We enjoyed listening to Owen read to the class on Friday! Great reading, Owen! We began our new math unit on Thursday. We also started our new EM journals and sent home the previous one. Use this books to review skills with your child. We finished reading The Gardens of Abdul Gasazi and took a look at the them of magic in this book as well as other Chris Van Allsburg books. Students then wrote a response as to what they thought the author wanted us to learn about magic. In our persuasive writing unit we took a look at how we can make our arguments stronger. We also looked at capital letters and punctuation. Have a good night.

We listened to two great readers, Brendan and Alyssa as they read to the class. In addition to updating out calendar, leading us through the pledges, part of the child of the day's job is to read to the class. They both did a GREAT job! Yesterday was a switch day. Upon the students return to the classroom, we worked on words and then math. Today we continued with our inferring strategies, but also wrote a persuasive argument (part of the common core state standards) about the main character in the Gardens of Abdul Gasazi. This tied in well with our writing as we are also learning about persuasive arguments. During math time we worked on math facts and patterns in math. Here we are writing our persuasive arguments:

Today we read more about The Gardens of Abdul Gasazi, focusing on how the main characters feelings change through the book. We will review our responses Thursday. We also wrote letters today to thank our Junior Achievement volunteer from last Thursday. As I read them it was amazing as to how much the students learned. We also practiced our math facts. Tomorrow is a switch day and we will follow our Monday schedule. We will have P.E., music, art, and our ESL integration time. Thursday we will be back to our regular schedule. Keyla was our child of the day and we enjoyed listening as she read:

Valentine's Week Activities

It was a very busy week with our Valentine's Day party plus Junior Achievement on Thursday. Our Junior Achievement Volunteer from Navistar (Ms. Patty) taught about Our Community. We learned about different jobs in the community, production, and how money flows through the system. Thank you Ms. Patty. Also a big thank your to our parent volunteers for our Valentine's Day party. We had a LOT of fun! We continued learning about inferring using a Chris Van Allsburg book: The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.

We also continued to work on Persuasive Writing and in math, we worked on math facts. Here are a few pictures from our week:

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Arushi had everyone laughing as she read Diary of a Worm! She really got into the book. GREAT reading, Arushi! We finished up our reading of the book The Wretched Stone as we are learning to infer meaning at the text level. We will read another Chris Van Allsburg book next week to continue our learning. We reviewed the persuasive letters we wrote on Thursday and identified what was the MAIN purpose of our letter. What EXACTLY did we want to change. Then we made revisions. The rest of the day was spent taking a Chapter 6 Math Review checking progress. When students finished they could work independently on their math menus (designed for their math instructional level.)

Konrad was our child of the day and had us laughing as he read! GREAT reading, Konrad! We were still talking about our author visit today. So many are excited about going to the library this weekend to check out a Stephen Layne book! I promised the students when the new book comes out next week I will purchase it. We discussed The Wretched Stone today and our inferences. Remember to have your student support their inferences, their predictions, whatever ideas they have, with evidence from the text. We also wrote persuasive letters today. We are learning that we have to have a focus and know our audience. VERY INTERESTING letters!!!! I was asked to change the temperature in the room, and although I was convinced it was a good idea to raise the temperature....I CAN'T! I loved the 1st reason why I should: "Even you, Mrs. Stringham, say it is cold and you wear a sweater!" Well....at least this student gets the idea!!! There were also requests for MORE READING....MORE MATH...A LONGER SCHOOL DAY...and the usual more recess time. Our math lesson focused on division story problems. We drew pictures, used counters, use pennies, and more to help us visualize the problems. Have a GREAT night!

Love the AUTHOR!!!

Today was a FANTASTIC day with Dr. Layne visiting our school. We also received an autographed copy of W is for Windy City. We learned a LOT about Chicago by reading this wonderful book. Mr. Burger also purchased books by Dr. Layne for our school library. I'm sure they will be HOT READS!!! Enjoy:

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Thanks, Bram, for reading such a funny book. We loved it! We began reading The Wretched Stone today as we learn more about inferring. We also began learning about persuasive writing as we read Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. During math we learned more about arrays and multiplication tables. Tomorrow is the BIG BIG day! Dr. Layne (Love the Baby; Share With Brother; and MORE!) will be at Liberty School. Check out our sister blog: libertyreads.blogspot.com for more! WE CAN'T WAIT!!!

Sumehra was our child of the day. We enjoyed listening to her read! After our specials and our integration time where we read Time for Kids and reviewed Non Fiction Text features, we worked on our word wall words and word menus. The rest of the day was spent learning more about math arrays. We are finishing up reading The Tale of Despereux. We were able to read a few chapters again today. Tomorrow we will start a new writing unit on persuasive writing. We will also continue working on the reading strategy of inferring using Chris Van Allsburgs book. Tomorrow we will read The Wretched Stone. Don't forget...Dr. Layne will be there Wednesday morning. The students are very excited about meeting one of their favorite authors. Books will also be available to purchase!!!

Jasmine was our child of the day. She did a wonderful job reading Stone Soup. Thanks, Jasmine! We finished up our unit on writing letters today. We practiced our inferring skills as read The Tale of Desperereux. They LOVE this book...but if they insist on getting at the library, please hold off. Let us finish it first....then they can read it on their own. In math we worked more on the trade first subtraction strategy. Have a GREAT weekend!

Lights...Camera...Action!!!

Today was the BIG film day. It felt like a movie set in the classroom with microphones and cameras. Our math class was filmed and the students did FANTASTIC!!!! I'm so proud of them! They just did what we do everyday! The camera crew was amazed at how the kids knew what to do without me directing each step. Well, of course they do! They do it everyday. Congratulations boys and girls for a job WELL DONE!!!! We were learning more about the trade first subtraction algorithm today. We also worked on place value. During workshop time, students worked at their math instructional level on activities designed to help them in the areas they may struggle. We are finishing up our letter writing unit. Interesting letters!!!! We also went to the library. Check out the slide show below and read about our child of the day and hear us in the library!!!!

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Week of January 30

It's hard to believe January is over! And what will the groundhog see tomorrow, Feb. 2. And where is the bad, bad, awful, winter everyone was forecasting? But, not matter the weather...it's always a GREAT time to read. Be sure and check out our school blog: libertyreads.blogspot.com. I'll set up a link on our blog shortly, but in the meantime...check it out. We want everyone to be voracious readers!!! A voracious reader is a lifelong learner. Just think of the places your voracious reader could go! This week we have been finishing up our letter writing unit. I hope we are finished by Friday so we can move into persuasive writing next week. Hmmm....I wonder if they will write their parents a letter to persuade them to buy something? Maybe a Kindle???? We are also working on inferring character traits. We look closely at what a character does and says and then supporting our thinking with evidence from the text, infer what the character is like as a person. We finished reading The Story of Ruby Bridges and her actions and words led us to believe she is a faithful and confident person. In math we are working on addition and subtraction strategies. We are also working more on understanding place value. Today the students were introduced to arrays as an introduction to upcoming lessons on multiplication. They quickly caught on to how it is repeated addition and connected their understanding about turnaround facts to realize that multiplication facts can be turned around as well. Tomorrow is the big filming day. A film crew will be in our classroom to film instruction. The focus is on the teacher although student responses will be heard as well. Thank you for sending in the permission slips. I assure you, children's identities will be protected. Here are a few pictures from this week, including the students who where "child of the day": Michael, Ali, and Emily. LOVED their reading!!!!