Last week I wrote about the hot weather being  over and it finally feels like fall and back to school.  Oops, warm weather again.  Luckily, it doesn’t seem to bother the children.  Monday we had an excellent return on homework.  Make sure to ask if you have any questions.  Yesterday a new packet went...
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We walked to the Cooley Gallery at Reed yesterday and learned about an architect who designs animal houses! Perhaps we can build an animal house in our Outdoor Center this year. This week we are finishing our astronomy unit and will take a test on Friday. Students brought home a study guide on Monday;...
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Thank you to all the parents who donated books to our third grade class from the Scholastic Book Fair. The children were so excited to be able to read a variety of new books. The P.T.A., who ran the book fair, also sent the class some books that I selected. I am truly filled...
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It is hard to believe we have already reached October! On Monday we spent the morning at the Reed College Cooley Art Gallery looking and talking about the art of Fritz Haeg. Haeg’s project is called Animal Estates. In each city that he travels to he researches the native species and then designs a...
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***Reminder: Tomorrow, Thursday, October 2nd is our walking field trip to the Reed College Cooley Gallery. We will be leaving about 9:00 and returning before lunch, so no special lunch arrangements need to be made. Our thanks go to Gregory MacNaughton for (once again) preparing the class so beautifully with his interesting lecture. We...
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Parents often ask me, How do I know if my child is gifted?”Judy Galbraith, M.A. author of A Beginner’s Guide to Life on the Bright Side says You Know Your Child Is Gifted When…… According the U.S. Office of Gifted and Talented, these are the characteristics of the “typical gifted preschooler” ages 2-5: v...
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Do you know the reason for a flower? Last week we learned about a variety of different flowers, how they grow, what they become and what they can be used for. We sketched them, identified and labled their parts and recorded facts we have learned from reading nonfiction books together. This week we will...
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Another full week of fun, learning and experiences! This week the kindergartners are practicing their reading and writing skills, working more complex math patterns, reviewing setting and characters of different stories, painting the apple tree from the learning garden after sketching it last week, making leaf rubbings and creating a big book for the...
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This week in music I’m passing out permission forms for 3rd Grade Recorder, 4th Strings and 5th Grade Band. There will also be a sign up sheet for Booming Beats during our 4th and 5th grade music times. I will keep extra copies of these permission slips on the piano in the music room....
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It has been another busy week in Kindergarten. We continue to work on the routines of the day. The kids are doing a great job. Please read the morning message at home with your child each night. I will be highlighting sight words each day. It would be wonderful if they could be reinforced...
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This week we’ve added a few new things to our schedule. We started visiting the school library and the Reed Science Biology Outreach Program began visiting our classroom. Ask your child about his/her first neuroscience lesson. In math, we have begun reviewing single digit facts so that 2 and 3 digit addition will be...
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Astronomy projects are due next Wednesday, October 1st. Please help your child practice explaining their project so they will be ready to share with the class. Math and reading homework are due on Friday each week. Your child should be reading five nights each week for at least 30 minutes and recording their reading...
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Sun and cosmos flowers are our science and art focus this week. These beautiful fall flowers have textures, colors, and lines that the children can explore in a hands on manner and they have attributes that help build on art, math, and science concepts and vocabulary. The life cycle of a flowering plant will...
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This is the first week for a complete homework schedule. This means that on Monday a spelling list went home. (The spelling test will be on Friday.) Tuesday and Thursday are math homework days. Finally, the Wednesday homework is either a research homework due the following Tuesday, or it is a following directions homework...
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   The weather has changed and so has the season.  The days feel more like school days instead of summer days.  It’ll be time to get ready to go home and I’ll hear a child say, “already?”  On Monday we all boarded a school bus and learned about how to be safe when riding...
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This week we are starting our spelling curriculum. The main emphasis of the program is correct spelling in daily writing. Weekly reviews will be sent home so that you can see how well your child is doing. For students who are exceptional spellers, I will have them working in a vocabulary-building program as well....
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Last week we finished working on our “All About Me” books and had them on display for Back-to-School Night.  Students also took turns sharing their books with the class. On Tuesday, the Letter of the Day was J, so Miss R. led a fun activity in which the students made jumping jellyfish covered in...
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Our full-time homework program started this week. I give homework Monday through Thursday, which is always due the next day. Portland Public School policy is that we give some homework that reinforces out classroom work. This doesn’t mean “busy work.” It’s actual practice to help the students master his/her spelling words, learn a Math...
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As always, part of the room 5 curriculum involves monthly themes. The color of the month for September is yellow; the shape is a bus outline. The poem of the month is: Yellow, yellow like the sun. Our bus is yellow, we have fun. We ride the bus to get to school, Yellow, yellow...
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Beginning this week, a kindergartner from from our class will become the Special Person of the Week. Each week, a different child will be selected, until everyone has been celebrated. Alex is our first “Special Person of the Week”. I look forward to meeting with each family for November Parent/Teacher conferences to report on...
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It was great to see so many of you at Back To School Night. In case you weren’t able to come I had fliers out for all the performing groups. I have been talking to each classroom about the various groups and next week I will be demonstrating the instrumental choices for students. A...
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It was great to see so many of you on Tuesday night. If you didn’t get a chance to sign up for a parent teacher conference, the sign-up sheet is posted outside our classroom door. Last week we had another great week. We’ve been reading aloud The Last of the Very Great Whangdoodles by...
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