Conferences and Zoo

The sign up sheet for conferences are in the front office now. Please sign up for a time slot on Wednesday, Oct. 7th or Thursday Oct. 8th.

We are going on a field trip to the Phoenix Zoo October 21st. The classes participating are the 2 third grades and 2 second grade. Each student does need to bring in $8 cash for themselves to go. The money is to pay for our buses, admission, safari train ride, tour of zoo, and Sting Ray Bay. Please send the money in with your student soon so we can keep it safe and know who is clear to go. Also, we need 5 chaperons per class. If you are interested, e-mail me via comments on here or at my e-mail- bond.christa@gmail.com. Each student needs to have a purple Friday t-shirt to wear on that day. This is for the safety of the students to keep everyone together. If you do not have one, you can get them at the front office.

Thank you! Watch for these and more reminders on the newsletter that is sent home with your student each Friday.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

We will start parent teacher conferences on Wednesday, October 7th at 1pm. They are in increments of 15 minutes each, through 6pm. On Thursday we will begin at 3pm.
The schedule to sign up for a time slot will be in the office this week. At this time I do not know more information about it, but will update it if anything if different. FYI- Wednesday the 7th is a 1/2 day but Thursday the 8th is a full day, and Friday the 9th is a 1/2 day before Fall Break.

Commutative Propertry with addition

8

1
We have been expanding the idea of commutative property (5+4=9, 4+5=9) and finding how many different ways to come to the sum of 10 (10+0, 9+1, 8+2...). Then, with this list realize that finding a sum of 20 has a similar pattern (20+0, 19+1, 18+2...)
Friday morning we had 18 student so I asked them to generate lists to see how many different ways we could get to 18. We were only able to take 3 pictures because being outside became so fun that no one could agree on what we were doing. It is hard to see the white board, the first picture shows 18+0=18, the second shows two groups of nine students, or 2x9=18. The third is 17-1=18.

Josh in class

Some might have heard that Josh has come into our classroom about once a week to help out. I have been able to pair him up with one to five students to work on certain subjects. It has been a great resource to have another adult in the classroom to roam and give students more attention/ help, especially because he hears about them all out of school so he knows who they are. I snapped a few photos today to put on here while he had a reading group.

Race for the Cure

Race for the Cure

Today is the Race for the Cure in Portland, OR and in talking to friends and family it sounds like it was a success. I just wanted to put this out here in case other families are interested. I am planning on doing it either way, but it would be fun to see you out there!

I have run the Race for the Cure for many years in Portland, OR but this will be the first year I will be down in Phoenix. The races are Sunday, October 11^th and support an important cause. I am planning on running the 5K race that starts at 8:20 am and would like to extend the invitation to any students or family. There are other races; a 5K walk, 1 mile walk and run to choose from as well. See information on back of letter. If there are some who are interested, let me know and possibly we can meet up! General registration for 13 years and up is $25, 0-12 years costs $15, this does include a shirt!

Check out the WEBSITE!

Week 6

We started introducing fractions and algebra this week! In the morning/ homework math (should be brought home every Monday-Thursday) they have had to write the fraction shown. Some get it, some not so much- just a little at a time! Algebra has been in the form of addition problems such as, 8+ (3+4)= (3+8) + M, what does M equal? Today we worked a lot on this concept that with the same 3 digits on each side, we don't even need to add! You only need to figure out the missing number (M=4). Then plug in the number and double check to see if the two sides are equal.

I am attaching a picture of the class from today that I had to laugh at. They were so excited to use their binders and text book!

Also we have read a lot of southwest legends this week. Today they each got a copy of "Hunting of the Great Bear", a Core Knowledge story, and completed a story map. I had some students work individually, some in partners and some in small groups. Here are a few pictures of the students who worked in partners/ small group.

Students of the Week so far

I know the pictures on the newsletter don't always print clearly so every once in a while I will post up the photos on there so that parents can see them better!

Snacks

Starting this Monday the 14th I have told our students that they can bring a small snack (few crackers, granola bar, fruit, etc) to have mid morning. So many are getting hungry by about 10 am, please remember that a good breakfast is so important!!

Also attached are two pictures as an example of how our board looks in the morning. It is not always this busy. There is always the proposed schedule of the day, morning work listed out, sometimes a "Math problem of the Day", and lately we had to add the subject standards.

Fun Friday

"Fun Friday" is a privilege they earn minutes towards all week. I do not make this an easy venture, as seen by the last few weeks where our Fun Friday time was under 10 minutes. This past week however we have been working harder and they earned more time. Also, the spelling tests were FANTASTIC- I can tell so many are really studying! They earned closer to 25 minutes for Fun Friday. During this time we have games that have been donated to the class, educational kid magazines, white boards to draw on, cards to play, and sheets to color. This is also the time that they can come and use the money ("Bond Bucks") they have been earning over the week, or saving, to buy small trinkets. We have made the break through with some of the students this week that when you have $25 and spend it on a notepad that costs $22, you get money back!! Here are some pictures I snapped of our Friday afternoon!

Money Math

Could not pull myself out much to take photos, but some groups were able to make up problems, count the money and change on their own. It helps when they can see and feel the actual money!