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Mrs.
LaRoue ~ Kindergarten |
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During the month of
February, the kindergarteners will be doing an author study on Jan
Brett. We will read many
of the wonderful books that Jan Brett has written and illustrated.
We will discuss how she uses her illustrations to help us
predict what will happen next.
Students will compare
The Gingerbread Baby
to other gingerbread stories.
The kindergarteners will also retell various Jan Brett stories
using the words beginning, middle, and end.
The kindergarteners will
also be discussing Community Helpers in February.
We will take a look at many occupations that are important to
our communities. Some of
the jobs we will study are: cooks/chefs, fire fighters, police
officers, dentists, soldiers, and mail carriers.
We are excited to learn about each of these jobs.
If you are an expert in any of these areas and are willing to
share your job with us, please contact Mrs. LaRoue.
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Mrs.
A ~ 1st
Grade |
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The First Graders were so
excited to be the presenters of the All School Assembly. The
students each had a part in making the assembly a success. I am so
proud of all the first graders. WAY TO GO!!
During the month of
February the students will be taking a closer look at the human body.
They will be learning about the different systems in the body and how
they work. Each child will create a 'flat self' and add body
parts as we learn about them.
Here are some other
activities that they will be covering in class.
Math:
graphing, tallies, place value, addition/subtraction, and skip
counting
Language Arts:
nouns, verbs, adding details, and naming the writing process steps
Social Studies:
reading and creating maps, states, continents, and oceans
Art:
Georgia O'Keefe
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Ms.
Erin ~ 2nd Grade
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Wow! It is February
already! We have been so busy in second grade and we aren’t
stopping! We are beginning a study of the mystery genre. This
includes analyzing the elements of a mystery and filling out a case
report of our mystery read aloud. Then they will begin writing their
mysteries.
In math, we are
finishing up multiplication and division. They will be moving on to
finding missing addends and then data analysis.
We started a new author
study this month. The second graders are looking at Eric Carle’s
books and finding his fingerprints in his stories and working with
reading strategies on his books.
Our science unit will
take us out of this world! We will begin a study of the Solar
System! This will include an overview of the planets and finding
their place in space, looking at different constellations, and
discovering what else lies in space…
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Mrs.
Krug ~ 3rd Grade
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This month in third
grade we are enjoying learning about famous African Americans in
honor of African American History Month. Students will be
creating projects of their choice in regards to a famous African
American they have an interest in learning about or learning
more about. From skits to paintings, we are excited to display
are hard work. We are also looking forward to our field trip
mid-month to see the production of "Harriet Tubman". It is
always great to see what we are learning in class brought to life on
stage.
The challenge is on and
we are ready for it..... Math Fact Families! Over the past
months we have been working diligently on our multiplication and
division facts. Now we are working at mastering those facts,
and how will we do it?........ ICE CREAM! Students will
monitor their mastery of their fact families with adding scoops of
ice cream, cherries, and sprinkles to their ice cream bowl.
Once we have our ice cream dishes completed, we will celebrate!
We have also been busy working with geometry and creating
bar, picto, and line graphs. Students conducted surveys and
collected data on their own and within the school to display the
information in various graphs. It was interesting to see the
number of points the Timberwolves scored each game in a week and the
weekly temperatures in Woodbury. Great job!
We are enjoying our
"new" weekly "Quick Labs". Every Wednesday we are
participating in various science experiments. These quick labs
help us review past science topics and look at the scientific
method.In addition to our "quick labs" we have begun our study of
the solar system. We had fun investigating telescopes and look
forward to month of answering questions like, why do we have day and
night? Why does he moon looks different on certain nights? How did
the constellations get their names?
To the Indies we go!
Or at least that's where the early North American explorers thought
they were heading. We have indeed begun to look at the
explorers of our continent. We have had some great class
simulations to create a sense of how it was for explorers at that
time, along with some great debates on crediting these explorers
with "discovering" the land. Along with these simulations and
debates comes great projects we are working on as well.
Creating water color shoals, making compasses, filling treasure
chests, and a whole lot more.
As you can see we are
learning a great deal, and having a wonderful time doing so.
We look forward to preparing for the March School Assembly,
continuing running the school store, science fair, our African
American presentations, and so much more!
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Mrs.
Anderson ~
4th Grade
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Fourth grade students
are very excited to present their projects at the FPA Science Fair
this month. In class we have reviewed the scientific method, tracked
progress of each project and have been talking about how to present
scientific findings. Our next science unit will include learning
more about Earth and how it changes over time.
To go along with
looking at the timeline of Earth, students will work on a timeline
and autobiography of their own life.
Students are wrapping
up a unit on Shakespeare after reading his poetry and plays. We will
also have our last poetry reading this month. I have been so
impressed with the poetry that has been shared so far and anticipate
a wonderful last sharing time.
In social studies, we
continue to study the colonization of America. Students are able to
explain why different groups came to America, the challenges they
faced when they arrived and set up their colonies and what daily
life was like in America.
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Mrs. Chang ~
5th/6th Grade
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Students have been asked
to select two theme books to read at home during the month of February
(into the beginning of March). All of the book choices represent our
learning theme, "One World, Many Stories". After students finish
reading the books, we will be using them as references as we learn the
many stories of our country's history. Students will be participating
in an cross curricular study of WWI, the Great Depression, WWII,
Segregation and the Civil Rights Movement . . . right up to present
day by the end of the year. I will be integrating reading, writing,
social studies, geography, math, science, art, and technology
throughout the unit of study.
In Art Mrs. Lisa has just completed a four week study of Surrealism
(seeing something ordinary in an extraordinary way). During her four
weeks, students learned about Dali and his form of art. Each student
created a collage out of magazine pictures and is now working on an
original painted masterpiece. We hope to complete these paintings by
next week. I plan to display them on our classroom window.
For Health students are
learning about nutrition and the benefits of eating healthy. We have
looked at food labels, studied the food pyramid, and even created
healthy menus specific to dietary needs/requirements. We are learning
a lot!
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| Spanish
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Things have been moving along well in Spanish!
We are keeping very busy.
All classes will continue to review and refine all the things
we have learned thus far.
In addition, all classes will be talking about how la Navidad is celebrated in certain Latin American countries and
will be learning some holiday songs.
Each class will also be introduced to new units, which are as
follows:
Kindergarten & 1st Grade: Classroom
2nd
grade & 3rd
grade:
Family
4th
grade:
Family and possessive adjectives
5th/6th grade:
Verbs: present tense conjugations and talking about likes and
dislikes.
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Phy
Ed |
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During the month of January the younger students focused on teamwork
and cooperation. They
learned various new tag games that included these skills.
This month they will participate in games and activities that
include manipulative skills as well as locomotor movements.
The
third and fourth grade students spent the month of January focused
on Pirate Ball, basketball, teamwork, and cooperation vs.
competitive games.
During the month of February they will learn the basics of
pickelball and tennis.
The
fifth and sixth grade boys and girls began January with a unit on
bowling that ended with a trip to the bowling alley.
They also revisited the game of basketball, and spent the end
of the month learning the game of Badminton.
During February they will participate in a pickelball
tournament and learn the basics of tennis.
We have also planned a trip to the neighborhood ice rink.
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Music
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Music
Notes from Mrs. Salter
January will be a
fun month for music classes! All
of the grades will be exploring new concepts in class.
Kindergarten:
Students will continue to listen for steady beat, long and
short sounds, and matching pitches. We will work on creating many different movements to perform
on the steady beat of a variety of songs.
1st
Grade: The
first graders are learning about lullabies and what qualities exist
in most lullabies. They
came up with some very descriptive words to describe the lullaby
“Lady, Lady” and are working on singing with a soft voice.
2nd
Grade: The second
graders have been talking about the musical term “timbre”.
The way an instrument is made gives it a special sound, or
timbre. We’ve been
talking about how a tambourine has a variety of timbres because you
can tap and shake it.
3rd
Grade: It’s
recorder time! I always
look forward to teaching this fun unit to the 3rd
graders. We will work
on reading notated music and playing this awesome instrument in
class. I will send a
note to all 3rd grade families including details about
recorder expectations in school and at home.
4th
Grade: The fourth
graders are learning about syncopation.
A syncopated rhythm is when the accent falls on the off beat.
We are working on looking at basic rhythms, adding ties, and
creating our new syncopated rhythms.
5th
and 6th Grade: The
5th and 6th graders have been learning about
how dynamics make music interesting.
They are starting a group project in which they will add
dynamics to poetry and perform it in front of their class.
I’m looking forward to hear what they come up with!
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Trailblazers
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Hello everyone, I hope all of you survived the snowfall.
Just remember, Spring Break is right around the corner, so we
can keep our hopes up for nicer weather soon.
We need to start getting ready for the Twins season which
will hopefully help us forget the heartache over the Vikings loss.
But Trailblazers is still going strong and looking for an
exciting rest of the year.
Trailblazer’s had great
time with School Release days in January.
We had a blast snow tubing at Afton Alps and were glad to see
so many of you there.
We have one school release day this month which is on Monday,
February 15, we will be having popcorn and movie day with Valentines
treats. Sign ups are on
the gym doors.
Cooking Club started
this week on Tuesdays and Thursdays and will run through 2/25.
Our next club will be the Construction Zone, where we will
put our hands to the test to build cool objects.
I will be getting the
Spring Break Sign up out soon, so we can start staffing properly for
it. Trailblazers will
be open over Spring Break this year the week of March 29-April 2.
Please sign up on the gym doors to reserve your spot.
Monday 3/29 – Card Tournament
Tuesday 3/30 – Field Trip to Bielenberg Sports Complex
(1:00pm-3:00pm)
Wednesday 3/31 – Relay Races
Thursday 4/1 – Bowling at PINZ in Oakdale (1:00pm-2:00pm)
Friday 4/2 – All Programs Closed
Summer Camp Packets
will be out this month so be sure to reserve your spot early.
We have many cool adventures, themed weeks, and daily
activities. Remember,
our camps are for kids entering grades 1-2, 3-8, and also our JCC
Program. Our JCC
Program is for kids entering grades 6-8.
Here they will learn responsibilities and work to build their
futures. They will be
touring colleges, prepping for ACT/SAT, learning how to apply for a
job, resume building, and so much more.
Early registration for
Trailblazers next year will start this month.
Please pick up a packet or see me with any questions you have
about Trailblazers or transportation to other schools.
Please checkout our
blog where you will find pictures of Afton Alps and other activities
we have done. Contact
me with any questions you may have.
Look for summer packets and early Trailblazers registration
packets for 2010-2011 soon.
Thanks!
Corey Strinmoen —
Trailblazers Coordinator
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*image from teacherfiles.com
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