Thursday, September 30, 2010

From the Classrooms (excerpts from the Newsletter)

Kindergarten
What a wonderful group of kindergartners! We are off to a great start and have been working hard on teaching the children about safety and school rules. We have also been teaching the kids colors; the children should now be able to identify and read each color word.
The focus for October is Columbus and fall. Math topics for the month are number sets and patterning.
Please remember to help your child write his/her name with the first letter capitalized and the rest lowercase. Let the children share their day with you and remember to look in their folders for their work and important notes and information. Don’t forget to read to them every day!
Thanks for the support you have given us so far this year, and for letting us be involved in your child’s education.
The Kindergarten team

First Grade
First grade is off to a great start. The kids are even getting good at going through the lunch line!
We want to welcome our new first grade teacher, Ms. Green. She is a wonderful teacher and we are excited to have her join our team.
First grade has an interesting field trip scheduled for October 5th: The Salt Lake County Landfill. It is fascinating to go behind the scenes at the landfill and learn all about recycling. Thank you to all of the parents who plan to help with this field trip.
Keep reading with your kids every night and keep up the great work!!
The First Grade Team

Second Grade
We’ve had a fun time getting to know our new second grade students, and the year is off to a great start.
Everybody really enjoyed Chocolate Day, when we talked about Milton Hershey, where chocolate comes from, and how it is made. Did you know that cocoa is very bitter unless you add sugar to it? We counted, sorted, graphed, added, and subtracted M&M’s. What a fun day!
We have also been talking about safety at home, in the car, on bikes, and walking to and from school. The kids learned about stranger danger and how to stay away from strangers and run for help if needed. We practiced calling 911 in an emergency. Safety comes first in second grade!
A big thank you to those who took a leaf from our giving trees; we have had many donations come in! These items are used throughout the year and make a big difference in our classrooms. Thank you so much for your support!
The Second Grade Team

Third Grade
Third grade is off to a great start here at Canyon View. Mr. Anderson, Ms. Larsen, and Mrs. Schneggenburger have been helping the third graders adjust to the routine of third grade, and everything has been going quite smoothly. In addition to math, reading, writing, and spelling, students have been learning all about self-esteem and safety. Third graders have also been introduced to keyboarding on the AlphaSmart computers.
The third graders took their Iowa Tests this month, and they did an excellent job. Keep up the great work, third graders!
All third graders are required to read 20 minutes every night. Those students who read the required minutes last month attended a fabulous reading party at the end of the month.
We are looking forward to a wonderful year!
The Third Grade Team

Fourth Grade
Fourth grade is shaping up to be the best grade ever! The students have had a lot of fun getting to know each other and have learned so much.
In math, the focus has been on rounding to the millions, place and value of numbers, expanded form, word form, and standard form. In geography, the kids have just finished learning about our amazing state of Utah and are now learning about the three regions of Utah. Fourth graders have also started going to the computer lab, and are doing fun P.E. activities and art projects.
Fourth grade is great!!!!
The Fourth Grade Team

Fifth Grade
The fifth grade is off to a fantastic start! We are happy to welcome Mrs. Freestone and Sally Goodger to fifth grade.
We have been preparing for the Garden Fair since last spring and are really impressed with all the entries. The judges had a difficult time selecting the winners. We are quite proud of our winners and all of the participants.
Fifth graders are currently studying the explorers who settled our country. In science, they are studying drugs and alcohol, healthy lifestyles, the human body, and heredity. They are also learning about the scientific method. This past month, fifth graders worked hard in math and language to get ready for the Iowa Tests. We’re all relieved to be done with that!
The kids love their first grade study buddies and really enjoy helping them with their reading. Our students are currently enjoying PE with Mrs. Roberts, music with Mrs. Freestone, art with Mrs. K., and computers with Mrs. O. The kids also seem to like having the Web sites where they can go and get information about their assignments from their teachers.
As we look forward to October, we hope to raise lots of money for our Fun Run fund raiser and we’re thinking about what we are going to be for Halloween. We are busy and excited about fifth grade!
The Fifth Grade Team

Sixth Grade
We have been busy, busy, busy in the sixth grade and can’t believe it is already the second month of school. The kids have been working extremely hard learning our new math program. The first topic that we covered was numeration. This included place value, comparing and ordering whole numbers, exponents, and algebra connections. The second topic introduced students to algebra.
In P.E., the children had fun participating in a four-square tournament. It involved quick hands and quicker feet. The students didn’t realize that four-square could be so challenging!
As the students rotated through the three sixth-grade classes, they were exposed to a variety of subjects. Mrs. Sunderland introduced them to good and bad microbes, Mrs. Skrocke shared her knowledge of Ancient Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, and Ms. Joko had them involved in descriptive writing and knowing the difference between a “vanilla” word and a “Baskin Robbins” word.
This month, sixth graders turn their focus to biographies. Not only will they write a biography about a classmate, but they will also read a biography about a famous person and prepare a speech about that person. On October 28, each child dresses up as the famous person they read about, marches in the school’s Halloween parade, and then returns to the classroom to present their speech. Parents are invited to listen to the speeches. We hope you can join us for this fun day!
The Sixth Grade Team

Media News
Welcome back one and all! The Media Center is looking forward to a very exciting year. In addition to What’s on the Menu, Trivia, Book Talks, Candy Land, Student Displays, Beehive Reports, and Lessons, we will be adding Did You Know and W.W.W. = Weekly Wise Words. Wow, that is quite a list! We also have some awesome new books to add to our shelves.

We are in need of a little help on Thursdays to stock the shelves with library books. Parents can help with this any time of the day, and for any amount of time. Please stop by the library to let us know if you are interested.

We are also looking for a parent to head up the “Birthday Book for the Library” program. In this program, a letter goes home with each child during the month of his/her birthday. The letter invites them to buy a book for the school library. Once the book comes in, the child’s name is placed in the book and the child gets to be the first one to check the book out of the library. This is a great program that encourages reading, recognizes the child's birthday, and builds the book selection in the library. If you are interested in heading up this program, please contact Jenn Searle at 801-943-5182.

See you in the Library!
- CC&CC
P.S. Did you know that August 2010 had five Sundays, five Mondays, and five Tuesdays? This won’t happen again for another 826 years!

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