A Week At A Glance

Welcome back from a nice long weekend!  We got right to work today and WOW! We are superstars!
This week we started our language by asking some questions, What behaviors are unique to different animals?  What  behavior is unique to your favorite animal? Why do you think the animal behaves that way? So if you haven't guessed we will be talking about animals and their unique adaptations.  This week we will be reading about magnificent birds in the selections, Fly Eagle, Fly; Eagle Watching; and  Birds of Prey.
We will also be learning about prepositions, cause and effect, and multisyllabic words- not to mention reviewing suffixes, generalizations, summarizing, and fact and opinion. Bet you wish you were in 3rd grade!
We are still moving on with our multiplication and division drills this week as well as introducing geometry in our whole group math.  Please encourage your student to continue to practice math facts every night.  So much to do and so little time! Remember we will be celebrating our great thinking with a multiplication party after spring break.  Good luck students- you can do it!
Parent conferences are just around the corner- please take a minute and sign up for a convenient time.

. Click the following icon:

2. Scroll down to "Altara Elementary" and click "go."

3. Type in the school password (altara) and click "login."

4. Type in your student's ID number.
(hint: The student ID is the username for Envision Math found on the sticker inside of your child's homework folder.)
5. Select an available time slot that works best for you.

If you have any problems or would like support setting up your schedule, feel free to visit the office or call Susan Taylor, our school secretary, for assistance. 

Hope to see you there!

Our question we will be discussing this week is, "What unique traits does it take to be the first to do something"?  Today we read a story about the first Female Hispanic- American astronaut.  Dr. Ellen Ochoa became an astronaut in 1991, but not before she earned 3 degrees in physics, science, and electrical engineering.  She became part of the Discovery crew and also helped develop the International Space Station. We decided it would take imagination, creativity, determination, intelligence, skills and bravery to do all that Dr. Ochoa did to be the first in her field.  We will be reading about other unique individuals this week who were the first in their own field.

We Are Awesome!

Great work for all those that have turned in book report projects last week.  Awesome job of not only caricatures, but also understanding the biography that was read. We are in the process of our oral reports and presentations to our class and will be finishing them up over the week.   I will post a picture of our fabulous  work in the next few days!
This month we will be presenting current events instead of book reports.  We will begin our presentations next Tuesday and will continue through the month.  A calendar will be coming home this week with your student.  Remember...current events mean that the news is current and recent.  Forms for current events are found inside your homework folder.  Good luck students!
This week in our literacy study we will be asking ourselves, "Why is it valuable to have unique interests?"  We will be reading about hobbies and interests and individuals who shine.  Today our journal prompt was, "What do you like to do most when you have free time?"  It was fun to see how we are alike and different with our thinking.
Our spelling pattern for the week is studying the meanings of the common prefixes, pre__, out__, mid__, over__, and de__.  We will be having a spelling test this week to check our understanding of meanings as well as how to spell the word.
We will reviewing cause and effect as well as fact and opinion this week. 
Because it is a short week, we will be turning in homework on Thursday.  Please remember to track your reading minutes and turn your while slips in on Thursday.  Keep up the great reading!
in math we are still passing off multiplication facts and focusing on division facts.  We will be using fact families to help us find missing quotients.  Multiplication progression reports are coming home today in your students's homework folder.

We will be having a Valentine's Day party on Friday, February 14 at 11:00.  This is a great time to feel someone's bucket!  Please make sure that if you are handing out cards or treats that day that you are including everyone in our class.  I will be sending home a note with student names included.  We will also be collecting our valentines in a container.  You can be as creative as you wish, but the container needs to fit on your student's desk.  Please bring containers on February 14 and not before- unfortunately we just don't have the space for storage.
Thanks for all you do for your student.  Have a great week!