Don't Forget!

Tomorrow each student will take a Social Studies, Spelling, and Sight Word test!  While the students have been studying hard at school each day, they really need to study at home as well! 

Also, check your child's yellow folder for a FERPA form.  Please read, sign, and send this form back by December 16th.  Thanks!

A Christmas Carol

We are having so much fun reading A Christmas Carol.  Check it out!

Upcoming Events

Our semester is winding down and we've got quite a few upcoming events:

December 12th:  Dickens Day!  We're celebrating the completion of A Christmas Carol by watching The Muppet Christmas Carol and enjoying some tasty treats. 

December 13th:  Christmas Bazaar!  The students LOVE attending this event each year and they've been saving up their chore money for weeks!  This week, each student will develop a gift list and budget so they can complete their Christmas shopping at this event.  We still need more volunteers to assist students in shopping and wrapping their gifts.  Contact me if you'd like to help!

December 16th:  Polar Express Day!  On our last day of school together* we will read Chris Van Allsburg's The Polar Express.  We will also break up into groups to make several tasty Christmas treats before enjoying The Polar Express film. 

*Students are NOT required to attend school on Monday, December 19th and Tuesday, December 20th as they are not taking exams. 

It IS That Easy Being Green!

Green tip of the week:

Set your Christmas lights on a timer so they turn on at dusk and turn off around bedtime.  Conserving electricity is not only good for the environment, it's good for your wallet!

Sight/Spelling Words List 14

Can you believe that it's our LAST sight/spelling words list?  I know I can't!  I feel like this semester has just whizzed right by us! 

red
green
blue
yellow
purple
lime
apple
grape
berry
orange

The students are studying their words each day, but it's important for them to study at home too!  One of our favorite games to play when studying sight words is to choose one student to play the teacher.  They are allowed to quiz the other students on the words.  Give it a try!

The test is on Friday!

It's Fall, Y'all

Yesterday, we completed an estimation activity with an adorable, teeny tiny pumpkin (thanks, Mr. Slim!).  Each student guessed the number of seeds hidden within the pumpkin.  Some of the guesses were:

50
7
5
100
35
37
151
170

Then we rolled up our sleeves and dove head (or finger) first into the pumpkin goo.  It was fun! 

Each group was given a plateful of seeds to clean and count.  After each group finished, we were shocked to find that our teeny tiny baby pumpkin held 549 seeds!  Wow!

Then, we roasted the seeds in the oven and had a delicious and nutritious snack.  Yum!

We also have a furry new friend in our classroom...meet Lucy! 

It IS That Easy Being Green!

Halloween colors are traditionally black and orange.  This year, why not focus on making Halloween a little green?

Think about it...Frankenstein's Monster is green.  Goo is green.  Zombie guts are green (I suppose?).  Green is perfectly ghoulish!

How can you make your Halloween a little greener?  Here are a few easy steps:

Use recycled materials to create your costume.  Don't toss that cardboard away!  Let your kids paint and decorate and you can fashion it into all sorts of costumes.  You can also recycle old clothes (i.e. 80's prom dresses, bridesmaid dresses, etc.) into something fun your children will love!

Halloween candy is often produced in single-serving packages.  That's a lot of paper and plastic that will probably just be thrown away (after the goodies are gobbled down).  Instead, consider giving out erasers, stickers, temporary tattoos, or a single-serving goody that comes in a recycled container (i.e. raisins). 

Buy locally grown pumpkins or purchase your Jack O'Lantern from a pumpkin farm.  Support our local produce growers!  When old Jack is all done, turn him into compost or feed him to the cows/deer/pigs/whatever lives near your home.

If you're going to throw a Halloween party, consider sending out e-vites or creating an event on Facebook.  This saves paper.  You could also use real cloth napkins and real plates, cups, and utensils.  Think of all the trees you'll save!

Have your children carry a reusable canvas bag or metal bucket when trick-or-treating.  These items can be put away and used again and again for years to come. 

Sight/Spelling Word List 9

Can y'all believe we're already on Sight Word List 9??  This semester is flying by faster than I ever could have imagined!

about
may
these
good
stop
down
each
than
that
find

It IS That Easy Being Green!

How often do you drink a cup of coffee at school?  Once?  Twice?  Three times a day? (Coach Steele...we're talking to you!)

Now think about how often you rip open a Splenda packet, use a plastic coffee stirrer, throw away a Styrofoam cup, or use those little plastic creamer containers. 

All those elements that go into your daily cup of java=lots of trash.  Unfortunately, a large majority of that trash will never be recycled or re-purposed into something new.  Here are a few simple steps that will make your cup of joe a little greener:

Instead of using those Styrofoam cups, why not invest in a cute coffee mug that you can reuse each day? 

And instead of using individual sugar and creamer packets, why not buy a Sam's Club container of each?  It's more economical and less waste each day.

Don't bother purchasing those plastic coffee stirrers.  Why not just use a reusable spoon?

There are even ways to keep your actual coffee a little more green:

Buy your coffee beans in bulk and grind them at home.  Your coffee will taste fresher and you'll be saving money!

Check for a Fair Trade sticker on your coffee.  This means that the place where your coffee was grown has safe working conditions for growers. 

Choose organic or shade-grown coffees.  This means that your coffee has been grown without harsh chemicals.  Shade-grown coffee means that less trees are cut down in the rain forest.  This means that birds and other critters that call the trees "home" remain safe!

  Reuse and re-purpose your coffee grounds!  Did you know that coffee is great for scrubbing grease out of pots?  It is also a great natural fertilizer and deodorizer for the refrigerator.  You can even use caffeinated coffee grounds in place of a body scrub (the caffeine actually "wakes" your skin up)!

Celebrating Presidents

This week we've been discussing the qualifications for becoming president.  The students found a really unique way to showcase their new found knowledge.  Check it out!

Fact checking JFK.

 Precious hands.

 Students had to research several different facts about their assigned presidents.

 Students traced each other on a large sheet of paper and placed their facts on the "t-shirt." 

 They were surprised to discover that Ronald Reagan was a movie star before becoming president!

Another shot of precious, HARD WORKING hands!

It IS That Easy Being Green!

In honor of Jeans for Juvenile Diabetes Week (next week), we decided that this week we should focus on keeping your denim green.

Ways to keep your jeans "green":

Go vintage.  Why buy new jeans when you can buy name brand jeans at a thrift store.  Plus, they are already broken in!

If you do purchase new jeans, try to find a brand that uses all-natural ("organic") cotton.  Cotton is a very pesticide-heavy crop.  In fact, one pair of jeans can equate to 2/3 a pound of pesticides and chemical fertilizers!  Give the Earth a hug and find a brand that uses natural fertilizer and no pesticides.  

Only wash jeans when you must.  A good rule of thumb?  If your jeans can stand on their own, it's probably time to wash them.  When you DO launder your jeans, let them air dry.  This will save YOU money, keep your jeans from shrinking, and it will save energy.

Send old jeans here:  http://www.cottonfrombluetogreen.org.  Cotton From Blue to Green is an organization that turns old jeans into insulation.   What a novel idea!

Check back next week for another green-living tip!

Sight/Spelling Word List 7

The kids were really excited that next week they'll be getting a vacation from sight/spelling words.  Hooray for three day weeks!  This week, however, they'll need to study these words for their quizzes on Friday:

but
run
big
ride
been
out
be
other
away
or

What We Ate Wednesday

To be fair (once again), we're actually cooking and eating on THURSDAY this week.  On Tuesday (the day we make our grocery shopping list), we were so busy learning about rights and responsibilities that we didn't have time to make a list!  The students decided that they'd like to learn how to make baked spaghetti.

As a whole group, we boiled noodles, browned hamburger meat, and heated a jar of Ragu pasta sauce.  Then we combined it all together and topped it with cheese.

 Then, we slid the casserole into a pre-heated oven (350 degrees) for approximately 20 minutes.  We also popped some frozen garlic bread in the oven.  Yum!

Doesn't that look so delicious??  We all joined the Clean Plate Club today!

SPIRIT WEEK!

Next week is Spirit Week at FCHS.  Have your child participate...it will make for cute pictures!

Monday:  Camouflage Day (dress in camo duds)

Tuesday:  Decade Day (choose your favorite decade and dress the part)

Wednesday:  Twin Day (find a buddy and dress alike)

Thursday:  Nerd Day (pull out those Star Wars tees and Point Dexter glasses!)

Friday:  Blackout (wear all black)

It IS That Easy Being Green!

Today's green tip will save you money. It will also save the Earth!

Instead of purchasing cases of bottled water (at $5-$10 a case), purchase one of these:
These two, reusable water bottles will cost you $18.99 at Target. The filter lasts for two whole months and replacement filters are cheap. When you use water from the tap in your home or classroom, you spend .03 cents a gallon. After using the bottle for a month, you'll probably begin saving money (think about how many cases of bottled water you go through in a month!). Plus, you won't have all of those Dasani bottles taking up wasted space in your pantry or refrigerator!

Sight/Spelling Word List 6

Welcome back! We had a case of the Melancholy Mondays this morning, but we worked it out with a little dancing (the Macarena)! Parents, you should find our sight word list tucked safely into your child's yellow folder but just in case, here it is:

did
so
come
she
can
see
call
saw
by
said

Let's aim for another week of perfect scores!!!

Matilda

Today we celebrated the completion of our first read-aloud of the year, Matilda, by watching the movie and enjoying a slice of chocolate cake (just like Bruce Bogtrotter).



We also started our new read-aloud, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. This story has some really great vocabulary and the kids enjoyed picking out "English" words that we don't hear in "American English" very often. I can already tell that we're going to have some fun with this story :)

In other news, EVERYBODY made a 100 on their sight word test! Awesome job!

Assessments TOMORROW!

Don't forget that tomorrow your student will be assessed on their knowledge of their spelling and sight words! For a complete list of sight/spelling words, click here.

What We Ate Wednesday

To be completely fair, "What We Ate Wednesday" actually happened on a Tuesday this week. On Friday our class is celebrating the completion of our first read-aloud story Matilda by eating chocolate cake and watching a movie, so our schedule has been a bit wonky this week.

This week, we cooked Scout Dinners (also known as Tin Foil Dinners). They were DELICIOUS and the students really enjoyed mixing and matching different ingredients to make their own unique meal.

Scout Dinners are super simple. Here's what you'll need:

• Non-stick tin foil (we used Reynold's Wrap)
• Cooking spray (we used Pam)
• Ground beef (we used 80/20)
• Baby carrots
• Sliced potatoes (we used the pre-sliced potatoes you can find near the hashbrowns)
• Diced onions (we also purchased these pre-diced)

Spray the cooking spray in the center of a medium-sized piece of aluminum foil. Then, pat the ground beef into a small patty and place in the center of the foil. Next, just pile the veggies on top. It's easy to mix and match using whatever you have on hand. I'm sure something like cabbage would be yummy too!

After your meat and veggies are piled together, make a packet out of the foil. Be sure to roll up the sides so the steam can't escape! Simply place your packets on a baking sheet and bake in the oven (pre-heated to 350 degrees) for approximately 40 minutes. See? Simple and tasty :)

As one student said yesterday, "Bon appetite!"

To be completely honest, this picture is actually from last week when Mr. C and I made Scout Dinners at home. The kids got their meals wrapped up so quickly, I didn't have time to take a picture!

It IS That Easy Being Green!

It's time for our green tip of the week! Isn't it crazy that we've been in school for 22 days already? It will be fall break before we know it!

Our green tip for the week is very practical:

When packing your lunch each morning, use a reusable lunch box. Instead of using plastic zip top bags for sandwiches, use a small compartmentalized container to hold your lunch. You'll save money AND the environment!

For some adorable "green" lunch boxes, click here. (This link also has reusable sandwich bags...cool!)

For some great compartmentalized containers (bento boxes), click here.