Room 7
May 18, 2007
Friday’s Message:
Bread Update Next Week
We had two breads this week. Emily brought Finn crisp from Finland.
Diana brought Italian biscuits from Italy. I accidentally left my notes at school, so I’ll
do their “write up” about the country and bread next week. Sorry Emily and Diana.
Bakery and Reptiles
Your child brought home a bag of assorted breads from Semifreddi’s. I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you Karen, Micah’s mom, for calling Michael Rose, the owner of Semifreddi’s, and managing to get as a tour “on the spot!” (There was a mix-up at Acme, the bakery we were scheduled to go to.) Karen, you are our heroine! Thanks again from all of us! We also wrote thank you letters to Mr. Rose telling him what we liked and learned.
Even though we got a later start with the bakery tour (because we switched bakeries) we still had time for a picnic and playing at the park.
Then we went to the Vivarium. We lucked out because it was feeding/lunch time for some of the reptiles. The kids were fascinated. They saw many of the reptiles we had shared facts about. They sketched at least one reptile, then wrote about it the next day.
It was a very full day of learning and fun!
Thank you to the parents that drove/ chaperoned on the trip. They were Angie’s, Camila’s, Marissa’s, Micah’s, Matthew’s, and Toby’s parents, Scott, Debbie, Rebecca, Karen, Linda, and Lysa.
Open House
It was great seeing so many of you at Open House. I hope you enjoyed the poems. They wanted to make you smile and squirm. (They did the poem again; this time
with a gummy worm on their tongue). I hope your child gave you a good tour of the room and showed you a lot of their work. Thank you for everything you do; we really appreciate YOU! It has been a great year!
In Training
Our last field trip of the year will be to Joaquin Miller Park on Tuesday, June 5th. We will be walking there. I will be jogging with the kids 2-3 days a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. On those days please have your child wear tennis/closed shoes. We did two laps of the upper grade field this week.
For this trip students are asked to bring a multicultural food dish to share for a potluck lunch (no bread please). Just like when students did their breads, they will tell what kind of food they brought and which country it is from. This time they won’t have to give a “report,” but should be able to find the country on the map.
I will need parents to walk with us and a couple of parents to bring the food up to the park and set up the lunch. I will bring drinks, paper goods, and utensils. A permission slip will be sent home next week. Parents/siblings are welcome to join us for lunch.
Star Studens
***Angie*** and ***Aiden*** are the stars this week. Everyone in the class has been a star student in the class, and continues to be a star. They shine every day!
I hope they shared their star student book with you. Each page is the original writing. When they read it to me, I underwrite and/or they correct their work with a colored pencil. Then they recopy their writing for the strip that goes on the poster. This is our version of the writing process; draft and final copy.
I’ve also made copies of your child’s writings for their classmates. These copies will be compiled into a booklet by the date written. The purpose of this booklet is to show them what they wrote for others and also the growth they have made in writing.
“Book Bag” Reader
Please complete the reader and return it in my mailbox. Thanks
READING
Read and record in your Reading Log. Count how many books have been recorded in your Reading Log. Turn in this number on Friday. We will total how many books the whole class read altogether at home (just so they have experience with some
larger numbers )
WRITING
Write about something you learned at Semifreddi’s Bakery and the Vivarium.
Tell why it was interesting and/or what you liked about it. Extend your statements. Write several sentences for each place we visited.
MATH
Write an addition and subtraction story problem with a sum/difference between
10- 20. After writing the problem, be sure to ask/write the question: How many........are there altogether/ are left? Practice making the question mark.
I will be reading their math stories. Students will be solving the problem.
MY FAVORITES
Make a collage of some of your favorite things. You can cut out pictures from magazines and advertisements, write words, draw pictures, use product labels, photos, any way to show what you like! Have fun making a display of your favorites!
Room 7
May 11, 2007
Friday’s Message:
Walkathon Congratulations
The Walkathon earned over $30,000 for the school! Our class raised almost $3500! We had 100% class participation! Fantastic! Thank you everyone! What a
great team effort!
Students with the top number of sponsors in our class were:
Blythe, Camilla, Mack, Marissa 14 sponsors
Angie 11 sponsors
Aidan, Barbara, Micah 10 sponsors
Our top walkers were:
Aidan, Mack 30 kilometers
Blythe 25 kilometers
Devin, Emily, Marissa 21 kilometers
Drawing on Walkathon t-shirt
Amir
Open House
Wednesday, May 16th is Open House. Our class will recite a poem at 6:50 p.m. Hope to see you then! (See Walkie Talkie for details.)
Rolling in the Dough
Yosephina brought pretzels from Germany. We learned the dough for this baked snack is traditionally twisted into a unique knot-like shape, which according to some people is meant to resemble two hands folded in prayer. The pretzel dough is made from wheat flour and yeast. Before it is baked, it is dipped into Natronlauge, which is German for lye. This gives the pretzel its brown color and distinctive flavor. The pretzel is very popular in southern German regions of Swabia and Bavaria where it is known as Brezel and Brezen. It’s eaten as a snack, with butter on top (never with mustard like do here in the States.)
Blythe brought Schwarzbrot (black bread), pumpernickel bread from Germany. Students were introduced to two other kinds of flour, pumpernickel and rye.
A loaf of the bread was about 4 and a 1/2 inches long, 3 inches high, and 3 and 1/2 inches wide. It was a small, dense loaf, and heavy for it’s size. Each loaf was about 1 and 1/3 pounds. Blythe brought six loaves of pumpernickel. I put the bread on a tray so I could take a picture of Blythe with her bread and pointing to the map where the bread is from. She said, “This is heavy.” How many pounds were on the tray?
We also learned a little bit about the German language. Anything you can touch, begins with a capital letter. Also when there is an “umlaut” above a vowel, it’s a hint to pronounce it with a short vowel sound. We thought those would be great clues for the English language. Students did cooperative math when they worked in groups of four deciding how to cut a loaf of schwarzbrot equally.
Angie brought bagels from Poland. The dough is made of flour, yeast, malt, water. salt, sugar, and water. The dough is shaped into a circle, then cooked by boiling it in water. We also learned that the circle shape stands for the never ending cycle of life; the word bagel means ring or bracelet. Angie told us there are more than fourteen kinds of bagels. Her favorite is blueberry, the kind she brought to share with the class.
Matthew brought char siu bow from China. “Char siu” is barbecue pork, “bow” is the bun. Matthew brought two kinds of char sui bow, baked and steamed. The meat filling is put in the middle of a circle of dough, then pinched closed. (The kids remembered doing this when they made apple turnovers.) The students are familiar with baking in the oven, but they learned that steam is a gas, a gas hotter than boiling water. Boiling water causes steam. (They remembered having enjeri, another bread that was cooked by steaming).
Ping pong is China’s favorite sport. Many students noted it wasn’t soccer, the favorite sport in many of the other countries they “visited” while studying bread.
Students are coming up with these comparisons. They’ve learned a lot as we worked on breads around the world.
Bread and Reptiles
We will be going on our field trip to Acme Bakery and the Vivarium next Tuesday. We will be leaving school about 9:15 and returning at 2:30. Parent drivers need to fill out an insurance verification form prior to our leaving school. We have enough drivers, so I will pair parent drivers together so we can carpool.
Students need to wear “tennis” shoes (no sandals please) and bring a healthy bag lunch. In-between the two places, we will be going to a park for lunch.
Book Bag Reader
Please have your child complete their current book bag and return it. These readers were sent home so your child would have reading material that was at his/her level.
As they gained confidence with reading aloud (fluency and intonations), then they were checked for comprehension ( retelling in their own words and answering questions).
Students have made great progress. I’ve been encouraging them to also read non-fiction. We continue to work on these skills. Please reinforce them at home with any book!
READING
Read and record in your Reading Log.
WRITING
We had Game Day yesterday. They got to experience 9 stations. When we returned to the classroom, I had students think about what was their favorite activity, and why. Then I told them to think of their second most favorite activity. Several students said it was hard to choose; they were all fun!
Have your child write which was their favorite and second favorite station. Tell what they had to do and why they enjoyed it. What was easy or hard about it? Extend their writing about each activity.
Of coarse if your child wants to write about more activities, they certainly can.
MATH / SPRING CLEANING / MORE RECYCLING
(By making it a homework assignment, your child might do it. ) Actually we are going to have a flea market on May 25th. Help your child select old toys, books, etc. he/she no longer wants. No item can be sold for more than one dollar. Each student can bring only one large grocery bag full of items to sell.
Your child’s homework is to price and label (masking tape works well) each item.
No item will be sold without a price tag!
Students need to bring their items to sell at the end of next week, May 18th. The following week in skill groups, students will be sharing a few items, finding similarities / differences, using descriptive words/adjectives to write about an object, and more. Their “stuff” will be used for lessons during the week. It will give students the opportunity to “window shop” and think about possible purchases as items are discussed. They will also practice counting (pretend) coins needed to buy items.
Each student should bring $2 coins (real money). No more than $2 please. Students learn to make choices. Have your child put his/her coins in a zip lock bag with his/her name on it . (A clear baggy makes it easier for adult helpers to point out/suggest coins needed to pay for the item. When students have their baggie/wallet of $2, please have them give it to me. I will put it aside in the “bank” for safe keeping.)
Review coins and their value at home. Play “store” with the items your child will be selling. Have your child be the storekeeper as well as the consumer.
The Flea Market will take place on Friday, May 25th from 12:40 - 1:40. Parents are invited to attend. I will need parents to help. Please let me know if you can help out.
GAME BOARDS
Your child is designing a game board. S/he will be writing the directions on how to play their game. This week play at least 3 board games with your child. As you play, have her/him verbalize how to play the game.
For the homework portion, list the games you played. Tell/write one “move” that you or someone made during each game that made it exciting. Write a comment for each game played.