Weeks 4 and 5

Firstly, a great big thank you to the parents who came to the PTA open house. It was good to see you all again. Thanks also to the various parents who helped complete the form we needed to fill in and to those who have started work on the UNICEF Carnival booth.

We had two birthdays recently. Happy birthday Nicole and Ricky, I hope you had a great day.

Homework is usually turned in on time and completed correctly but I would like to remind all of you to have your homework signed by one of your parents and always check what books you need for homework before leaving school each day.

In English, each week starts with a weekly spelling and vocabulary quiz and ends with a reading comprehension, phonics, and vocabulary review quiz. So I would like to remind you all to review for this week’s quizzes so that you can build your English skills.

On Monday we will have a spelling and vocabulary test on all the spelling words from this past week.

This last week in English we read a story about Ellen Ochoa, who was the first Hispanic woman in space and who attained her goal with perseverance. In phonics we learned about adding “s” to most words to make them plural but when the word ends in ss, x, ch, sh, or z then we need to add “es”.

Our Grammar focus was compound subjects and predicates, for example: the two sentences “Nina went to the zoo.” and “Sonia went to the zoo.” can but written “Nina and Sonia went to the zoo.”

We also had a fun team game to practice using the Table of Contents, Index, and Glossary of our books. Everyone did really well and could find the answers quickly.

For the next two weeks in English we will be writing a story about ourselves, reviewing what we have learned over the past 4 weeks for the Theme 1 test on Monday 12^th October, and practicing the play “In the News” which we will perform during the last lesson on Friday 16^th October (for any parents who can join us).

On Wednesday we had flag ceremony and everyone looked great in their yellow (or white) and blue .. we looked like a real team. We also received two clean up certificates – one for 2^nd place, and one for tied 1^st place. Great job everyone!

We have continued reading the African folk tale, Kabuka and the Magic Calabash. Kabuka has set out on his adventure to find the Magic Calabash and bring rain to the drought stricken land. He joined up with the Hyena “Bazi” to try and find the Evil witchdoctor “Zaka” who imprisoned “Amanzi” (the rain spirit). Kabuka and Bazi had an interesting time stealing bananas from Ma Moyo’s banana palms. We all enjoyed the part where she got her foot stuck in the food pot and hopped around trying to chase the two naughty animals. Kabuka and Bazi then had to say goodbye to each other. Kabuka set out alone to find the great Mlimo and on the way rescued the eagle, Gondo, from a trap. We will find out if the Mlimo is able to guide Kabuka in finding the Magic Calabash.

Don’t forget to get regular updates on Kabuka’s adventure from your children.

In Math we have been learning how to count out change using American money denominations of 1 cent (a penny), 5 cents (a nickel), 10 cents (a dime), 25 cents (a quarter), 50 cents (a half dollar), $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. Most students have mastered this section but a few are finding it a bit more difficult. So if you have time please try out the game I wrote about last time.

Here are the rules again if you cant find it”

The game is “Dollar Dunk” (based on the card game called “Go Fish”)

For this game you need:

Ten 1c cards, ten 5c cards, eight 10c cards, eight 25 c cards, and four 50 c cards (a total of 40 cards)

You can play with 2 – 4 people

Each person starts with 5 cards

The object is to put down cards which add up to $1

If the person can’t put down cards adding up to $1 they need to ask someone in the group for a card e.g. Sonia do you have any 50 c cards? ... if Sonia has, she must give the person the card ... if she doesn’t, the person must pick up a card from the extra pile of cards.

The first person to get rid of all their cards is the winner

Good Luck … enjoy the game!

Next, in Math, we learn about telling the time and will be using some small clocks to help us. The following week we will wrap up this chapter and will therefore have the Chapter 2 test on Thursday 15^th October.

In Social Studies we studied the world and how it is split up into continents and hemispheres, we also looked at how continents, regions, and cities all have boundaries – some are manmade, like fences, and some are natural, like mountain ranges.

Next week we will complete this chapter. On Monday 12^th we will review chapter 1 and 2 and have the Unit 1 test on Wednesday 14^th October.

Over the past 2 weeks in Science we have learned about the various traits of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. We have also started looking at the difference between instinct and learned behavior, camouflage and mimicry, and also hibernation.

Students pretended to be birds and tried to pick up different kinds of “food”.

We decided which animals came from eggs and worked on a puzzle during break times.

One of the traits of mammals is that they all have fur or hair. We conducted an experiment to see if fur would keep an animal warm.

Some mammals have very little fur but they are very fat and that keeps them warm.

We had some special visitors on Friday to teach us a bit about learned behavior. Having Mr. DB, Rain, and Sunny was a fun treat and we learned about how animals can be taught to sit, shake hands, and lie down. We also learned that like humans, dogs have different personalities – Rain is very friendly and loves her tummy rubbed but Sunny is a bit nervous and prefers just one or two people to pet her at a time.

Next week we will complete this chapter and listen to the student’s presentations about Endangered animals.

Please remember that all projects need to be handed in on Tuesday 6^th October and presentations need to be ready by Wednesday 7^th October (this is one day later than previously mentioned.)

The Science Chapter 2 test will be on Tuesday 13^th October.

Victor’s mom tried to find our camouflage insects .. she did really well and found most of them.

UNICEF walk-a-thon hosted by Interact was a great success with more than ½ the class attending and many parents too. Thank you all for supporting this event - it was great fun and a good time for building some class spirit. Please remember to send in your sponsorship money as soon as possible.

A reminder of what’s coming up in October as part of the UNICEF project:

• Wednesday sales during lunch in Grade 5 starts this week (so bring money and buy some tasty snacks each Wednesday).
• The coin competition will be held during the week of 12-16 October. Please collect your Taiwan coins and bring them to school that week.
• Friday 16^th October from 6-9pm is the Music night. Don’t forget that we will have rehearsals this week on Tuesday and Friday from 4:15 to 5pm.
  In music on Friday we had some help in rehearsing “Tell me Why?”

• Wednesday 28^th October from 11am to 3pm is the Halloween Carnival. Don’t forget to start getting your creative ideas going so that you can dress up in some really innovative costumes.

See you on Monday, 3b!

Mrs.DB

Week 3

2009 – 2010 Week 3

We started off with great results from the weekly spelling test. The children are also becoming more familiar with the homework format and are remembering to turn in their homework on time. Keep up the great work 3b; you are stars!

On Wednesday we had our first flag ceremony and everyone looked great in their yellow (or white) and blue .. we looked like a real team. Great job everyone!

Also on Wednesday we had our “Welcome Party”. Thanks to all the parents who prepared food and came to join us. It was a very delicious lunch!

Our story this week was “The Day Eddie Met the Author” and we discussed who we would like to meet.

In Phonics we learned how to add “-ed” and “-ing” to the end of words. Sometimes we need to drop the “e” at the end of the root word before adding “ed” for example dance becomes danced, and sometimes we need to double the consonant at the end of the root word before adding “ing”, for example hop becomes hopping.

Our grammar lesson covered commands and exclamations – a command ends with a period and is when we tell someone to do something, for example, “Please turn in your homework.” And an exclamation ends with an exclamation mark and is when we show strong feelings, for example “That was amazing!”

Our skill of the week was alphabetical order. Everyone could put words in order based on the first and second letter but many of the class are still struggling with using the 3^rd or 4^th letters. We will need to do a bit more practice over the next few weeks.

We have continued reading the African folk tale, Kabuka and the Magic Calabash. This is the story about Kabuka, a mischievous little monkey who meets Amanzi (the rain spirit) and is sent on a mission to save the world from a terrible drought. Ask your children to give you updates on Kabuka’s adventure.

In Math we have now completed Chapter 1 and most students are comfortable rounding, comparing, and ordering numbers. We can write numbers up to 999,999 in the table form, standard form, expanded form, and word form.

The Chapter 1 test will take place on Tuesday 22^nd Sept. (and not on Monday as they wrote in their homework books). We will use Monday to review Chapter one concepts and vocabulary.

Chapter 2 will start on Thursday. We will be looking at how $1, 10c (dimes), and 1c (pennies) can be written in table form. We will then learn to count out change using American money denominations of 1 cent (a penny), 5 cents (a nickel), 10 cents (a dime), 25 cents (a quarter), 50 cents (a half dollar), $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.

This is a difficult concept and seeing real American money would help. If you have any money to lend or donate to 3b please will you send it in on Monday. Thank you.

Here’s a game for you to play at home which would really help the students be able to master this difficult section.

The game is “Dollar Dunk” (based on the card game called “Go Fish”)

For this game you need:

Ten 1c cards, ten 5c cards, eight 10c cards, eight 25 c cards, and four 50 c cards (a total of 40 cards)

You can play with 2 – 4 people

Each person starts with 5 cards

The object is to put down cards which add up to $1

If the person can’t put down cards adding up to $1 they need to ask someone in the group for a card e.g. Sonia do you have any 50 c cards? ... if Sonia has, she must give the person the card ... if she doesn’t, the person must pick up a card from the extra pile of cards.

The first person to get rid of all their cards is the winner

Good Luck … may the best person win.

In Social Studies we looked at our heritage and how that influences our customs and what holiday’s we celebrate. We also learned how important laws are and how we can be responsible citizens. We will review Chapter 1 vocabulary this week and start Chapter 2 by looking at some basic map skills.

During the week a few students shared some information about themselves. This is what we learned:

Victor shared with us his toy alligator which can be registered on-line as a pet.

Jason showed us a great 3D shiny glass model which had a picture of the Beijing Olympic Stadium inside. He made it light up and it looked really awesome.

Sonia showed us her pet crab which she has kindly given to 3b as our new class pet. It is really cool and tried to climb up the side of the glass. We need to think of a name for him/her .. so let me know your ideas.

Yao showed us a clever trick, where he caught a coin after first balancing it on his elbow.

Next week we will not have presentations but I have an exciting lesson planned instead.

On Monday we will have a spelling test on all the spelling words from this past week.

Next Saturday is PTA open house and so I may not be able to update the blog next weekend. Please look in your homework notebooks for any important notes.

The UNICEF project has started and I would like to thank you all for the school supplies you have sent in for the children down south who lost so much in the recent typhoon. If you still have any pencils, erasers, colored pencils etc. at home which you don’t need please send them in before Wednesday. Thanks.

I will be sending home a sponsorship form for our Walk-a-thon which will be held on Friday 2^nd October from 5 to 6:30pm. I really hope that you can all join us and help raise money to help those far less fortunate than us.

Some of the other things happening in October as part of the UNICEF project are:

• Wednesday sales during lunch in Grade 5 (so bring money and buy some tasty snacks each Wednesday).
• There will be a coin collection competition during the week of 12-16 October. Please collect your coins and bring them to school that week.
• On Friday 16^th October from 6-9pm there is a Music night. Mrs. Levine and I are encouraging our classes to join us in performing the song “Tell me why?” by Declan Galbraith for this music night. Rehearsals will take place after school until 5pm every Tuesday and Friday until the 16^th . I hope all of 3b can join in.
• On Wednesday 28^th October from 11am to 3pm we will have our Halloween Carnival. We need to have a 3b booth and I would really appreciate your ideas for this. I hope you will all dress up and join us for this fun day.

See you on Monday, 3b!

Mrs.DB

Week 2

Mrs. DB’s Class BlogSpot

2009 – 2010 Week 2

We have had a good week; things are becoming familiar and everyone is settling into the new school routine.

We had our first set of birthdays this week. Richard and Sandra had celebrated their birthdays in August during the Summer Vacation and Alica’s was on Monday. They each enjoyed their ice cream treat for lunch on Tuesday.

We received notice that there will be swimming again next week so please don’t forget to bring your swim suits to PE class.

This was taken at the beginning of our first swimming class.

In Language Arts we read “Ruby the Copycat” and learned that we all are special and have something to contribute. We also discussed the characters in the story and the setting. In grammar and phonics we looked at Statements and Questions, and reviewed short vowel sounds. Next week we will learn about Commands and Exclamations and the endings –ed and –ing.

Don’t forget that we have our weekly spelling test on Monday.

In Social Studies we looked at Communities; how we belong, and the fun we have, as well as various jobs and how we rely on each other in our communities. Next week we look at how cultures are the same and different and what it means to be a good citizen.

In Math we learned about rounding off, comparing, and ordering numbers. We discovered that 10 strips of 10 squares joined together 10 times equals 1,000 .. and that is a long strip of paper.

Next week we continue rounding off larger numbers, place value to 10 thousands and 100 thousands, and will also do some problem solving. This will bring us to the end of Chapter One in Math. There will be a Chapter One test the following Monday (22^nd) when they will be tested on the vocabulary and content of this Chapter.

In Science we continued looking at plants and started to grow some seeds. We discovered that green beans grow really fast.

We also looked at our plants from last week. As we predicted the ones without water or light did not do so well.

On Tuesday we will have a Science test on Chapter 1 vocabulary and content. (Pages A36 – A37 of the text book will help you to review the material)

Science Chapter 2 starts on Wednesday and we will start learning about animal homes and how animals find food and take care of themselves.

If anyone has a fish tank that you don’t want it would be great to use it in the classroom.

On Thursday some students shared a little about themselves. This is what we learned:

Ricky showed us his Bionicle which he received from his aunt.

Gloria showed us some photos of when she was in Canada. She told us that she really enjoyed playing in the snow.

Jonathan Ai shared his favorite book – Pokemon. He also told us that he likes to draw, play soccer and basketball.

Jolene showed us the flag she got at the world games in Kaohsiung. She had a great time.

Jason showed us a picture of himself climbing a tree when he was 7 years old.

Thanks to the subject monitors this week for sorting out all our work. It was a hard job but you all did an incredible job. So well-done Jolene, Jason, Richard, Sonia, and Ricky!

Thanks to all of you for doing such a great job during clean up time. Keep up the good work!

Thank you to all the parents who helped with taking temperatures and helping me a lunch time. I really appreciate your help.

I hope you enjoy the photos of our week.

Wishing you a great weekend,

See you on Monday, Grade 4!

Mrs.DB