Week of 11/2/09 - 11/6/09

Happy Halloween everyone! The new, improved Halloween festivities were awesome! I'd like to thank all those parents who helped organize everything; in our classroom it was Mrs. Gibbons and Mrs. Meyer who handled the activities, and Mrs. Moschetto, Mrs. Laviste, and Mrs. O'Leary who sent in the yummy treats and drinks. The children really enjoyed creating their pumpkin works of art! It's always fun, also, seeing so many parents outside watching our crazy costume parade!!

Our picture retake day has been moved to Thursday, November 19th. Mark your calendars! We will also be hosting Mr. Laviste for Junior Achievement for one last day on Wednesday. Ask your child what he/she learned! Our Robert Crown field trip is this Friday. Please send a lunch with your child that day; there is always a possibility we won't make it back for the hot lunch and “better safe than sorry." Don't forget to set your clocks back an hour this weekend!

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 10, Final y words and suffixes. Test Friday.

Reading: We will continue learning about the important reading skill of visualizing by studying tall tales. So far, we have read about Paul Bunyan, Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, and Davy Crockett. Furthermore, the students have been busily creating their own tall tales. We will be sharing those this week.

Language Arts: The students will be starting Unit 2 this week, Nouns. A new Schoolhouse Rock song will be introduced.

Social Studies: Lesson 2 (Cities, Towns, and Farms) will be read and discussed this week. The Trade Fair will take place on Thursday, November 5. Signs should be created and brought in along with the items the students wish to trade.

Science: We plan to finish Chapter 5 this week on ecosystems with a test planned for Tuesday, November 10. There will be a study guide going home on Thursday.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
It is hard to believe we made it through the Algebra chapter with very little bruising :) Our Chapter 4 test will take place on Tuesday. Our next chapter will be on decimals, but we will not be starting until the week of 11/9.

Important Notes:

11/6 - Robert Crown field trip (sack lunch needed)
11/11 – Veterans Day (no school)
11/19 – Picture retakes
11/25 – 11/27 Thanksgiving holiday

Have a great weekend and a safe Halloween! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 10/26/09 - 10/30/09

We have a four-day week coming up and some exciting changes to the typical Halloween party, as you all know. Please make sure your child is planning what his/her pumpkin is going to look like. Items may be brought in from home for decorating purposes. We are not carving them nor are we painting them, but if there is something that might be fun to add, bring it in! Our party moms are ready to go!!

Also, picture retakes are scheduled for Thursday, Nov 5. Pictures should be coming home soon and if you decide to have your child retake the picture, the entire envelope must be returned by that day. Any students that were out sick that day will also be photographed.

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Halloween words and activities. No Pretest on Monday. Test Thursday.

Reading: We will continue learning about the important reading skill of visualizing by studying tall tales. We have read Paul Bunyan and will continue this week with John Henry and Sally Ann. The students will also be writing their own tall tales this week.

Language Arts: Since we are going to be focusing on writing tall tales this week, we are taking a break from the text book.

Social Studies: Chapter 6 entitled “Life in the English Colonies” will begin this week. We'll start with “Working and Trading” and I will be introducing the Trade Fair this week. Students will be expected to create an item that they can trade with other classmates. The items should be inexpensive and use materials found at home. Some traded goods I've seen in the past have been bookmarks, bracelets, muffins (healthy, of course,) painted rocks, handmade comic books, etc. We will discuss it in class; look for a permission slip mid-week.

Science: Lesson 2 (Ecosystems) continues... We are a little behind due to the amount of sick kids missing; we will, hopefully, finish up that lesson this week.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
After a much more successful quiz was taken last week, we will continue with Algebra through the week. There are only 3 more lessons left (Functions, Inequalities, and Predict & Test.) We will review Thursday and next Monday with a test planned for Tuesday, 11/3. I've pushed it back so I can catch up my sick kids and give us an extra review day.

Important Notes:

10/28 - Robert Crown parents' meeting at PV @ 6:30

10/29 – Halloween celebrations
10/30 – Teacher's Institute (no school)
11/6 - Robert Crown field trip (sack lunch needed)
11/11 – Veterans Day (no school)

Have a great weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 10/19/09 - 10/23/09

Autumn is surely upon us. There is a nip in the air and the trees are doing their thing, impressing us with their glorious colors. I am hoping next week will be warmer and the children will be able to go outside for recess!

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 8, Review Lesson/No Pretest on Monday. Test Friday.

Reading: The students should be handing in their Kid in the Red Jacket book projects first thing Monday morning. Several students have already handed theirs in. We will work on summarizing through Wednesday and start our next reading skill, visualizing, on Thursday. Tall Tales will be read and the students will eventually be writing their own tall tale. We'll start with Paul Bunyon.

Language Arts: We are still on track for a test on Wednesday. A review page will be given on Monday, corrections made on Tuesday. We will read the book Eats, Shoots, and Leaves later in the week and revisit commas and how important they are when we are reading and writing.

Social Studies: After a very busy week studying Chapter 5, we are going to take a few days off before starting Chapter 6 on Friday. It is entitled “Life in the English Colonies.” Before we get to that chapter, we will read a TFK and complete a worksheet, read a book called Teammates, and discuss bullying.

Science: The Leafy Critters turned out great! I laminated them and will put them up on the bulletin board soon. We will start Lesson 2 this week entitled “How is Energy Passed through an Ecosystem.”

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
We are slowly but surely attacking Algebra!! Monday's lesson will involve the properties again. We have already worked with those on Friday. There will be a short, open note quiz on Tuesday. We will then move on to writing and solving equations and functions. I am predicting a test on Chapter 4 occurring on 10/29.

Important Notes:

10/21 – Early dismissal
10/29 – Halloween celebrations
10/30 – Teacher's Institute (no school)

Have a great weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 10/12/09 - 10/16/09

Happy Columbus Day Weekend!
I have noticed that many of my students' binders are chock-full of papers they do not need anymore. Furthermore, there are some important graded assignments that need to be looked at inside the various pockets. Please help your child make a habit of going through their binders every day and pulling out the papers that need to stay home. We are also working very hard to make sure assignments books are filled out properly each day.

On Tuesday, I will be sending home a permission slip for our parent workshop on October 28 and the subsequent Robert Crown field trip on November 6. Oncoming puberty and the human reproductive system will be introduced in a very sensitive way at that time. Please look in those binders for this most important permission slip.

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 7, soft and hard G. Test Friday.

Reading: We have finished reading The Kid in the Red Jacket and will be working on a book project this week. Furthermore, there will be a vocabulary quiz on the important words from the novel on Tuesday.

Language Arts: We are studying quotation marks and will use comic strips to help us learn to use them properly early in the week. If your child has a favorite comic stip, please send one in on Tuesday. We will then move on to abbreviations and titles. After reviewing for a couple days, I am planning a Unit 5 test on Wednesday, 10/21.

Social Studies: We have finished the reading of Chapter 5 and will “jigsaw” many of the important aspects of the chapter on Tuesday. After reviewing on Wednesday and Thursday, the students can plan on a chapter test on Friday. Look out for the “How to Study” sheet!

Science: I hope the children go on leaf hunts this weekend! They should be rinsing, drying, and pressing them according to the directions they received yesterday. We will be making leaf animals on Wednesday. I encourage them to look for leaves of all sizes.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
We are finished with our short but sweet long division chapter and will move on to Algebra and Chapter 4. This week, we will specifically focus on expressions, equations, and properties. I can already predict a short, open-note quiz on Tuesday, 10/20.

Important Notes:
10/12 – Columbus Day (no school)
10/21 – Early dismissal
10/29 – Halloween celebrations
10/30 – Teacher's Institute (no school)

Have a great, long weekend! Mrs. Klacza

Week of 10/5/09 - 10/9/09

It is getting chilly outside; please remind your child to wear a jacket to school because we do go out for recess if it is not raining. Thank you to all the families that purchased magazines during our magazine drive. We started Junior Achievement this week and the students are learning how to become entrepreneurs. Beth's dad is our JA representative! It's a five week session and we hope to learn a lot about the business world.

Coming up this week:

Spelling: Lesson 6, Plurals with -es. Test Friday.

Reading: We continue reading The Kid in the Red Jacket. Howard is trying to come to terms with Molly, who is a royal pain. He hurts her feelings in this section of the book but realizes that some people are unlikely friends...

Language Arts: After writing our pyramid poems, we will jump back into the text book and Chapter 5. We will specifically focus on commas in a sentence and interjections. Wow!

Social Studies: After reading about the Pilgrims and Plymouth Rock, we will focus on the thirteen colonies. We will find out how they were sectioned off into three parts: the New England colonies, the Middle colonies, and the Southern colonies. It will be interesting to find out what each was known for! I'm planning a Chapter 5 test for Friday, 10/16.

Science: This week we focus on ecosystems. The students will have an assignment to search for interesting leaves and dry them out at home. We wil be making something with those leaves... We will also be learning about photosynthesis.

Mrs. Klacza's Math Class:
After a very successful study of chapter 2, we are going to work on three lessons in Chapter 3: dividing by 1 digit divisors, interpreting the remainders, and zeroes in division. After the three lessons are finished, we will have a quiz on Thursday. I strongly urge my students to continue to practice their multiplication facts, since they are an important part of division, also!

Important Notes:
10/12 – Columbus Day (no school)
10/21 – Early dismissal
10/29 – Halloween celebrations
10/30 – Teacher's Institute (no school)

Have a great weekend! Go DGS Mustangs!! Mrs. Klacza