It is so hard to believe that here we are approaching Thanksgiving. What a hectic fall. Hopefully, this blog finds you all with plenty of heat and lights that work. The recent storm was a very trying time for sure. We certainly have much to be thankful for this holiday.

October had us immersed in our ERBs. The children did a stellar job focusing and working diligently on each part. The last day we got to enjoy our ERB snack- Extra cheesy goldfish, Raisins and Brownies. In case you think that you have seen the best rap ever about ERBs, well you haven't. Be sure to read to the end of our blog for a special ta-dah moment!!

We love to eat!

In October, we focused on writing clearly using details. We worked in teams creating a monster drawing and then wrote specific directions as to how to duplicate them. We then gave directions to Mrs. Merklinger's class. Coming soon- our Monster Gallery in the hallways! We will also be scanning them into The Monster Exchange website and team with another class in a different part of the country to see if they can draw them accurately.

In tech class with Mrs. Burg, the children got to create cool comic strips using characters and settings from Charlotte's Web. You will be sure to enjoy them. They are super cool!

It was certainly sad that we had to miss Halloween this year, but we did get to enjoy a special Thanksgiving lunch with our Senior Buddies. They even got to go to art class with us.  Earlier in the month we were able to enjoy some special treats from our friends. Saniya brought in sweets and chatted about Diwali while Faizah brought in yummy coconut treats and taught us about Eid.

We love our seniors!

In writing, we have been busy learning about how to write a proper paragraph.  'Gimme Five!'  helps us remember the key components- 1 topic sentence, 3 detail sentences and 1 closing sentence. From here, we will soon begin writing five paragraph essays.

Speaking of essays, the children all had a chance to report on one type of natural disaster. It was a little freaky that in the midst of their investigations, Hurricane Sandy hit. Wow! We certainly learned quite a bit from each other. Did you know, for example, that the word tsunami means 'harbor wave' in Japanese and that lightening can heat sand and create pieces of glass called fulgarites? Interesting!

...and then the glacier slips down and forms a valley.

We have also been busy in science with other experiences. We had a chance to make models of the layers of the earth out of unifix cubes. We also joined with Ms. Merklinger's class and demonstrated how tectonic plates move and shift creating mountains using Milky Way bars. Of course, the best thing about it was when we got to eat the mountains!

The inner core has 17 cubes.

Wow! This magma is gooey!

Let's double check all our layers...



Ali our senior examining the layers of the earth...



Do you know what a global address is? Well, we do. We have been busy learning much about mapping, directions, and global addresses. There are a couple fun tips to remember longitude and latitude. Ask your child to share some.

Having some fun with maps on our iPads.

 

We have covered a variety of topics in math, the most recent being time. At this point, we will be moving on to addition and subtraction and then to multiplication. We will be starting Math Minutes to help develop fact fluency. Be sure to encourage your children to go on math sites for some fun practice. Mr. Nussbaum and IXL Math are some favorites. Let us know if you have others.

 Please be sure to phone Mrs. Marikakis to schedule a time for the upcoming Parent Conferences. See

you then!