Wednesday in Mrs. Walter's Room

What a day. The studnets walked in with such creative dioramas. We did have to hold those off until later though. We started out in journals writing about our dinosaur projects. We wrote about what we liked and didn't like about doing our projects. Then we dove into our reading books. We read Mr. Putter and Tabby Fly a Plane with a friend. We talked about what it means to be a friend and how animals and things like a tree or the wind can be a friend. We talked about making words plural. We did our DLP. Then the students were hungry. We took a break for snack. Then we worked on abbreviations. The students went to gym class. When they came back we had centers for a while. Then everyone made a card for Miss. Mathers who is now Mrs. Cira. She was married over the weekend. We talked about how to make a card, and what would be approprite to put in our cards. After lunch we were able to do some of our dinosaur reports. The students did a great job on them. We went into our math class after that. We worked on making the same amount of money in different ways. They do have homework tonight. After math we wnt to library. Then we had time for a few more dinosaur reports. What a great day!

Wednesday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

We sure worked hard today! This morning we practiced using abbreviations. Then, we finished reading our story Mr. Putter and Tabby Fly the Plane. The children re-read the story on their own and started a scavenger hunt in class. It needs to be finished for homework tonight. We completed our DLP and three guided reading groups. The children went to music class. Then, in Social Studies, we practiced reading maps with landforms on them. We also completed our Daily Oral Geography. After lunch, we read some more of Harry Potter. In math, we practiced making different groups of coins for the same amount of money. Both classes have homework. In Science, most students had an opportunity to present their dinosaur projects. They were so excited to show their work off!

Tuesday in Mrs. Walter's Room

Today we started reading our new reading story for the week, Mr. Putter and Tabby Fly a Plane. The story is longer than our previous stories. We talked about the story for quite a long time today. Then we read another story, a folktale. It was also about friendship. We discussed abbreviations for quite awhile. This is very challenging. Please make sure to practice these with your children at home. We talked about making words into plurals then. We also did one of our worksheet pages. After that, we went to computer class. When they got back we started doing a landforms project. They broke up into small groups, and they had to work together to make 6 landforms out of clay. They had to name all of the landforms and go by a theme. They continued working on this after lunch. It was so much fun, and for the most part the students worked really well together. After that we went into math. We introduced the quarter and half dollar today. Some of our students finished their homework in class. After math we fworked in centers, and finished up any projects that we have not finished yet.
Our dinosaur dioramas and reports are due tomorrow. Please make sure to have your child read their report to you a few times. We are really looking forware to this!

Tuesday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

DINOSAUR DIORAMAS AND PARAGRAPHS ARE DUE TOMORROW! Please have your child practice reading his/her report. Some children will get to present tomorrow, while others will have to wait for Science time on another day.

This morning we reviewed abbreviations. We completed a spelling worksheet in class. We learned our vocabulary words for the week, used a Power Point for practice with the words, and completed a workbook page. We talked about how to make predictions. Then, we read our story Mr. Putter and Tabby Fly the Plane. We completed our DLP and a workbook page on plural nouns. We completed two centers today as well. The children went to gym and LRC. This afternoon, we learned about half-dollars and quarters. We practiced adding sets of coins. Both classes have math homework. In Social Studies, we finished our Landform Models. They will be displayed for you at conference time. The students also had a chance to read a Time for Kids magazine.

Monday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning we learned that abbreviations are shorter versions of a longer word. We talked about days of the week, months of the year, people's titles, street names, and measurement abbreviations as well. Then, we completed an activity in class and introduced similar spelling words. Students must capitalize them and have periods for the words to be counted correct. We completed our DLP, talked about adjectives, and more plural nouns. We completed two guided reading groups. In Science, we worked on a booklet about SUE. Last week, we had read a book about the famous T-Rex and the woman who discovered her bones. Today, we compared ourselves to her and discussed how neat it would be to find a discovery like her. This afternoon, we used money to tell the difference between tens and ones. Both classes have math homework. In Social Studies, we worked on our landform boxes. The children enjoyed working with the clay to build mountains, rivers, hills, peninsulas, etc. At the end of the day, the children went to gym class.

Don't forget: ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT UNTIL THE DINOSAUR PARAGRAPHS AND DIORAMAS ARE DUE! Make sure you have your child practice reading his/her paragraph, as he/she will have to present it to the class!

Friday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning we reviewed words with -ack and -ock. Then, we completed our DLP and took our spelling test. We got through three centers/guided reading groups. The students went to art and music. This afternoon we learned about how to add coins in math. Some students in my math class do have one page of math homework. Mrs. Walter's class does not. Then, we had a Stranger Danger assembly. We also talked about how to be safe while trick-or-treating next week. Because of our time crunch with the assembly, we just took the vocabulary portion of our reading tests and will have to finish the test on Monday.

Don't forget that the Dinosaur Paragraph and Diorama is due on Wednesday, October 27th!!!! Please take this opportunity to work on the project with your child over the weekend!

Thursday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning we practiced clapping out syllables. We broke down words and divided the syllables between the base words and their endings. Then, we discussed more about the main idea, looked at some sample paragraphs, and found the main idea in each. We have one page of spelling homework tonight. We completed our DLP. Then, we discussed colorful words (adjectives). We talked about what it would be like if our favorite pet (real or imaginary) went missing. How would we describe our pet to someon else? We made a list of questions we would ask. Then, we created posters of our pets to show what they look like and wrote about the pet using our best descriptive words. We will finish our posters tomorrow. We completed four guided reading groups/centers. We also read with our Book Buddies. This afternoon, we read some of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In math, some of the children switched groups. We started a new chapter on money. Today we learned about pennies, nickels, and dimes along with each of their values. Then, we added coins together to buy certain items. Both classes have homework. If your child is in my math class, ask him/her to sing you the song we learned about coins. At the end of the day, we went to the library and had another Mystery Reader!

Wednesday in Mrs. Walter's Room

During announcements this morning Mr. langman said that the school will have a popcorn/movie day when the students have earned 1,000 Wilcat Cash tickets. That was exciting to hear. Today we started out by writing in our journals about families. We shared our journals with a partner then we talked about -ear words. We read our story, Helping Out, with a friend. We worked in centers and did guided reading groups. We went to gym class. After gym we took out our social studies books and worked in our landforms booklets again. They are working so hard on this and they are looking beautiful. We have been looking up many different landforms on the internet for the students to use as guides. They have been fascinated to see some of the landforms around the world. We ended our morning by doing Daily Geography. After lunch/recess we talked about carnivorous and herbivour dinosaurs. We talked about their characteristics. We read some from Harry Potter. Then we had math class. We worked on logical reasoning again. Yesterday we drew pictures to help us find the answers and today we had the children role play to help us find the answers. This was challenging work again today. After math class we had our extra recess that they had earned. That was a lot of fun. Weended our day by doing some more map work in social studies. We were not able to have library today, but we will have it on Thursday.

Wednesday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning we practiced words with -ear. We completed our work in class. We re-read the story Helping Out in groups. We completed our DLP and three guided reading centers. After music class, we got into groups and started planning for our Landform Models. The students chose 6/8 landforms that they will construct out of clay. They chose a theme to name each landform. They made flags that will help label the landforms. We will actually make the landforms on another day. This afternoon, we reviewed how to compare numbers in math. Then, we took a short quiz. After, we worked on logical reasoning. In my class, I sent home one page of homework AND an extra challenge, if your student wants to complete it. If the challenge comes back complete, he/she will earn an ES. Mrs. Walter's math class has one sheet of homework, as well. In Science, we drew a background of the environment in which dinosaurs lived (warm, wet, with lots of lucious plants) and then sponge painted dinosaurs on top. The children had a great time singing along with some dinosaur songs as we worked.

Tuesday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning we practiced words with -ear. We have a spelling worksheet to finish for homework. We talked about and practiced using our vocabulary words. We learned about plural nouns and the students have a workbook page to complete at home. We practiced identifying the main idea of selections. We read the story Helping Out. The students completed two sentences of DLP and we got through two centers today. This afternoon in math, we reviewed even and odd and took a quiz on it. Neither class was assigned homework. In Social Studies, we worked on our Landform Booklets. Soon we will start our landform models.

Monday in Mrs. Walter's Room

Today we wrote in our journals about our weekends. We shared our journals with a friend. After that we dove into our literacy. We talked about helping eachother and working together to do a job. We talked about what types of jobs we do together at home and at school. We then made a list of words that have -ear in it. We talked about the fact that these words have -ur sound, but they have a -ear in them. We did a few workbook pages. Then we did centers for a little while. This was a lot of fun for the kids, as we have some Halloween activities in our venters right now. Then we took our spelling pre-test. After that we went to music class. When we came back from music clss we took out our social studies books and talked about the vocabulary and then started talking about landforms. In the afternoon we had a PBIS assembly. Then we went into our math books. We worked on even-odd numbers today. This was very challengin for the students. Any time you can practice this skill at home please do. We did a number chart up to 100 and colored all of the even numbers. Mrs. Walter's class has homework tonight. After math class we brought out our social studies again and continued talking about landforms. We started making a book about landforms today. We started today with oceans, rivers and mountains. They had a great time making these.

Monday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning we made lists of jobs we can do in our journals. We talked about words with -ear. We completed a workbook page and then introduced spelling words with the same pattern. We completed our DLP, talked about using adjectives when telling a personal story, and we learned about plural nouns. We completed two guided reading groups/centers. In Science, we read a book about Sue Hendrickson, the paleontologist that found the T-Rex bones that become Sue at the Field Museum. Then, we started a mini-book about Sue in class. This afternoon we had an assembly to talk about respect and how to be respectful to adults, especially in the lunchroom. We are close to earning a school-wide prize for showing how to be safe, responisible, and respectful. In math, we practiced counting by even numbers and by odd numbers. Both classes have math homework. At the end of the day, the students went to gym class.

Friday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

Today we presented the directions for the dinosaur project! The children are so excited to get started! Look for a packet of information with a parent letter so that you know what the expectations are as well. The project is due on Wednesday, October 27th. We also watched a short video about researching dinosaurs.

This morning we had a bus evacuation drill and talked about expectations while riding a bus. Then, we reviewed words with -at and -ate. We made lists of words and then completed a workbook page. We finished our DLP. We took our spelling test, too. The children went to art and music class. This afternoon we took our reading test. In math, we practiced saying, writing, and counting using ordinal numbers. The children do have one page of math homework. We took our math facts timed test and most did very well! At the end of the day, we went outside (while the weather is still nice!) for Celebration Day. Have a wonderful weekend and happy researching!

Thursday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

We wrote in our journals first thing this morning. After sharing some of them, we clapped out syllables, completed a spelling page in class, and reviewed our vocabulary words. We re-read The Enormous Turnip and completed a scavenger hunt with a partner. We talked about sequencing in class and during guided reading. We also practiced putting words in alphabetical order. We completed two sentences of DLP and two centers. We read with our 4th grade book buddies as well. This afternoon we started Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Then in math, we practiced skip-counting by 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, and 10's. Please practice counting by 3's and 4's at home, as these were the most challenging. Both classes have math homework. At the end of the day, we went to the library and we had our first Mystery Reader! The children enjoyed having Manny's sister read to them. If you would like to sign up to be a Mystery Reader on Thursdays from 2:45-3:00, please let me know as I have lots of openings!

Wednesday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning we wrote in our journals and then reviewed our phonics pattern. We completed our spelling worksheet in class. We acted out the story of The Enormous Turnip. We worked on two sentences of DLP. Then, we analyzed a couple of pages from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. We looked for quotation marks; a clue that dialogue is occuring. During guided reading, we practiced looking for those quotation marks and figured out who was saying the words. When you are reading at home, try practicing with your child! We got through two centers today. The students have one page of grammar to finish on nouns for homework. In Social Studies, we started working on landform booklets. We wrote definitions of each type of landform and now we are illustrating them. This afternoon, we learned about ordering numbers in math. We told which number came "before", "after", or "between" numbers. We used number lines and hundreds charts to help. Mrs. Bognetti's math class does not have homework, while Mrs. Walter's class does. In Science, we started researching dinosaurs on zoomdinosaurs.com. The students can use that website on an upcoming dinosaur project...information to be sent home soon! Also, coming home today are the students' pictures and test results from the Theme 1 Literacy test. If you would like to view the test, please email me to make an appointment, or you can view it at conference time. I do not need you to sign the results and send them back...you can keep them!

Tuesday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning we reviewed words with -ack and -ock. We cut apart letters to build our spelling words. Then, we completed a spelling worksheet in class. We learned about our vocabulary words and their meanings. We used a Power Point presentation to help us and completed a workbook page in class. We talked about sequencing (putting things in order). Then, we read the story The Enormous Turnip. We talked about folktales and how they often are exaggerated and have repeating characteristics. Then, we completed our DLP and the students have a workbook page on nouns to complete for homework. The students went to gym and LRC today. After lunch, we completed two centers. In math, we compared numbers using symbols for greater than and less than. My class does have homework, whereas Mrs. Walter's class does not. In Social Studies, we began our new unit. We cut apart new vocabulary cards and then practiced cause and effect. We read the first lesson on landforms. The students completed their work in class. We will begin a group project on landforms soon.

Friday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning was so short! We wrote in our journals for about 15 minutes and then switched classes for math. We used our predicting skills to problem solve. My class finished their work in class, while Mrs. Walter's math class has homework over the weekend. Then, my class went to art and music. At the end of the morning, we went outside for Celebration Day.

For an upcoming project, you need to save a shoebox (with a lid). More details will be given about the project at a later date.

Have a wonderful three day weekend!

Thursday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning we started learning the skills for next week's story, The Enormous Turnip. We talked about words with -ack and -ock and completed a workbook page. We introduced the spelling words and did an activity with them. Then, we did two sentences of DLP, talked about dialogue and quotation marks, and learned about nouns (people, places, things and animals). We completed two centers and had Book Buddies. This afternoon we watched a movie about dinosaurs. We will begin researching dinosaurs in class and will have an upcoming dinosaur project to be done at home (details will be sent in the next week or two). In math, we practiced estimating how many objects were in a container and practiced using what we already know to guess appropriately. Mrs. Bognetti's class has homework, while Mrs. Walter's does not. We went to the library. At the end of the day, we practiced writing the printing letters "u" and "s". Remember that there is an Early Dismissal Day tomorrow. It is also Blackhawks day...students are to wear Blackhawk gear or black and red. The class with the most children dressed appropriately will earn a spirit award!

Wednesday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning we practiced writing letters. In order to do so, we wrote to our Book Buddies in fourth grade. We thanked them for being our buddied and then wrote a few things to help them get to know us better. The children used their Quick Words and the Word Wall to help them spell. After music, we took our Social Studies tests. In the afternoon, we finished Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone! I have each of the children a Harry Potter silly band to celebrate. In math, we practiced reading number words and writing numbers as words. Both classes have homework tonight. We also took our timed math fact test. Please practice addition facts with your child at home. In Science, we worked as paleontologists to clean our fossils! They look dino-mite! Then, we read the next lesson which introduced dinosaurs and dinosaur fossils. The students need to finish their lesson outlines for homework tonight.

Tuesday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

We have a Social Studies test tomorrow! Don't forget to re-read and review vocabulary words and the Illinois Booklets with your child tonight. We played a Jeopardy game in class to help review. We also did a worksheet using the vocabulary words for you to study from. This morning we finished our Theme 1 test. Then, we read It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! and wrote letters to the Great Pumpkin. We practiced writing the date, greeting, indenting the body, closing, and signature. They look great in our pumpkin patch! In math we practiced telling the value of the digits in numbers 10-99. In my class, we finished our homework. Mrs. Walter's math class does have homework. The students also went to gym and LRC today.

Monday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

We started our Theme 1 test this morning. The test covers some of the reading comprehension skills learned so far (main idea and compare/contrast) and grammar skills (parts of sentences and punctuation). Then, we completed two centers today. In Science, we finished making diagrams on how a fossil is formed. We also completed a worksheet in class. In math today, we worked on building numbers using tens and ones. In my math class, we used numbers that Egyptians used to write tens and ones and we completed our work in class. Mrs. Walter's class DOES have homework. In Social Studies, we reviewed for our upcoming test on Wednesday. Today, a half-sheet will be coming home telling which pages you should review with your child, along with vocabulary cards we made in class. Please practice at home! Also, your child should study his/her Illinois Booklet, as it contains the name of our state, state bird, and state flower. Thanks for all your help at home!

This week in Mrs. Walter's Room

We read through our new story in reading, Wilson Sat Alone. We worked on our new spelling and vocabulary words. The wods for the week were-at and -ate words. We practiced our spelling words together every day. In writing this week, we worked on brainstorming. This was fun for the kids. We work so much with them on writing complete sentences, so it was fun for them to learn about brainstorming ideas for different things. We also worked on the naming part and telling part of a sentence. This was tricky at first, bu they had it down by the end of the week. In math we finished up Chapter 4 and took our first test. I was soimpressed with how well all of the students did on the test. In science we startecd talking about fossils, and we even got to make our own fossils. On Monday hopefully they will have dried enough so we can pop them out. Some studnets have brought in some fossils they had at home or have dound in their yard. Mrs. Schwarz also brought in fossils she found at a beach in England one day. They were all fun to look at. Thank you everyone. In social studies we learned all about the great state of Illinois. The studnets had many stories for us about their travels throughout the state. We are looking at having our first test in social studies next week on Wednesday. Next week in reading we will be having a unit test. It is very involoved so we will probably take 2 days to do it. We will not be starting our next reading story until next Friday, and we will not have the test for that until Oct. 15th. We started switching rooms for math today. It went really well. The students from Mrs. Bognetti's math class does not have homework. The students from Mrs. Walter's math class has one homework sheet. Finally, we have a student from Elmhurst College with us this year doing some observation hours. She will also be doing some teaching while she is with us. Her name is Miss Mathers. We are glad to have her with us.

Friday in Mrs. Bognetti's Room

This morning we reviewed words with -ied. We completed an activity and a workbook page in class. We completed our DLP and a grammar worksheet on predicates in class. We took our spelling and reading tests. The children went to art and music today. This afternoon we switched classes for math for the first time. The transition went very well. We worked on place value, showing tens and ones. We circled groups of ten. Students in Mrs. Bognetti's math class today finished their work in class. Mrs. Walter's group of students does have homework. Ask your student where he/she was for math today! In Science, we drew a sequence of a fossil being formed. At the end of the day, we got to go outside for recess.

Next week is a Theme Testing week. We will test the children on literacy skills taught thus far. Therefore, we will not have a spelling and reading test next Friday, but will have one the following Friday. I sent home the words anyway so you can have two weeks to study the words. We will also concentrate on writing friendly letters next week. Have a great weekend!