Happy Monday!  It's so nice to be back to our normal schedule now that the Iowa Assessments are over.  The kids did a wonderful job hangin' in there during our week of testing.  Thanks, again, for all of the donations of gum, mints, and healthy snacks! 

Quick Curriculum Updates:

Reading:  Our main selection this week is called Kamishibai Man by Allen Say.  We are using this text, along with our small group books, to determine cause and effect relationships. 

Spelling:  Our pattern this week is spelling the ow and ou diphthongs in words such as "clown" and "proud". 

Grammar:  This week's grammar lessons focus on finding the simple subjects (nouns) and simple predicates (verbs) in sentences. 

Writing:  Students will be writing opinion response paragraphs to literature. 

Science:  We completed our Electric Circuits science unit today by taking the assessment.  On Friday, students shared the flashlights they built with their groups.  Check out the awesome pictures below!

Math:  Students are continuing their work on measurement and perimeter.  We have been measuring to the nearest inch, half-inch, centimeter, and half-centimeter.  Reinforcing these skills at home can be very beneficial.  This week's lessons will involve using number models to find the area of rectangles. 

A few important notes:

*Beginning today, October 22nd, your child will be coming home with a daily planner.  We feel, as a team, that these planners will help students become more organized and help them to gain more responsibility. We plan on taking the last five minutes of the day to fill out our planners together.  Students will record the homework they have each day and leave the subjects in which there is no homework blank.  It is important to note that we are NOT asking parents to sign these every night.  The goal will be that if an assignment is missing, your child will highlight the assignment in their planner and only then will they need to get a parent signature so you are aware that work has been missed.  We are all so excited about this new communication tool!

*Parent-teacher conferences are coming soon!  In your child's Leopard Book, there is a brief parent survey.  This is an opportunity for you to share any concerns or topics you would like to discuss prior to our meeting together.  I look forward to seeing all of you in the upcoming weeks! 

Have a fabulous week! 
Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us