Happy Friday/Outdoor Classroom

Happy Friday!

We were busy little beavers today!

Our day started out with the 4th and 5th grade choir performance.  The students were a fabulous audience and really enjoyed it.  The 4th and 5th graders did an awesome job!  I can't wait until our kids get to 4th and 5th grade to watch their choir performances.

After the choir performance, we went to Makers Space.  Today the students played with Ozobots.  They are small robots that are programmed and coded to run off different colors.  The students put them on premade "tracks" and then were able to use markers to make their own tracks.  The Ozobots also change color based on the color of the marker.

This afternoon the kids were awesome helpers in the garden.  They helped to mulch half the garden.  They worked so hard to make the garden look nice.  They will probably sleep well tonight!  :)  You can check out the pictures here.

Then we finished up our Earth Day with some science observations around the Outdoor Classroom.  We went to the garden, the butterfly garden, the prairie and the pond.

Please check out the Newsletter.  If you request a paper copy, it is in your student's Friday folder.

In your student's Friday folder, you will find a permission slip and information about our Runge Field Trip.  Please read over the information and sign the permission slip and return it to school with your student.  A signed permission slip is required for your student to attend this field trip because we are going out of town.  If you would like to help and attend the field trip, please make this on the permission slip.

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy this weather!

Mrs. Ross

A Message From Mrs. Reynolds

RBE Parents and Families,                                                                                                                                                                                                                            April 20, 2016

This year our annual RBE Clean-Up Day has been combined with RBE Outdoor Classroom Week, which started on Monday, April 18^th.  I apologize for not having a schedule of the Clean-Up Projects out to you sooner, but below you will find each class and their assigned projects.  The projects are happening tomorrow, April 21 and Friday, April 22.  If you are able to volunteer to tomorrow, please email me at ereynolds@cpsk12.org with the day/time.  We especially need help on Friday!  If you are able to volunteer on Friday, please sign up here: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090949acac2da64-clean

If you are able to help classes with mulching and have access to a wheelbarrow, wagon, shovel, rake and/or pitchfork, please bring those along with you!  Make sure the items you bring have your name on the handle.   We would love to have additional spring bulbs as well.  Other items that we need are 5 gallon buckets (kitty litter buckets would work also) and large plastic containers (like from yogurt, butter, or sour cream).  We need 6-8 buckets and at least 25 plastic containers.  These items will be kept in the garden and will be used by classes to water the garden plants. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_-ZG60SFrLubFRxQ1FXdUZxcGc/view?usp=sharing (This is a link with additional information about the rest of RBE Outdoor Classroom Week)

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Emily Reynolds, 1^st grade teacher and RBE Outdoor Classroom representative

Happy Wednesday!

Happy Wednesday!

I hope you all have had a wonderful day.  We were very busy in Room 27 today.

We worked on a special project today.  I am attaching pictures, but won't tell you what it is for.  :)  It is a secret.  :)

We also had an opportunity to tour the outdoor classroom today.  The weather didn't completely cooperate, so we had some we shoes when we were finished, but the students had a blast.  We toured the garden (I didn't get a picture there due to the light rain), then the prairie, the pond and the butterfly garden.  We are very lucky to have such a wonderful outdoor classroom at RBE.

 Learning all about the prairie

 Learning about animals we might see in the pond

 Looking for animals in the pond

 We found a lot of frogs, can you see the one in the picture above?

 Our last stop was the butterfly garden.

 They learned about native Missouri plants that attract butterflies.

There is a great path through the butterfly garden.  We will have to go back after the flowers are blooming.

We will continue celebrating Outdoor Classroom week the next two days.  On Friday, we will help in the outdoor classroom by spreading mulch around the garden.  I talked with the kids today about wearing older clothes and shoes on Friday so if they get a bit dirty, it's ok.  Also, Friday is Earth Day, so our dress up day is to wear Earth clothing, meaning anything representing the Earth, nature or just the color green.

Have a wonderful evening and hopefully the weather holds out the rest of the week so we can enjoy some time outside enjoying our wonderful Earth.  :)

Mrs. Ross

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday!  

We had a great day.  We have kicked off Outdoor Classroom Week with an assembly this morning.  We honored the people who originally came up with the idea for the Outdoor Classroom, and learned about all the parts of the Outdoor Classroom!  We learned about the prairie, pond, amphitheater, the arbor, and the garden.  We will get to go on a tour of the Outdoor Classroom on Wednesday (fingers crossed about having good weather because I know rain is in the forecast).  Second grade also performed a song in the assembly, and the whole assembly also sang a song called "One Seed" (Click here for video)..

We started talking about Earth Day is coming up on Friday.  To enjoy the beautiful weather today we had Word Study outside.  We went on a nature walk and the students had to fill in an ABC chart with words that they found in nature.  

This week we will be talking more about how to take care of the Earth.  We will be reading passages about Earth Day and pollution, writing about ways that we can reduce, reuse, and recycle.  Make sure to ask your student about what they can do to help take care of the Earth each day! :)

Your students brought home their geometry and subtraction tests today.  Please look over both tests with your student and sign them and return them to school.  

Have a fabulous evening and stay dry!

Mrs. Ross

Happy Friday

Happy Friday!

I hope you all have had a wonderful week!  I am absolutely LOVING this beautiful weather.  Yesterday, we were able to get out to the track for a little bit.  I told the students we might be doing that more as it is warmer outside!

I can't believe the end of the year is so close.  You can feel the excitement already building about the end of the year.  We had a conversation this morning that it is important to continue to do their job at school and that we have a lot of fun things planned for the rest of the year.

Reading
This week, we worked on summarzing fiction stories.  We taught them a different strategy other than "Somebody, wanted, but, so then" this week.  We focused on identifying the main idea, details and the most important words and then using this informaiton to create a one sentence summary.

Next week, we will be working on a similar strategy with nonfiction passages.  We will identify the main idea, details and then use this informaiton to create a one sentence summary of the nonfiction passage.

Writing
This week, we wrapped up our rough draft for our best pet opinion writing.  Next week, we will edit it and then publish our writing.  We are planning to use the laptops or iPads to publish writing.

Math
This week, we wrapped up our geometry and fraction unit.  I will be sending home this test and the subtraction tests next week.  Please review them with your student then sign and return it to school.

We took our pretest over measurement today.  We will start our measurement unit on Monday.  We will start with non-customary measurements, then move into standard measurements.  We will also be talking about different units of measure and tools to measure.

Science
We are continuing to observe our plant experiment.  The students are noticing what the plants need to survive.  We will wrap up our experiment by the end of next week and see if our hypthesis that plants need sun, soil and water is correct.

Homework
We will have homework for the next 2 weeks and then will be finished with homework.  The students will have optional homework after that of reading and math facts each night (starting the first full week of May).  If they do math facts and reading (15 minutes each) for at least 3 nights (starting in May), they can eat lunch in the room on Friday.

Field Trip

• April 29: Jazz Ensemble at Hickman High School, leave RBE at 9:30 and return by 11:30.
• May 11: Runge Nature Center, leave at 8:30, return at 2:00

Important Dates

·      April 22: "Earth Day" - Wear green or other "Earth Friendly" attire

·      April 29: Field Trip to Hickman High School for a Jazz Concert – leave 9:30 & return 11:30

·      May 10: PTA Meeting (5;30)

·      May 11: Field Trip to Runge Nature Center – leave at 8:30

·      May 13: Variety Show

·      May 20: Field Day

·      May 20: "Summer Fun" - Wear your most colorful, fun, floral outfit to kick off summer (no swim suits)!!

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the warm weather!

Mrs. Ross

Fraction Quilt

We have been practicing fractions this week.  We have focused on halves, thirds and fourths.  Along with Ms. Mottaz's class, we created a Fraction Quilt below.  They either partitioned their rectangle into halves, thirds or fourths and identified how many pieces were in their rectangle.  We will continue practicing and reviewing fractions this week.  Our plan is to test on Friday over fractions and geometry.

Summer School/Pin for Cancer

Happy Wednesday!

I'm so excited to see the sun and warmer weather outside!  I'm ready for summer weather!

I just wanted to remind everyone that the date for guaranteed summer school enrollment is this Friday.  I know that summers can be very busy, but if summer school fits into your schedule, it is a good review of 2nd grade as well as an introduction to 3rd grade concepts.  The teachers always do a wonderful job creating a lot of fun learning activities!  If your student is slated to go to a different school next year, they will still go to Rock Bridge for summer school unless you have requested another school and will be providing transportation for your student.

Also, a HUGE thank you to everyone who has donated change/money for St. Jude Children's Hospital.  Our class has already raised over $100.  We had to increase our goal today and we have increased our goal to $200.  I appreciate all your donations!

I hope you get a chance to get outside today and enjoy the warm weather!

Mrs. Ross