HOMEROOM
Next week, the students in my homeroom will begin writing letters to Sarah Ferguson, our Peace Corps Pen Pal.  Sarah has earned a Master's Degree in Environmental Science, and has volunteered to join the Peace Corps, for a two-year commitment in Senegal, West Africa.  Over the next two years, Sarah will be helping improve the water and living conditions for the people in that region.  In addition to the letters the students will be writing, I will be sending Sarah some fun and useful items from here in the US.  Donations are optional, but if your child would like to add an item to October's care package for Sarah, please send the item in by Tuesday, October 18.  Be aware that I plan on sending the children's letters with a care package every month, so if you can’t donate next month, there will be other opportunities to do so.

Math
In math this past month, we have been working on place value and writing numbers, multiplying two, two digit numbers, using more than one strategy, and subtraction using more than one strategy (especially adding-up).  The class will be having an end-of-unit assessment on Wednesday, October 5.

ELA
The children have been switching groups for Guided Reading within the ELA class. In addition to Guided Reading, they have begun learning about figurative language that is used in poetry, they are writing poems using alliteration, writing personal narratives, learning the elements of non-fiction, and they are getting really good at making connections to the stories we have been reading in class.  

Science 214
We have just completed our first science unit (Light).  They learned how light is a form of energy, how light travels, sources of light, how we see colors, how light can be reflected, refracted, and absorbed.  The children have also learned that objects can be transparent, translucent, or opaque. They have also learned that white light is made up of the colors of the visible spectrum and that Sir Isaac Newton discovered that a prism can refract white light into the colors of ROY G BIV.  The class was able to experiment with light, lenses, mirrors, and prisms.  They learned that the human eye is very similar to a camera, and they can name several similarities.  214 has taken the test on Light and should receive them back by Monday.

Science 215
This class has just begun seeing me for science.  This class will be in my room for ten school days, learning about Light.  Room 215 will have their science test on
Wednesday, October 12.