Ishii News October 2008

Reading

    We are in the middle of our first unit in reading about Nature’s Fury.  Students have read about earthquakes and hurricanes, while learning reading strategies that will help them become better readers.  Next week we will be reading Tall Tales and I hope that some students will be inspired to write a tall tale of their own for Wednesday Night Writes. Our first novel study was a fantasy by Natalie Babbitt called Search For Delicious. Our second novel study will be Pedro's Journal; it's historical fiction about a young cabin boy who accompanies Columbus of his famous voyage to the New World.

    At times when it seems your child has no homework, remember reading twenty to thirty minutes each night is required.  Students should be reading A.R. (Accelerated Reader) books and logging the pages in their blue Reading Journal. They can earn points toward their Book Report grade.  Our school library has this list, and the books are color coded with a Peach colored dot.  The Kirkland library also has a list of A.R. books.  I have published the AR list on our class website.

Science

Our study of Environments continues with more plants and living creatures. We worked with terrariums and bugs and beetles. Next we will test water tolerance, both fresh and salt water for plants. While we await the results of the plants, we will be working with goldfish, snails, elodea, and brine shrimp.  In each lesson we try to find the optimum  environmental condition so the organism would survive.

MATH

We will finishing our unit Prime Time this first week of October. Student should be able to identify and find: factors, primes, composite, square numbers exponents, LCM and GCF. They will also need to know how to apply multiples and factors in order to solve real life math problems. The final assessment will be Friday October 3.  Our next unit in math will be Geometry in our unit called Picture Polygons.

Monthly Progress Reports

Grades and corrected papers will be sent home Wednesday, October 1 in a yellow folder.  Students are encouraged to correct their mistakes to improve their grades.  If there is a mistake, please bring it to my attention and I will correct it.  Please call or email me if you have any questions. 822-7449 x137   dishii@lwsd.org

Language Arts

Students have been sharing wonderful stories and anecdotes in their Wednesday Night Writes. Each Wednesday, their homework is a writing assignment. A minimum of twenty minutes of writing is required with a minimum of three paragraphs. In just three weeks, there has been an improvement in the quality of their writing. More editing is taking place now that they have to share their story or writing in front of the class by way of the document camera.

What is World Space Week?

It is an international celebration of science and technology, and their contribution to the betterment of the human condition. The United Nations General Assembly declared in 1999 that World Space Week will be held each year from October 4-10. These dates commemorate two events:

• October 4, 1957 -- Launch of the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, thus opening the way for space exploration
• October 10, 1967 – The signing of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.

During this week we will be doing many science activities that explore space. Doug Prichard and I will be watching the forecast so that we can plan a star party during Space week . Doug is our Project ASTRO-BIO astronomer and  a Peter Kirk parent.  We will be outside of my classroom, on the walkway nearest the playground.  Drop by to learn about the night sky. More information will follow soon as we get closer to the next week's weather forecast.

·        Students must be accompanied by an adult at all times. 

·        Dress warmly, coats, hats, gloves. 

·        Younger siblings tend to get bored, and have difficulty seeing through the telescope.

·        There will be no playing on the Big Toy or other areas of the field.

·        If you bring a flashlight, please cover it with red cellophane.

·        Bring your own telescope or binoculars if you own one. Be sure you know how to use it.

·        The building will not be open.

Calendar  

3         F    Math Assessment on Prime Time

4-10    Space Week-possible star party-t.b.a..

7         T    Walk to School Day

16      Th   Student Body Elections

 17       F   Field Trip to UW Meany Hall to see Momix

            F    Sock Hop

30       Th  Halloween Party

31        F    LEAP Day-No School

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