Room 7
December 7, 2007
Friday’s Message:
Report Cards
Your child brought home their report card today. If you have questions / concerns, about your child’s report card, please send a note with your child and we can schedule a conference.
Conferences
I have just about completed conferencing with everyone. If at any time you would like another conference, feel free to contact me. You can send a note with your child and / or call the school office (879-1420) and leave a message. I will get back to you.
Root Vegetable Soup
Hopefully your child told you about the root vegetable soup we made. We had a variety of vegetables. Students did all the cutting with “real” knives. When we ate the soup, students noted the difference between raw and cooked vegetables.
We also did math with the vegetables. After everyone shared their vegetables,
I put them on one tray and everyone got to feel how heavy they were. Then they estimated how many pounds it was. We weighed them, then found out who had the closest estimate.
Another activity we did was to figure out how many trays I needed to serve the soup. There were 21 bowls of soup on the table. Six bowls fit on one tray. Only a couple of students know the answer, but we shared strategies on how to get the answer.
We wrote about the experience and learned a poem to go with the soup. (It’s an adaptation to Dennis Lee’s “Alligator Pie ) The words are:
Root vegetable soup, root vegetable soup
If I don’t get some, I think I’m gonna droop.
Give away my hockey stick, give away my hoop,
But don’t give away my root vegetable soup!
“Gingerbread” Houses
We will be making gingerbread (graham cracker) houses. They will work with a partner to build their house. A variety of math and language arts activities will be integrated into this project. Students will make the icing by following the recipe. They’ll sort, count by 10’s, graph, make comparisons, and do various number sentences with the candies. Then they’ll write about their houses and tell how they made them.
I will get the graham crackers and the ingredients for the icing, but would appreciate parent donations for the candies/ treats we’ll be using to decorate the houses. We need things like m&m’s, gum/spice drops, mini candy canes, holiday candy mixes, colorful breakfast cereal, and other treats you think the kids will have fun putting on their houses. Please send the candies early next week so we can start the oral language and math activities before using them. Thank you!
Winter Celebrations
If you have a special tradition or activity that you do this time of the year, it would be wonderful if you could share it with the class! If you would like to teach us a game, cook, show “artifacts,” do a project, show/teach us a dance or song, read a book, or do any other activity with the class we would truly welcome it! Please send a note with your child or come in so we can schedule you in!
READING
Read and record in your Reading Log.
WRITING
Have your child think of family and friends that they know outside of Oakland. Name
a few in California, then expand to other states and countries.
Take a map out and show your child where these places are in relationship to Oakland. Then have your child write the name of the city and the country. Remember to capitalize the name of the city/country and the person that lives there.
Write/name a dozen places/people outside of Oakland, California.
MATH
We have been working on related addition and subtraction facts. Students have been using manipulatives (unifix cubes, dominoes, number sets, beans) to show
combinations that use the same set of numbers. After proving each statement, students write the number sentence. They show/ prove two addition sentences, then two subtraction sentences. This is called a number fact family. Have your child prove, then write six number fact families. Below is an example of one.
5 + 3 = 8
3 + 5 = 8
8 - 3 = 5
8 - 5 =
SING A SONG
What is your favorite holiday song? Sing it at home. Choose a favorite stanza. Write the words (your favorite part of the song). Draw a picture of it.
Students will tell the name of the song and share their favorite phrase/picture.
If your child would like to sing the song, (part or all) we’d love to hear it.