world applications. Word problems are a complex mathematical skill that involve setting up problems on our own and reading deeper to figure out the meaning behind what we are asked to do and to find.  We had a rocky start today, but I am confident we will see much success as we learn and go on our journey through this concept! 

We got to have LUNCH BUNCH today!  And finally, after lunch and our Wellness Walk, we worked on one of our On-Demands for this month with Mrs. Ingold's class. 

Have a terrific Monday!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

Thanksgiving is 10 days away!!!

Weekly Happenings: 11.15.10 - 11.19.10

This Week at Garden Springs:

Nov. 15—Day 3
2:45-3:45p: Performing Arts Club Rehearsal

Learning Checks

FRC Angel Tree (11/8-12/6)


Nov. 16—Day 4
Science Fair Project Proposal Due

Nov. 17—Day 5
7:30-8:00a: K-Kids

2:45-4:00p: Governor’s Cup Academic Team Practice

2:45-4:00p: Girls on the Run

Nov. 18—Day 6
11:00a-12:00p: FRC Advisory Council Meeting

2:45-4:00p: STLP

2:45-3:45p: Ecology Club

2:45-4:00p: Girls on the Run

Nov. 19—Day 1

Friday, November 12, 2010

T.G.I.F., EVERYONE!!!

I hope everyone got to (or gets to) enjoy this BEAUTIFUL day!  We have certainly been blessed with all of our fantastic weather.  I must admit though, I AM ready for fall like weather...how about you?!?

Fridays are ALWAYS very busy so we got off to a slow start and were pretty amped up about the weekend.  Therefore, the students engaged in silent reading time to get back on track...they are so enthusiastic about so many things :)  I am so blessed to have such wonderful, caring, and charismatic students! 

In reading, we took our spelling test and then our definitions tests.  We also got back our definitions tests from last week and made corrections to learn from our mistakes and get half credit back to our score.  These will be sent home with their final grade for your review on Monday.  This took the majority of our time so we then watched a movie/ cartoon portrayal of "Stone Soup" (our story from yesterday) and made text-to-text connections between the story and the movie as we observed many differences.  It was awesome seeing how much the students remembered from the story and were able to point out that was not present in the cartoon or was different.  They really are comprehending what they are reading! 

In math, I believe Fridays are a day for assessments or review...and with that review, comes GAMES!  I introduced a NEW game today called, "Baseball Addition" which is adapted from "Baseball Multiplication" that I played with my 4th graders in previous years.  The class was split into two groups.  Each group had a turn at bat.  Batting was rolling 4 die and depending on the sum of the numbers shown on all the die, the students got to move bases...a single was rolling a sum of 10-14; a double was a sum of 15-19; a triple was a sum of 20-23; and a HOMERUN was a sum of 24.  Also, an out was getting a sum of 4-9.  We had so much fun playing and the students really got some great practice with adding mentally!  I cannot wait to do it with subtraction!

We had computer for specials and then got to eat lunch in the room because of the PTA Reflections Awards.  Mrs. Moses came in for Guidance where we learned and practiced having polite and respectful conversations with people.  We learned it is extremely important to maintain appropriate eye contact with the person in which you are speaking with as well as having good listening ears. 

While Mrs. Moses was in, our Reflections winners went to their awards ceremony in the cafeteria.  Congratulations to Abby, Ahmad, Alyssa, Lauren, Lisa, and Tabitha for being our class winners!  We are soo proud of you!!!



Our PTA, "Together we Can" Reflections Writing Piece Winners!!!

 Finally, we ended a GREAT day with Book Buddies with Mrs. Hubers's class. 
Have a FANTASTIC weekend!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

13 DAYS UNTIL THANKSGIVING!!!

11.11.10

Happy Veteran's Day everyone!  We LOVE all our of Veterans and are so appreciative of your bravery and willingness to serve for our country!!! 

WE THANK YOU!!!

In reading, we had a GREAT time reading the folktale, "Stone Soup".  We learned that folktales are stories passed down orally from generation to generation.  The story was also a fantastic lesson where we learned that it is important to work together to accomplish a task and establish a working community.  The stones were not actually important to the soup, but were an intriguing concept that the monks used to peak interest in what they were doing so people would end up working together.  It worked, and a delicious soup was made!  We are hoping to make the same 'stone soup' from the story as an activity during class next week...however, we need many ingredients.  Below is the list of items that are needed to make stone soup (we only need a very, very small amount of any item since there are so many!):

STONE SOUP

1) 3 round/smooth stones

2) 5 big onions

3) carrots

4) salt and black and red pepper/ spices

5) baby corn

6) mung beans

7) noodles

8) bean curd

9) garlic

10) cabbage

11) yams

12) dumplings

13) soy sauce

14) tomatoes

15) mushrooms

16) lily buds

17) chives

18) ginger root

19) pea/ bean pods

20) winter melon

21) celery

22) bread/ buns/ sweet bread (King's Hawaiian)

23) rice

24) lychee nuts

PS, Don't forget to study, study, study the spelling of your words and their definitions tonight!  Packets are due by TOMORROW before the tests!



We are so FULL of thanks! (Our new door display for Thanksgiving)



For math, those of us who did not have a '4' on our Chapter 2 assessment's ORQ rewrote it to make it a 4.  Almost everyone finished with a 4!  Whew!  The students who earned a 4 were able to play a new game with me called, "The 18th Hole". No homework this evening!

We were so excited to have all of our guests at lunch today...it was AWESOME!  Thanks for coming, everyone!  AND...we earned a GREEN paw!

Finally, Mr. Barnes came and it was such an amazing lesson!  We learned about how money works and even got to write our own checks and deposit slips.  We even got to work in companies and see what it was like to live as a responsible consumer or working adult in today's society.  It was wonderful!  Sadly, it was his last day :(  We have had so much fun with him!  Thank YOU, Mr. Barnes, for all of your fun lessons and for doing so much for us!  We REALLY appreciate everything and are very sad to see you leave!

Tomorrow is FRIDAY...yeaaaa!!!

xoxo,

Mrs. Thomas



Thanksgiving is ONLY 2 weeks from today!!!





11.10.10

Hello all-

What a beautiful fall Wednesday we have amongst us!  I hope everyone can get out and enjoy the weather!  Today, we continued working on our senses poems...they are really coming along and it is nice for the students to see the progression through the drafting stage of writing.

In reading, we had to take time to finish our performance checks.  Most students got this completed today and we will be able to resume as usual with our groups.  All groups need to read the next chapter in their reading books.  You should be finished with the 3rd chapter by tomorrow.  Also, do not forget to study your spelling words and their definitions.

In math, we also had to complete our performance assessment today as well.  We should be finished with them by tomorrow!  (Finally!)

We had music today for specials AND we earned another GREEN paw in lunch!

Finally, we switched for Social Studies.  There is NO HOMEWORK in that subject tonight. 

You are all maginificent!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

15 days until Thanksgiving!!!

11.9.10

Happy Terrific Tuesday, Friends!!!

I hope our fabulous day has found you well!  What a BEAUTIFUL fall day!

We began our day by getting together our Thanksgiving Turkey...he's so cute!  Stay tuned for pictures to come!  We then moved to writing and began drafting a senses poem.  I think they are going to turn out GREAT!

In reading, we took our fall performance assessment.  Only a few got completed and we already have THREE '4s' on the ORQ!!  Way to go Alyssa, Caroline D., and Olivia!  We will be completing this assessment tomorrow and getting in our new reading groups.  For homework, please read the SECOND CHAPTER of your new chapter book from your groups.  Also, DO NOT forget to study your words and work on that packet!

In math, we continued our rounding assessment, and then coached our ORQ up to a 4.  NO homework tonight!

We earned a green paw in lunch!

Finally, we transitioned to Science and Social Studies.  There is NO HOMEWORK in either!

Have a GREAT night!
xoxo,
Mrs. Thomas

16 days until Thanksgiving!