We have a busy week coming up.  Pajama Day and Read-a-thon on Tuesday, Downtown field trip on Wednesday (sack lunch and weather appropriate dress/hats/coat), Volunteer Breakfast and Field Day on Thursday, PTA picnic on Friday, and Berkley Park with our K-Buddies on Monday (any parents interested in coming along???)In spite of all these fun...
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Everyone came in on Tuesday with lots of energy and excitement.  It is Spirit Week at Lewis! Tuesday was Favorite Book Character, Wednesday is P.J. Day (although our room is NOT PARTICIPATING because of our field trip), Thursday is Decades Day and Friday is Wacky Hair Day.  I do love the excitement that these...
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A big thank you to our field trip chaperones for our trip to the firehouse and Laurelhurst Park: Barbara Danel, Linda Meier, Codie and Tabitha Campbell, and Sandra Taylor. The fire museum was very interesting and we would all recommend it for a free family actvitiy.  There are several of fire-fighting tools and pieces of...
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I wish all of our classroom’s mothers a wonderful belated Mother’s Day.  Your children think the world of you! They showed their heartfelt care and appreciation as we brainstormed ideas for their cards last week. They may not tell or show you daily how much they feel, but when they start to share all...
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As you read this newsletter, our class will have completed the second round of OAKS testing in math.  I don’t have results, but am sure they will show improvement since we’ve worked so diligently on understanding fractions!  We are “building” our mural for the Stumptown era of historic Portland.  The students are learning how...
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Last week was very eventful!  On Thursday, David Stone, our local Portland historian, came and told us stories about the development of Portland, from a simple clearing near the Willamette to a bustling city. His animated presentation held our students’ attention for nearly an hour.  Then it was off to see the preview of...
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I am so pleased with the students’ progress in working with fractions.  Today we wrote number sentences such as 1/4 x 2 = 1/2, 1/16+1/16=1/8, and 3/4-4/16=1/2. The big idea hasn’t been mastered, but we’re on our way toward understanding how the parts of a whole can be compared and manipulated! IXL Math has...
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Our class is working harder than usual in math these days. We are moving into fractions and learning to compare fractions with unlike denominators – 2/3 is greater than 1/2. We are using pizzas and licorice rope  models, taking surveys and analyzing data, and stretching rubber bands across geoboards. These varied hands-on experiences help...
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We had quite a busy week. Kate Finn and Rick Weiss (professional songwriters) came to our class to help us write an original song.  We met with them for an hour or so each day and on Friday, the library became our recording studio.  The soon-to-be hit “Art The Comes Alive”  will be available...
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Welcome back from Spring Break!  Our new math unit is Money, Fractions, and Probability.  This unit begins with some work with money, including opportunities to make connections to the important concepts of place value, fractions, estimation and computation with larger numbers. Students will also explore capacity measurement with gallons, quarts, pints, and cups. I...
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The big news last week was MASKS!  Check out our posterous site for photos. Our OAKS reading test went well.  The students all felt, that although the questions were hard, they read carefully and chose their answers thoughtfully. I was very pleased with the focus and effort they showed. The math assessment will be...
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On March 2nd we celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Grandparents’ Day.  In the morning we made oobleck, a wonderful substance that defies being identified as either a solid or liquid. Then we learned to finger-crochet and made Truffula trees, which our grandparents helped us to finish. Both of these activities were inspired by wonderful...
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We are very busy in room 22!  First of all, welcome to Nora Meier and her family. Nora began with us on Monday and already has several friends.  On last Wednesday we made paper mache’ masks with Maranee Sanders, Mrs. Mimi.  It was gooey and fun, and the talk was all about what animals...
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We have many exciting things happening in Room 22! First of all, the students have all completed their speeches and we learned about each ones hobbies and interests.  Did you know that Andrew is a Legos expert, that Albert has 100′s of Hot Wheels, that Nina collects pigs, or that Faye has special eagle...
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Our Valentine’s Day celebration was great fun.  The students had decorated their bags, made desk runners of “friendship,”  and were excited to give and get their valentines. We’ll continue to stress the theme of cooperation and community as we become better and better friends, helping one another to be their absolute best. Our Reed...
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Our field trip to the theater last Friday was great.  The students enjoyed the play which emphasized ways we can all reduce our energy use.  It’s  wonderful for the kids to travel downtown, visit such a beautiful theater and and experience the excitement of the city.  We are working in small reading groups three...
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Wow! The month of January flew by!  In working on report cards for several days now, I’m struck by how much I know about each of your children already.  The students have worked very hard in the past two weeks to complete assessments and assignments to show where each of them is in their...
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Mrs. Zimmerman’s Class Notes The Theory of Knowledge projects were due this week.  A few students will have time each day to present their work and teach us all about something that interests them very much.  The projects will be on display in the hallway until Tuesday, the 7th. This Thursday is the end...
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We are moving into Unit Four of our new Bridges math materials.  In this unit students will explore the meaning of multiplication and division in the context of story problems.  Knowing when to multiply and when to divide is the focus of third grade multiplication and division work.  Although it is not a part...
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We have been talking about Dr. King and the civil rights movement in class.  We’ve seen some historic video and read several books.  We’ll continue to explore the theme of what each one of us can do to make the world a better place for everyone.  Math this month will continue to focus on...
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Wow! We had a great first week. The most exciting event may have been when everyone walked in Tuesday morning, or in science when we separated salt from pebbles, or when we put out the bird feeder, or when we learned to make and shared our “fortune tellers,” or maybe it was our first...
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Happy New Year to all of the Room 22 families!  We began our week with smiles and hugs.  Our classroom library is newly stocked and organized, our supplies have new tubs, our walls have new decorations and we have so much to accomplish in the coming weeks!  As always after a break, it’s a...
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