Happy Turkeys!!!

These have got to be the cutest turkeys ever! The kids as well as the art projects. Haha! ❤️

Miss Leclerc and Miss Ladd were busy creating these masterpieces the day before Thankshiving break. 

Reading to Someone During Daily 5

Reading to Someone practices fluency as well as learning how to "coach" partners to become better readers. We practice siting EEKK (elbow to elbow, knee to knee) as well as giving a three-second wait time before offering "coaching OR time."  If coaching is needed, we focus on strategies under the "Accuracy" board. 

Donating to Those in Need

Our class was incredibly generous this week when thinking of others in need. After talking about how thankful we are for our own families and what we have, we decided to help others less fortunate, by donating non-perishable food items to our local community food bank.  

Collectively, we filled three large bags of canned and boxed food items!

What a wonderful feeling we had in our hearts today. 

Content Vocabulary

Expanding our vocabulary is very important in all content areas to become a better reader and writer. We have been working hard during Math and Science to learn new words and practice explaining their meanings. Here are some terms that are currently on our whiteboard. 

Comparing and Contrasting Eric Carle Books

We have enjoyed reading and listening to books by Eric Carle. His books are similar in many ways, but each have their own special story. Lots of the books are informative and teach different math and science concepts. These two titles were the focus of today's lesson.

Daily 5 and CAFE

Daily 5 and CAFE are a regular part of our school day.  We use strategies from our CAFE board every time we read and write.  This week, we named the strategy that we are currently working on and posted our initials by the specific strategy. 

Talk with your child about their reading goal and discuss the strategies that they use to become a better reader. Have them explain other strategies.

These anchor charts remind us of everyone's role during Daily 5. 

Meeting Mary Pope Osborne

At the Rhode Island Literacy for All conference, Mrs. Holcombe and I had the pleasure of meeting the author of the Magic Tree House series, Mary Pope Osborne.

What a wonderful person! She autographed a copy of one of her books for the classroom, Abe Lincoln at Last!

I cannot wait to read it aloud!

"Making Cents" with AHEAD and Passumpsic Bank

The students in grades 1, 2 and 3 at GES have been fortunate to be receiving lessons on economics from our new friends at AHEAD and Passumpsic Bank. They will visit the classroom for a half hour, one day a week for several weeks.  

The first week, they introduced the program which involves parents signing their child up for a college savings plan. In return for this, these two organizations will put $25 into every new account opened up! They also read a Bernstein Bear book about saving money to the students and gave them a copy of the book to keep!

This week, we enjoyed playing the board game "Making Cents."  It was a lot of fun! I think I know what the next purchase will be for our Math Daily 3 rotations!

Thank you AHEAD and Passumpsic Bank!

Veterans Day

     We had a wonderful day honoring veterans, both past and present, on Friday.
First thing in the morning, we watched a slideshow showing information and pictures about veterans and discussed why it is important to honor them.  Then, we had an opportunity to communicate back and forth, asking questions, with my son, Tyler, who is currently serving at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina for the United States Marine Corps.  The kids asked some great questions.
     At 9:00am, we walked over to Carter Hall and began our performance for our new Veteran friends. We watched the fifth grade present the story of the "White Table" and then we all sang the song America, My Country 'Tis of Thee.  After that, it was our turn to recite our Veterans Day poem that we have been working hard to memorize.  The finale of the program was singing A Greater Nation as a grade 3-5 group.
     What an amazing program!  Our guests were overjoyed!
     Following the program, the students enjoyed breakfast with our new Veteran friends.
In the afternoon, we worked hard to create a craft for the New Hampshire Veteran's Home in Tilton, N.H.  After generating a list of characteristics of veterans, we wrote a poem, glued it to the front of the "soldier" and mailed them off!

Plants and Animals

Our Science focus has been on reviewing plants and animals.  We completed a "Jigsaw" read and shared our learning with the rest of the class.  Each group had a section of the Science text to read. They had to write out the main idea, at least three supporting details, and a conclusion.  Enjoy the presentations!

Mathematicians At Work!

We have been working on reviewing "groups of" and showing these multiplication problems in a variety of ways.  Sometimes we use skip counting, arrays, illustrations, number bonds, repeated addition, and multiplication expressions.  Each student uses strategies that make the most sense to him/her.  Check out the fabulous work completed from one word problem!

Word Work

During Word Work, we focus on spelling patterns and rules. There is whole group daily instruction on each focus, and the students are given words to practice independently. The last couple of weeks, we have been reviewing long o and short o, r-controlled vowels, learning when to double the consonant when adding -ing (cvc or cvcc), and even working with syllabication and hearing accented syllables in multi-syllabic words. 

The students were divided into groups and worked on locating additional words (from their books in their book boxes) to add to the chart. Then, they had to present their list to the class! 

Harvest Festival

A great time was had by all at our Harvest Festival. We enjoyed the photo shop and face painting station, the new dance Whip Nae Nae, creating a Fall placemat for the upcoming Community dinner, and running through an obstacle course. The fifth grade did an amazing job organizing this fun event!