Let's Play Ball!

Let's Go Yankees!

It is baseball season once again and we are going to kick it off here in Room 8!  Everyone is encourages to wear their favorite baseball team apparel, (no hats please)!  I know I will be decked out in my NEW pin-striped jersey.  We will be writing poems and stories about our favorite teams for some added fun.  Maybe even play a little multiplication baseball!

Conferences

Just a reminder that there is early dismissal (1:05 pm) on Thursday and Friday for conferences.  The book fair will be open Tuesday - Thursday for purchasing books. 

In addition, there is NO SCHOOL on Friday, April 2, 2010! 

Have a great week and Stay dry!

They Reached Nome

Congratulations to our first FOUR readers to reach Nome!  It was a close race!  Coming in first was Musher David Volturno who arrived at 11:37 am, on Saturday, March 20th!  He was followed by Musher Alex Lee who arrived at 2:26 pm, on Saturday and Musher Emily Pelella arrived at 6:22.  Musher George Zwally rounded out the top four when he arrived at 9:01 am Sunday, March 21st!  Congratulations to these readers for all their hard work.  Sadly our other mushers are no where to be found! David will receive a $25.00 gifrt certificate to Linda's Story Time and Emily, Alex and George will also be rewarded with $5.00 to spend at the book fair!  I am so proud of them!  Way to go!!!!!1

A HUGE SUCCESS!

Game day was a huge success!  The children really enjoyed sharing their games with each other.  We have a marathon game of Monopoly, suduko on the SmartBoard, Blokus 3-D, Square Up, Clue, Battleship, Risk, and cards to name just a few!  They did a great job playing and sharing.  As an extra treat, the third and fourth grade went outside for some Bubble fun!  After all the bubbles they had to fill in for the CMT's, they finally had fun bubbles.  They had gum to blow bubbles nad bubbles to blow!  What fun!

Hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather!

GAME DAY!

The children have worked so hard preparing for and taking the CMT’s. As a little celebration for their efforts, we are going to have Game Day in Room 8! Students are encouraged to bring in their favorite board games. Surprisingly, many games are educations and the children do not even know it! So why they think they are having fun playing games, they are really learning! It is great!  Please have your child bring in their favorite game for all to enjoy! Make sure the game is clearly marked with their name and all pieces are secure. It may be beneficially to place small pieces in a zip-lock type bag for safe keeping.
Thanks!

Iditarod Reading

The book your child has chosen to read about the Iditarod, sled dog racing, a musher, or Alaska (see earlier post) MUST be completed by Monday, April 5.  On this date we will be beginning our book projects in school.  Some of the project will be completed here in class, while some of it will need to be completed at home.  The final book project will be due on April 16, 2010.  This is the last day before Spring Break!  Please post a comment is you have a question.

Thanks

Idita- READ!

Our classroom version of the Iditarod, known as Idita-READ, is under way!  The students are tracking their minutes that they read and moving along the Iditarod trail.  Each minute equals one mile.  Some of our "mushers" are off to a great start!  Musher Alex Lee is in the lead with 175 miles traveled and has arrived and left Swenta.  Musher Emily Pelella is close on his sled runners with 155 miles read.  She is 6 miles past Swenta.  Sadly, some of our mushers have not even left Anchorage.  They have not traevled a single mile!  Very disappointing!  The winner of our Idita-READ will win a $25.00 gift certificate to Linda's Storytime!  Let's Get Reading!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to the Klittnick family!  There is a new member!  Welcome to Baby Angelica!  She was born Friday night.  Mom and baby are both doing well!  Best wishes from Room 8!  You are going to be a great big brother (again) Ben!

Let the Race Begin!

The 2010 Iditarod is scheduled to start on Saturday.  This is a ceremonial start, with the official start being Sunday.  Racers will draw their starting numbers tonight at the Musher Banquet.  The students have researched information about their musher and have created Glogster posters about them.  We are also creating a cartoon (with the help of Toondoo.com) to add to our glogster posters.

This unit will integrate all the core subject areas.  Your child will read a book, either fiction or non-fiction, about the Iditarod, sled dogs, or racers.  A book report will be completed in various forms, depending on the genre of book they chose.  I have some books here in the classroom, and the library has some as well.  You may need to visit the public library if your child does not find a book here at school.  We will also be doing a math problem of the day as homework, which we will then discuss in class the following day.  The students will also be researching the history of the race and the land of Alaska.

The class will be running in the Idita- READ!  Each night I ask that you please time the number of minutes they read.  Each minute will corolate to a mile in the Idiatarod.  Your child will travel from check point to check point, just as the mushers do, by the number of minutes they read.  The first child to reach "Nome" will win a special prize.

The children will be bringing home their Iditarod notebooks each night so PLEASE make sure they return to school with them each day!  We will be recording  and storing information in them so all our materials are in one spot.

Please contact me with any questions you may have!

Thank you,
Laura

Report Card Information

VERY IMPORTANT: The marking period closes next week Friday. I will be working on report cards until then. This is the first semester that parents have access to report card grades in Power School BEFORE they are finalized and published. SO, please note that my report card entries will be a WORK IN PROGRESS until they will be officially finalized on March 18th. Understand that, if you try to access the grades, your child's report card may seem incomplete, as I work in sections on them. ALSO, much like a writing piece, I will be going back to "revise and edit" several times for quality and accuracy. Thank you for understanding!!!

Welcome!

Greetings and welcome to the classroom blog.  This Blog will keep you  updated on the happenings of the classroom.  Please check the blog at least once a week for new updates.  As time goes on, I will add links to sites and other interesting information.

Thank you,
Laura Bucci