A Big Bite

2012 has been a great year so far in room 23! We have settled into the new calendar year and are really making good progress with all of our academics. We read Stone Fox, by John Reynolds Gardiner and watched the movie. We completed a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the book and movie. We learned about the literary technique of "onomatopoeia," and that even if a book doesn't have a "happy ending," it can still be a great book. As a class, we have read over 560 books so far this year! In writer's workshop we finished another personal narrative, wrote fiction stories based on a picture from a book, a work of art, or a picture that the student drew. We have begun preparing for the long comp in writing and are currently writing about a special moment with a teacher. Ask your child to tell you about it, and even ask them about MY special moment (and not so special moment too!) On Friday, Mrs. Landrigan joined us for our writing lesson and helped us set goals for the rest of this piece. In math, we are almost halfway through the curriculum and will be taking the chapter 6 test next week. The weather here in Massachusetts has led to some very lively discussions during science. We have finished weather maps and will be learning about the water cycle, the different types of precipitation and humidity. In social studies, we said good bye to Canada and have begun our study of the USA. We will begin by learning about the smallest region, New England. Recorder Karate has begun in music and everyone has earned a white belt. We are aiming to be a "Black Belt Class!" Thanks for your continued support at home with all of the practicing.

This week, I attended training on how to use the interactive whiteboard, and we have used it every day. Mrs. Toye even gave it a try during a lesson. Speaking of Mrs. Toye, almost everyone has had the opportunity to have lunch with her at her popular "Lunch Bunch," program. Ask your child how it went.

Next week we will be participating in "National No Name Calling Week." Thanks to Mrs. Trochman and Mr. Lee for sponsoring this event at JFK.

New England Patriots who??? Shea and I are showing our team spirit for the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers in the photo above. We tried to put our fists up, but we were laughing too hard. Thanks to Mrs. Merten for taking this picture. One of our classmates said, "Oh I know where the Rangers are from, Texas!" Wrong Rangers! My jersey is older than every student in my class; did I really just admit that?

Until next week,

Mrs. W