Week 15 Highlights!

Happy New Year, 307 Families! Ms. Trapp here. It was great to be back in the classroom this week after a refreshing break. 2015 is off to a busy start. Here are some of the highlights from this week:

- Math: Stanford started a new unit on multiplying and dividing fractions and Yale began a new algebra unit. Princeton and Harvard continued their work with adding and subtracting fractions.

- Reading: We continued our nonfiction unit this week and focused on finding the main idea and summarizing. Students also started meeting with their Global Reading Challenge Books Clubs. Ask your student to tell you about what they are reading for Book Club! We also got our Book Club Sets Donors Choose project funded! Here are some of the new books we got!

- Social Studies: In Social Studies, we dug a little deeper into our Civics unit and how the different branches of government work. Students are looking forward to running for positions in our own class government next week!

- Toy Company: Companies finished making their products and started to think about how they will market them to Ms. Savage’s second and third graders.

Next Friday, Leschi will be celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day with an assembly. All of the 4th and 5th grade classes will be working together on a community service project to put into action some of the values of Dr. King. We will be working together to clean and beautify all of the student bathrooms around Leschi next week.

Reminders:
- In a couple weeks, we will be going on a field trip to see Sundee Frazier, the author of Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It. If you haven’t already, please fill out the permission slip and return it with your student!

- Wednesday, January 14th is a 2-hour early dismissal. School will be out at 12:50.

Weeks 12, 13, & 14 Highlights!

Welcome back to school in the new year! December was such a busy month and I fell behind on updating all of you on what's been happening in the classroom - my apologies! However... our class bloggers have been doing an amazing job keeping up for me. Here are the past updates for December:

December 5, 2014

Hello, this week has been a great week from start to end. Given from coming back from the exciting Thanksgiving break, we have eased into the classroom vibe successfully and enjoyably. On Wednesday, we had dental screening to keep our teeth clean and healthy. Unfortunately, there has been a sickness going around taking Ms. Staab out for a day. We missed her too, on Thursday for a student teacher training meeting, but on Friday, today she teaches again!

This week, we have been studying the Preamble to the Constitution, on behalf of our Civics unit. We have read many books about the Constitution, and learned the meanings in the Preamble phrases. This week, we have been researching the seven regions of the USA and played Kahoot, a trivia game that was used with Chromebooks with our teams that studied the regions.



December 12, 2014

Hello everyone we had a normal good week. We have been playing Kahoot, an online trivia game that we have been using to test our knowledge on Civics. Kahoot has been a success in Room 307!

If you haven't heard about our new social studies unit, it is Toy Company. Toy Company is where we form groups to make toys, and along the way, we learn about the economy of making a business. Here are the business names:

Silly Boys makes Silly Putty in different colors.
Keychain Cutesies makes trinkets and keychains.

Doll Accessories makes dresses, etc. for dolls.

Stitched & Stuffed makes stuffed animals for all genders.

Essential Origami makes origami.

A Mile of Crayons use crayon scraps and reform them into modern molds.

We will have an update on how the companies are doing next time!

December 19, 2014

Hi everyone, this week we have been soaking up the last bit of school until break. We are looking forward to the holidays and have been making the most out of fun. We have done gingerbread houses, K/1 Buddies (help them make their gingerbread houses), and our first class auction!

During auctions, Ms. Staab or Ms. Trapp gives us the cash in our bank accounts (from our bonuses, salary, other earnings). There are lots of fun toys and candy getting auctioned off to the highest bidder. This is a time where most people spend most of their money. How it work is Ms. Staab raises a toy in the auction and people bid and the last person with their paddle up gets the toy/prize. We had some other interesting prizes besides toys. There were a few "No Homework" passes, Starbucks drink, switch desks with Ms. Staab/Ms. Trapp for a day, etc. It was a lot of fun! We look forward to the next one. Happy winter break!

Your Class Bloggers,

Noah & Lillian