A few friendly reminders:
* Homework is for 2 weeks which will take us to our fall break. Please do not turn it in tomorrow. :)
* Spelling tests are tomorrow and dictation tests will be next Friday.

FYI:
* Time for Kids still has not shown up. They will be reordered or an alternative nonfiction resource for current events will be purchased. Substituting one of the worksheet practice papers for homework was a smart choice.
* If anyone is going to be out tomorrow to watch the fly over of the space shuttle, please remember to check your child out then back in when your child is ready to return to school. :)
* Our carnival is tomorrow. Thank you to all of the volunteers who signed up to work in a booth, set up, or clean up. Have fun! :)
* Your child is in a differentiated spelling group focused on spelling patterns in class which is separate from the spelling words. There are fewer high frequency words on the spelling list coming home to allow for practice and mastery.  Spelling tests will include current and past words to monitor the maintenance of the most important sight words.

Table talk:
??? What is a hurricane? Where do they form?
??? How is a hurricane different from a tornado?
??? How are they similar?
??? What did you write about your weatherbot today? From whose point of view were  you writing? What did you say? (role of a meteorologist as modeled by the homework videos :))
??? What math did you do with your weatherbot symmetrical design on the integer grid?

First grade: Focused on revising writing and grammar (nouns, pronouns, proper nouns) - revised writing, located nouns and verbs, and made a combined Thinking Map (Circle Maps within a Tree Map) to show the three types of nouns then brainstorm examples of each.

Second grade: Continued their traditional Family Heritage second grade social studies unit to prepare for their heritage dolls. A rough draft form came home today. It is not due tomorrow. Please help your child fill it out over the weekend if possible to be completed in class. Thank you!

Tech time: Enjoyed Goodnight Moon then Goodnight iPad (which they loved!). We then enjoyed tech time on the iPads. If the apps I loaded after school finish downloading tonight, we will be investigating tornadoes, hurricanes, and weather patterns using the iPads tomorrow afternoon. The goal is to apply our knowledge learned from inquiry, flipped videos, reading, discussion, and games we have played to investigate the storms in the United States. This will involve simulations, weather map analysis, and looking for patterns/trends on national data bases. We will research, discuss, and extend our thinking as meteorologists. :)

Thank you to the families that are sending in the beautiful images of storms. The children love analyzing the storms, identifying what type they are, and comparing /contrasting the images. They will be used to make a weather dictionary for ongoing reference throughout the year.