The homework assignments for Jan. 26-30
Monday: Write the following words in descriptive sentences.
students ~ people who go to school to learn noun
effort ~ trying hard to do something noun
perform ~ to present something, such as a play or a dance,
in front of an audience verb
mood ~ the way you feel noun
remember ~ to think of something that happened in the past
verb
proud ~ feeling pleased and satisfied about something well done adjective
Tuesday: Write a Star Student letter to Alex Flickinger.
Wednesday: Read a book to share.
Thursday: Write the following spelling words three times each.
regular: each, teaching, teeth, wishbone, matching, which, path, fishing,
watch, dish
review: white, chase
frequency: body, pretty, young
Friday: Complete both sides of the Weather Wizard page (this will be passed
later this week.)

Thank you and have a warm week!
Lanie Groff

Happy Inauguration Day!

What a patriotic group! The kids have been full of questions and comments about President Obama's inauguration. We had the television on much of the morning (with the sound off) pausing for moments to watch bits about the White House and the Obama's meeting the President and Mrs. Bush for coffee.

We wrote down our homework assignments, completed a fact and opinion page about the weather, and read about Martin Luther King, Jr. in our centers and reading groups this morning. We took our spelling pretest, corrected it and put it in our home folders. I've listed our new spelling words below if you can't find the pretest. Math included a lesson on writing fractions. A few of us are progressing well with addition facts including 6's, 7's, and 8's. The rest of us need to keep practicing!

Homework assignments for this week are:

Tues. ~ Read and complete the back of the Martin Luther King, Jr. page
Wed. ~ Write the following vocabulary words in descriptive sentences.
ancient - very old; having to do with times long ago adjective
hopeful - having promise that what is wished for will happen adjective
unable - not having the power or skill to do something adjective
confirm - prove to be true or correct verb
valid - correct based on facts or proof adjective
Thurs. ~ Write the following spelling words three times a piece.
regular: chest, chase, sheep, think, while, chill,
shape, thing,white, wheat
review: mule, fuse frequency: idea, often, second
Friday ~ Read a book to share with the class on Monday.

Our Adirondack author, Liza Frenette, will visit on Friday. Book orders are due Friday also.

Thank you and have a nice week!
Lanie Groff

Copier News and Homework

Dear Families,
Apparently our school copier is more severely wounded than originally thought! There is no set repair date, so we'll be relying even more heavily on communicating through the school web site than ever!
The kids have been very good about establishing the new homework routine we started in December. Please remember, it generally follows this routine:
Monday - write vocabulary sentences in descriptive sentences
Tuesday - writing assignment (often a Star Student letter)
Wednesday - read a book to share with us in class
Thursday - write spelling words three times each
Friday - teacher's choice

Each child wrote the following assignment for Friday, Jan. 9, in their Home/School Connections Notebook.

A Cloud with a Silver Lining
Please write about a difficult time in your life and the positive things that happened as a result.

I'm assigning this activity in conjunction with our weather unit and hope it creates an opportunity for you to talk with your child about coping with feelings.

Here are the homework assignments for Jan. 12-16th

Monday: Please write the following vocabulary words in descriptive sentences.
enormous, buddy, tips, accident, obeys, attention
Tuesday: You're the meteorologist today! Complete the weather report you
receive in class and report back to the class.
Wednesday: Read a book to share with the rest of the class on Thursday.
Thursday: Please write the following spelling words three times each.
regular words: mule, June, bugle, music, fuse, duke, use, tune, flute, dune
review words: pony, leaf
high-frequency words: above, color, song
Friday: TBA

Thanks so much!
Lanie Groff

Happy New Year! Over the years I've learned how much kids want to see their friends after a long vacation. That makes it a little more difficult to buckle down and produce a hard day's work. So........our first school day of 2009 was very active. 

First of all, we shared exciting moments from our Christmas break, then we mapped out a new design for our classroom. We created a reading nook (John named it the Book Nook) and eliminated a few pieces of unnecessary furniture. The kids submitted designs for the desk layout. We haven't decided which to try first, but we're leaning toward trying to create the number 2 with our desks. Of course, this was my sly way of getting help with reorganizing our books and cleaning behind big pieces of furniture! Alex, Noah, Nate, Moriah, and Michael dug right in and deserve special mention. 

We took a spelling pretest, had a math review lesson, and introduced our new science unit on weather. Our special concentrations this week will be the three major cloud types and the water cycle.

Homework: It's a good thing we've started making less copies because the copier is down AGAIN! Each child copied the homework schedule in their Home/School Connection Notebook, but here it is just in case.

Monday - Please write our new vocabulary words in descriptive sentences. 

Tuesday - Please write a Star Student letter to MacKenzie describing things you know and appreciate about her.

Wednesday - Please bring a book you've read to share on Thursday. You'll be asked to give the title, author/illustrator, a brief summary, and recommendation.

Thursday - Please write your spelling words three times each (I'm impressed with how many of you write them five times each!)

Friday - This will be assigned later in the week when I know I can make copies.

It was great to see the kids again - I think we're glad to be back!

Mrs. Groff