Monday, May 21st, 2012

Good afternoon!

Wow! What a busy time of year.

Last week, I sent an email from Julie that contained paperwork for next year's Fall Voyage. Please print the paperwork, fill it out, and send it in to me, with your child no later than this Friday. Again, this is paperwork for the 3rd Grade Voyage. We've just found in the past, that it is much easier to have all of this paperwork turned in before the end of the year, since the Fall Voyages are close to the start of the school year. If you have any questions, please let me know.

I want to share with you, the Douglas County Libraries Summer Reading Program. We have spent a lot of time this year building reading stamina. I would hate to have all that hard work lost over the summer. Please take a look below and consider joining the reading program. It's for children and adults, and kids will be much more willing to participate if they see their parents participating also! Let me know if you have any questions!
http://douglascountylibraries.org/content/dream-bigread

Stay tuned to your email for details about plans for our last day of school, next Thursday.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Good afternoon!

Our hike is this Wednesday to Dawson Butte. We will leave school around 9:00, so please be here at the normal time of 8:40. Students will need their day packs as well as two snacks and a sack lunch. We'll be back before the 1:00 dismissal. Please let me know if you have any questions.

We had a wonderful fieldwork experience this morning to Channel 2 News/Fox 31. The children were able to see where meteorologists use tools to forecast the weather and communicate this information with the public. We got to see ourselves in front of the green screen, as well as see the news set. We even had a chance to be in the audience for a live show, Colorado's Everyday Show. What a great experience!

Monday, May 7th, 2012

Good afternoon!

There's a lot of news this week.

First, we have two trips next week. The first is next Monday, May 14th. We will be doing some fieldwork for our Science Expedition at Channel 2 News. We will be touring the weather station with Meteorologist, Chris Tomer. He will be answering some of our wonderings. We're very lucky to have this chance to work with a real Meteorologist! Our Crew, along with Ms. Sarah's Crew, will be taking the bus for this fieldwork. The bus will be leaving school at 8:30. All students need to be here at 8:15 that morning. We will return to school at 11:15, so there is no need to pack a sack lunch. I do need 3 chaperones who can go with us. Please let me know if you are available. Thanks!

Later next week, on Wednesday, May 16th, we will be going to Dawson Butte for a day hike. We are still in need of some drivers and chaperones. Right now, I don't have enough volunteers for us all to go. Drivers will be needed from 9:00-1:00. Students will need a day pack, snacks, and a sack lunch. I'll send home the day pack checklist early next week. Please let me know if you have any questions or are able to drive for this trip.

Also, next week is Spirit Week. Each day is a different theme. Students are not required to participate, but are welcome to! Monday is Twin Day. Tuesday is Crazy Sock or Shoe Day. Wednesday is Crazy Hair Day. Thursday is Sports Day and Friday is Hat Day.

Monday, April 30th, 2012

Good afternoon!

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing weekend. In Expedition, we are working like meteorologists, so observe, record, and analyze the weather. Here we are recording our thinking. On these charts, we record our thinking again after we've learned more, to document how our thinking has changed.

Monday, April 23

Good afternoon!

I hope everyone had a good long weekend!

In Reader's Workshop, we are learning how to pay attention to text clues to infer meaning. One way we are thinking about this, is you stop and consider the author's purpose. This will help us figure out what the text means. While you read at home with your child, talk about the author's purpose. Ask your child what he or she thinks and ask them to support their thinking with evidence from the text.

In Writer's Workshop, we are learning how to notice features of nonfiction text. By doing this, we are learning what features to include in the nonfiction pieces we are writing. So far, we have learned about headings, photographs, and captions. You can expect to see these things in the pieces we publish.

In Expedition, we are learning about the tools that meteorologists use to measure, record, and communicate data about weather. We will be making our own weather tools, as well as creating a weather log, so that we can work like meteorologists too!

April 16th, 2012

Greetings!

Last week, we started meeting with our new Kindergarten buddies. We will meet with our buddies each week to share our writing. It's a lot of fun to listen to Ms. Jody's students' writing as well as share what we know about writing.

3rd grade portfolio panels are coming up soon. Please sign up to be a panelist, as you won't be able to be on a panel for 3rd grade next year. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Greetings from 3rd Grade,

Ms. Brittany and I would like to encourage you to sign up for 3rd Grade Portfolio Presentations. This is an exciting event that our crews are working hard to prepare for and is a unique experience to Renaissance.

We really need your help! To make this possible, we are in need of many more volunteers. As a heads up, parents cannot serve on the 3rd grade panels when their child is in 3rd grade, so now is the time to see what this experience is all about! 

Thank you for your consideration, and we hope to see you there!

~Mrs. Lauren and Ms. Brittany

Portfolio Presentation Sign-Ups
One of the big milestones for Renaissance crew members happens twice, once in 3rd grade and once in 6th grade, when they present their Portfolios to a panel of adults. In order for this to be a successful experience for our crew members, we need YOU, volunteers to help make up our panels.  

Please go to SignUP Genius and volunteer.  (Note that parents of current 3rd graders can only volunteer for the 6th grade panels and parents of current 6th graders can only volunteer for for the 3rd grade panels.  Parents of Kindergartners, 1st & 2nd graders, or 4th & 5th graders can sign up to be on either or both panels.)  Sign ups only available until April 19th!

3rd Grade Portfolio Sign-Up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A5AD238-rems 
6th Grade Portfolio Sign-Up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090B48A5AD238-rems1 

3rd Grade Portfolio Presentations will be on Wednesday, May 9th from 1:45pm to 4:00pm.  (Actual Student presentation times will be sent to parents in May.)
6th Grade Portfolio Presentations will be on Thursday, May 24th from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.  Panel members will meet the week before, on Thursday, May 17th to review the sixth grade portfolios and compile a letter of questions to the individual 6th grader. (Actual Student presentation times will be sent to parents in May.)

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Welcome back! I am so happy to be back with your kiddos today! Though I had a nice, relaxing break, I sure did miss them.

We only have 8 weeks of school left. Really? That's crazy! These last 8 weeks will be packed with learning.

In Writer's Workshop, we are beginning a nonfiction genre study. Students will be creating their own nonfiction pieces about a topic of their choice.

In Expedition, we just launched our Science Expedition, called "Winter White, Whirling Wind." In the first case study, Winter White, students will be learning about weather through going in depth into an investigation into blizzards.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Good afternoon!

I apologize for not getting this updated on Monday. Better late than never :)

I've included some pictures of our kiddos buddy reading in the classroom, working as scientists during Expedition, as well as some pictures from our Dr. Seuss Day. Thank you to everyone for making this day so special!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Good afternoon!

I hope you had a great weekend!

Hopefully you all received the sign-up genius invitation for our Dr. Seuss morning, this Thursday. From 9:30-10:15, you are welcome to join us in our classroom for breakfast and some enjoyable literacy time. I invite you to come in and read some Dr. Seuss books with your child. While I have some Dr. Seuss titles, I would greatly appreciate it if you have some Dr. Seuss books you could bring in with you. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I know some of you have already started gathering the necessary gear for our Winter Voyage. Here is the link to the packing list. The list does say no pillows, however, your child can bring one pillow and one small stuffed animal. Also, please have your child bring a book or two to read during down time. It's always a nice surprise for your child to find a note from you in his or her bag. Please consider writing your child a note and placing it in his or her pack.
http://schools.dcsdk12.org/education/page/download.php?fileinfo=U25vd19NdG4uLUdlYXJfTGlzdC1XaW50ZXJfMjAxMS0yMDEyLnBkZjo6Oi93d3cvc2Nob29scy9zYy9yZW1vdGUvaW1hZ2VzL2RvY21nci9BTExmaWxlMjI2NjAzLnBkZg==

In math, we are beginning to learn about fractions. Any time you have a chance to talk about fractions at home, this would be a great link between school and home. Meal times can be an especially useful time for discussing fractions.

In expedition, we are starting our second stand alone study. We will be learning about force and motion. We're also learning how to work as scientists.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Good afternoon! I hope you all had a wonderful, long weekend!

We will have a spelling test on Friday, even though this is a short week. The spelling words are listed on the blog.

We will finish up Unit 7 in math on Friday. This week we are practicing how to measure to the nearest centimeter and the nearest inch. Students will also learn how to organize data and find the median and range of data.

In Reader's Workshop we are thinking about how important it is to monitor our understanding while we read. When your child is reading at home, have them tell you about what they're reading. This will help them make sure they are understanding what they've read.

In Writer's Workshop we are continuing to work on our how-to pieces. The students have learned how to include specific verbs and adjectives in their writing. They are also adding a lot of voice to their pieces.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Good afternoon!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Please send a box or bag with your student tomorrow so he or she has somewhere to collect all the cards. Our party is from 3-4 tomorrow.

In writing, we have started a new genre. We are learning how to write procedural, or "how-to" texts. We are enjoying looking at published how-to pieces and noticing what they include. If you have any examples of recipes, directions, etc, that you wouldn't mind sharing with our Crew, please send them in with your child. Thanks in advance!

In math, we are learning about patterns and rules in numbers. Towards the end of our current unit, we will learn more about graphing and analyzing data.

We have finished up our social studies expedition, Our Community is Rock Solid. We are now beginning to learn about our science concepts. We will cover a couple of stand-alone science concepts before we begin our science expedition.

Monday, February 6, 2012

I hope you all enjoyed your long, snowy weekend! It sure was beautiful!

This Wednesday night is our Poetry Reading Night. The students are so excited to share their writing with you! We will begin reading our poems at 5:30. Refreshments will be served. I hope that all students will participate. If you have ANY questions, please let me know. We've been working really hard and are looking forward to celebrating our learning!

Monday, January 30, 2012

Thank you to all of you who came out to support us as we led the All School Meeting last week! The students did an excellent job and I was very proud of them.

The paperwork for the Winter Voyage is due today! If you haven't turned in the paperwork for Snow Mountain yet, please do so. Let me know if you need me to resend the paperwork to you via email.

Our Poetry Reading Night will be next Wednesday, February 8th at 5:30. I hope that all of you can join us for this special night when the students will be sharing one of their poems about community. We have worked so hard on these poems and can't wait to share them with our families. All family is welcome to attend. The event will be held in our classroom and refreshments will be served. Chevy will be sending out an invitation to sign up to help bring these refreshments. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Good afternoon!

Our Crew is leading the All School Meeting this Wednesday, January 25th. The students have worked really hard, preparing to be ready. We would love to invite all of you to watch us lead this meeting. The All School Meeting will begin at 9:00. Can't wait to see you there!

Our Winter Voyage is March 14th and 15th with a Day of Rest on Friday, March 16th. Last week I emailed you the paperwork that needs to be returned for all students to attend our voyage. This paperwork MUST be returned by next Monday, January 30th. Please let me know if you have any questions.

We have been working hard on our Poetry genre study lately. In addition to writing acrostic poems, we have learned how to write descriptive haiku poems. Our next step is to take what we learned about community through our Expedition, and write poetry about community. We will be sharing these poems with our families on February 8th at our Poetry Reading Night. I will send more details about this night soon.

Monday, January 9th

Welcome back! I hope you all had fun and relaxing Winter Breaks. I certainly enjoyed the time with my family!

I sent an email home last week asking for chaperones for our Winter Voyage. The dates are Wednesday, March 14-Thursday, March 15, with our Day of Rest on Friday, March 16. I need 4 male chaperones and 3 female chaperones. Thank you to those of you who have already volunteered. I am still one male chaperone short, so if you can help our Crew, we would all greatly appreciate it! Please let me know as soon as possible. I will be notifying chaperones if they have been chosen by the end of the week. Please email me if you have any questions.

Our Crew will be leading the All School Meeting on Wednesday, January 25th. This is a chance for our Crew to be in front of the whole school, hosting this meeting. The meeting will be at 9:00 that morning. I encourage all of you to come support us as we take on this exciting endeavor! Please let me know if you have any questions.