the Moon

We are doing science rotations every Tuesday for a month. We are learning about the moon and the night sky, plants and animals, and rocks.

Here is a link to a moon calendar:
http://www.briancasey.org/artifacts/astro/moon.cgi

More information about the moon's phases:
http://www.kidsastronomy.com/astroskymap/lunar.htm

Raz-Kids

Your child now has access to leveled books online! Our district has been awarded a grant that was used to purchase a subscription to Raz (Reading A to Z)-Kids for our students. They can listen to, read, and take a quiz on many fiction and non-fiction books right on their independent reading level. On Monday, Feb. 27, your child should bring home their user name and password so they can log-in from home or anywhere with internet access. Time spent reading on Raz-Kids can be counted on your reading calendar. This is an amazing program that is a fun way help your child improve their reading skills.

Extra Math Practice!

Thanks to a good friend of mine, I just discovered an awesome web site that is great for practicing math facts. It is XtraMath.org and there are several great things about it:

1. It's free
2. Students can move at their own pace
3. Each child's progress is recorded and reported to teacher and parent
4. Students can practice online at school or at home
5. Your child will be practicing math facts and having fun at the same time!

I hope you will use this web site at home to help your child become more efficient with their math facts. I will be sending home a note with your child's enrollment code on Wed. Nov. 16. I will keep the link on the left sidebar of this blog so you can access it easily. Good luck and I can't wait to see how well they do!

Information

Spelling: 
Every weekend I will post the words for next week, so if you want to get a head start on spelling you can always check the blog. Check out the link to Spelling City for some fun games to play and practice your spelling words. You can cut and paste the list from the blog right into Spelling City if you click on "batch entry", just underneath where you would type in the words.

Homework: 
The only homework you are asked to return to school is the pink reading homework and the reading calendar at the end of the month. The yellow spelling paper is for you to keep at home to practice. You do not need to return it to school. Occasionally, your child may have incomplete work from class. If I need it returned to school, I usually will write "Please return" or something like that on the top of the paper. If in doubt, you can always have your child turn it in. I will star or stamp it and send it back home.