Important Notes

Parents,
     Just a reminder, please send in a $5 gift for a boy, or a $5 gift for a girl (depending on if your child is a boy or girl) no later than tomorrow. Our party is Friday and I don't want anyone to feel left out.

Also, if you need to get into the link for the bookmarks for the book report, please contact me. Thank you! (I can also send home a new one if you need it.)

Mrs. Blansett

Zoo activity

There's Always Wild Winter Fun at   Holiday Zoo Camp!  Join us for Holiday Camp at the Zoo!   Campers will tour the zoo, see animals up close, make crafts,   play games, and have a pizza party lunch!   For campers ages 7-12.   Register for one or both days!   A minimum number of participants is required. Thursday, December 27   |   Friday, December 28, 2012 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost per day: $55/member  |   $65/non-member Lunch is included!   SPACE IS LIMITED! REGISTER TODAY!  rosamondgiffordzoo.org    (315) 435-8511 x205 or x124 Special Notice: As we prepare for improvements to the main entrance and parking lot, we ask for your patience when visiting. The main entrance to the zoo is currently inaccessible. As such, we ask that you follow the signs, which will lead you to a fenced walkway through the staff parking lot to the side entrance of the main building. The entrance and walkway will remain accessible for all. Once inside, you will be able to enjoy the zoo as you usually do. This project, which is expected to last approximately six months, will transform the front of the zoo with many exciting changes. We will be sure to update you as those changes occur. Thank you for your understanding and continued support of the Rosamond Gifford Zoo.

Christmas Concert reminder

For Thursday's concerts please make sure that your child wears dressy clothes for the school day and for the concert at night. (They do not wear their uniforms during the school day, it is a dress UP day)

Please remember that your child should be at the classroom at 6:45pm. If you would like to come earlier to get a seat and/or parking space, please keep your child with you. I suggested to the children that they bring a book with them, from home. This should help give them something to do while they are waiting. 

Science test

We will be taking our Science test on Thursday. The students have brought home their packets and vocabulary words. They should study these. I will send home a review sheet tomorrow for homework.
They seem to be having difficulty reading questions and answering them on their own. I think they might be anticipating what they are asking, instead of answering the question they are asking.

Summarizing Idea

Hi there! We will be discussing summarizing this week. I have found this activity. Feel free to do it with any story you read at home with your kids. If you don't mind, please give me feedback on how it goes. I would love to hear about it from your end.

Ask your child the following after a story:

Someone... 

WAnted...

But...

So...

In 

The 

End...

And in addition to summarizing, it makes a great tool for discussing story conflicts, or for creating skeletons for original narratives.

There is also this website with a graphic organizer. 

http://www-tc.pbskids.org/arthur/parentsteachers/lesson/storywriting/pdf/somebody_wanted.pdf

I would think it would work with any book, not just an Arthur book, but it also is a reminder that we can practice summarizing after a movie too!

I hope to do this in class this week.  This might be a good discussion to have with your child.

News

Notes:

Please send a $5 boy gift if your student is a boy; please send a $5 girl gift if your student is a girl; no later than Thursday December 20^th. 

Math Test will be Friday December 7; double digit adding and subtracting with and without regrouping (borrowing/carrying)

Science Test will be Wednesday December 12^th or Thursday December 13th.  

Please note that there will be 2 Christmas concerts. There will be one at 10am and one at 7pm. Please be sure that you child arrives at the classroom at 6:45pm for the night concert. 

Spelling for the week of January 7th

*This week we are practicing the oo sound and contractions

Spelling for the week of January 7th

 I’ll 

 I’m

 can’t

 didn’t

 he’s 

 she’s

 best

 sometimes

 spoon

 through

 boot

 chew

 flew

 food

 moon

Bonus:

shouldn’t

December Book Report and Checklist

For your December book report you are going to do book marks. For each part write 1 to 4 sentences, except the characters, those just need a name and a picture. Please draw a picture to go with your sentence.
You will be given the papers you need, and I have included some information to help you determine the theme if you need help.

December book report checklist and rubric.

This explains how this month’s book report will be graded. It also gives you a checklist to see if you have completed each part. Please be sure that the majority of the work is done by the student with only a little help from someone else.

____ brought my rubric, my book and book mark (all 4 pieces) (this is your project) to Mrs. Blansett on December 20th (3 pts)
____ turned in on December 20th   (5 pts)

____ chapter book about Advent, Christmas, any other holiday in December that is Just Right for you (and a different author than you read for October and November) (6 pts)
 
_____ neatness of words (up to 15 pts)

_____ title of book (up to 6 pts)

_____ author of book (up to 6 pts)

_____ students name (4 pt)

_____ colorfulness (and effort) (up to 15 pts)

_____ neatness of coloring, and/or pictures (up to 15 pts)

_____ sentences (up to 25 pts)

Here are some links. The first one is the book mark. The second one is a link for a description about theme.
http://members.abcteach.com/cmd/track_content.php?id=11817
book mark
include this; information about a theme
http://homeworktips.about.com/od/writingabookreport/a/theme.htm

Science

Today we talked about how sound travels. Please ask your child about the size of a string and the pitch.

DRIVE

This is the drive

Welcome

This is our school year of amazing fun!