Cookieologists One of our lessons in science talked about paleontologists and fossils. Today we became "paleontologists" when we tried to dig fossils(chocolate chips) out of rocks(cookies) using special tools(toothpicks). Everyone had to work very carefully to not break their fossils while trying to get them out of the rocks.

Published Authors!!

Our book Journeys Through Time arrived this week. The kids have been very excited to read their personal stories in a real book. Those that did not order will be given a black and white copy. If you would still like to order you can. Look for information to come home next week for ordering your copy online from the company.

Reader's Theater

Once again the ladies from RSVP put on a fantastic reader's theater. Today they performed The Bremen Town Musicians.  The kids really enjoyed it. We are looking forward to their next performance.

Trimester Three

Math:  We are currently working on measuring. We have discussed the importance of standard units and measured using yards, feet, inches, decimeters and centimeters. This week we will learn about perimeter. This spring we will  focus on telling time to the five minutes and distinguish between a.m. and p.m. Counting and creating coin combinations will also be a skill that we will work on. Be sure to keep practicing math facts at home.

Reading: We will continue to work on our comprehension and fluency. The best way for your child to become a better reader is to read. Please make sure you are encouraging them to read every day at home. They should be filling out their reading logs and returning them every Friday morning. As your child reads take a moment to listen and ask them questions or to retell the story to you. The sight words are very important to be practicing at home. Many kids have brought back their booklets that I sent home at conferences. A few have brought back more than one and our top sight word reader just took home the 700 list!

Social Studies: This month we will be learning about maps. Our study will begin with the compass rose and then we will learn about the continents, oceans, and our country. The end of the unit will focus on our state. The kids will learn to draw the outlines of our country and state. I'm always amazed at how well they do!

Spirit Week

The first week of March will be "Lakeview's March Madness".  We'll be celebrating the great year that we've had and all that we have learned.  The student council has planned special dress up days for us to participate in.  I talked with the class about how important it will be for them to be using their self-control next week as we still have LOTS to learn about this year.  The dress up themes for the week are:
          Monday: Hat Day
          Tuesday: Sports Day (wear something with a favorite team on it)
          Wednesday: Wacky Wednesday (wear mismatched clothes, dress backwards, create a funny hairdo)
          Thursday: Pajama Day
          Friday: Tiger Pride Day (wear cherry and blue)

Tune in for pictures of our fun days during Spirit Week!

Guest Readers

Wow! We were very lucky today to have five guest readers in our classroom for Read Across America Day. Our first reader was Kim Nelson. She is a school board member and read Oh the Places You'll Go.  Then Mr. Hudspith read Hop on Pop which is a favorite at his house.  Jill Marin, another school board member, and her son also visited us. They talked about how important reading is to being successful in the world.  Mrs. Marin's son will be visiting Africa soon and he shared how he would use his reading skills to travel.  They each read a book to the class. The kids had a great time helping to read, Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? Our last guest reader was Amy Lundell, Annabelle's mom, and she read The Digging-est Dog.  She also brought us an extra treat-licorice!Thank you to all of our readers!!

Puppy Class

What an exciting morning! We had two students from the high school's animal care class come and visit us with four puppies. The puppies are called bugs. They are a cross between a boxer and a pug. We learned that it is best to choose a puppy when they are at least five weeks old because you can tell what their personality will be like. However, they can't leave their mothers until they are eight weeks old. If anyone is interested in buying one you can contact the high school. Some of the kids were very interested and thought maybe they could ask you to just write a check.....girl puppy: $250.00
                                                             boy puppy: $200.00
                                                             carpet cleaning: $150
                                                             your child's face when you say yes: PRICELESS!