Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF

Your student brought home a UNICEF box in their Friday Folder last week. Take the box out with your family if your trick or treater would like to collect coins/dollars for UNICEF this Halloween!  Boxes should be turned in to the classroom, November 1st-4th.

Weekly News: Week 11

Reminder: There is no school tomorrow, Friday October 28th! Enjoy the three day weekend before Halloween!

This week we started reading the poetry book "Love That Dog" which has inspired a lot of creations in our classroom. Today we also heard wonderful speeches from our students about their pumpkins. Everyone was so creative in their designs and stories! They really brighten up our room for Halloween!

We are winding down the first trimester, which ends next Friday, 11/4. Assessments will be given over the next week or so before report card conferences begin.

If you haven't scheduled a conference yet, please go HERE and choose an open time slot.


Upcoming Events:

• Monday, 10/31
• Halloween Parade, wear your costume to school over your clothes
• Halloween Party, bring in donated items
• Pay Day
• Minimum Day (8:15-12:30)
• No Band and Strings
• Tuesday, 11/1
• October Auction
• Wednesday, 11/2
• Outdoor Ed Parent Meeting, 6:30pm, Multi-Purpose Room
• Friday, 11/4
• Last day of 1st Trimester

November 9th- November 17th--- Parent/Teacher Report Card Conferences. Check your appointment time!

November Conferences

Our parent-teacher conferences are beginning in a few weeks. Thank you to all of you who have already signed up for a time. I look forward to meeting with each and every one of you.

If you have not signed up for a conference time yet, please go HERE, and choose one of the open time slots. If for any reason you need to change your existing time, you should be able to edit your appointment.

Thanks! Email me if you have any questions.

Weekly News: Week 10

This week we finished the story of "Wonder!" The students loved hearing Auggie's story of fitting in with his 5th grade class. We are looking forward to reading "The Julian Chapter" and learning more about what made Julian so mean to Auggie. There's always two sides to every story!

We've also started our poetry unit in writing. We've been writing haikus, quatrains, and cinquains. As we study more types of poetry, we will eventually be creating our own poetry anthologies.

There are several things happening in the next two weeks. Please keep track of these important dates. On Monday, students should have a completed Exploration Flipbook for social studies. If students want to earn full credit it needs to be colored and their words need to be covered in Monart pen.

If you have not yet signed up for a November Conference, please click HERE and choose an open timeslot.


Upcoming Events:

• Monday 10/24
• Exploration Flipbooks due
• Tuesday 10/25
• Vascular Plant Flipbook due to Ms. Britto
• Wednesday 10/26 
• Scholastic Book Orders due
• Thursday 10/27
• Pumpkin Speeches 
• Monday 10/31 
• Halloween Parade 
• Party 
• Minimum Day
• October Pay Day
• Tuesday 11/1 
• October Auction
• Wednesday 11/2
• Outdoor Ed Parent Meeting, 6:30pm, Multi-Purpose Room

October Scholastic Book Orders

Class Code - GVYZL

Order Due Date - 10/26/16

Subject: Scholastic Reading Club Class Order Due Date is approaching!

Dear Families,

This is a friendly reminder that your Reading Club orders are due by 10/26/16. You can place your orders online at scholastic.com/readingclub using my class activation code: GVYZL

Happy Reading!

GATE Nomination Forms

If you are interested in having your student take the GATE test this year, please fill out the form at the PUSD website. 

The parent nomination form has already been posted on the PUSD website: http://www.pleasantonusd.net/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=308228&type=d&pREC_ID=712593

Nominations are due by December 2nd, 2016.

Outdoor Ed Parent Meeting

Outdoor Ed Parent Meeting- November 2nd, 6:30pm

We are having an Outdoor Ed Parent Meeting on Wednesday, November 2nd at 6:30pm in the Multi-Purpose Room. A representative from Pigeon Point will be on hand to provide detailed information about our trip in February. I encourage all families to attend this meeting to hear the information firsthand. Informational handouts will also be sent home with your children in the coming weeks.

Just a reminder... our class is scheduled to attend Pigeon Point from February 6-8, 2017. In future weeks we will be sending out information regarding parent volunteers, as we will need 8 parents to attend with us.

Weekly News: Week 9

We had our first field trip to the Blackhawk Museum this week! Students loved exploring the Native American and Settler perspectives of the Old West through dioramas, artifacts, and our wonderful Gallery Guides.

Thank you to all our parents who took time out of their days to drive and help chaperone at the museum. It was a great day for everyone!

I've added the few pictures I took while at the museum. Parents, if you have photos to share, please click HERE and become a part of our picture website. It will allow you to add pictures directly and then we can all have access. This will be very helpful for all our field trips this year, particularly Outdoor Ed.  I've been adding pictures of things that are happening in the classroom as well.


Upcoming Events:

• Mon 10/17-- Library... books are due!
• Tues 10/18-- Picture Retakes
• Fri 10/21- Fall Fun Fair, 5-8pm

• Mon 10/24- Explorer Flipbook due
• Thurs 10/27- Halloween Pumpkin Speeches
• Fri 10/28- No School

• Mon 10/31- Halloween Parade and Party. Wear costumes to school.

Field Trip Tomorrow

Tomorrow we are heading to the Blackhawk Museum for our first field trip. We will be gone from 9:30am to about noon. Students do not need anything special for this trip.

We will be back at Mohr by lunchtime, so students will still be able to buy lunch at school if they need to. Students should bring their backpack & homework, like usual, as we will only be gone for a small part of the day.

Thank you to all our wonderful chaperones!

Blackhawk Museum “Spirit of the Old West” Exhibit

3700 Blackhawk Plaza Circle • Danville, CA 94506-4652

Visit our Website: www.blackhawkmuseum.org

Email: museum@blackhawkmuseum.org

Weekly News: Week 8

It's hard to believe that two months have already flown by! We've started learning about the Age of Exploration in Social Studies, we're using area models to complete long multiplication problems and conversions with expressions in math, and we just finished up our Narrative pieces. It's amazing how much we've accomplished in the first two months of school!

On Monday, October 31st we will be having our Halloween Party following the Halloween Parade. We'd love your help in donating breakfast items. Click on our SignUp Genius link HERE.

Upcoming Events:

• Thursday 10/13- Field trip to Blackhawk Museum (9:30-12:30pm)
• Friday 10/14- Mid Module 2 Test

Future Events:

• Thursday 10/27- Halloween Pumpkin Narrative Speech
• Friday 10/28- No School
• Monday 10/31- Halloween Parade & Party

Halloween Speech- 10/27

Today, students learned about their first speech! We are doing a Halloween inspired "Pumpkin Speech"

Check out the requirements below. All students should be prepared to give their speech on Thursday, October 27th.

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Pumpkin’s Halloween Night Speech

Thursday, October 27, 2016

October’s speech is Halloween themed!  You’ll be telling a two-minute Halloween Night NARRATIVE about your costumed pumpkin!

To begin:

1. Brainstorm Halloween costumes for your pumpkin until you decide upon one that sparks your imagination
2. Brainstorm story ideas for your pumpkin’s Halloween night adventure.  

Use any of these prompts as inspiration! You are not limited to these ideas.

1. It was a dark and stormy night when….
2. My friends and I were trick or treating and knocked on the door ….
3. Meow! The black cat was scared….
4. The white sheets with black eyes peering through holes of the costume gave no clue as to who the kid was…
5. Running down the street with candy flying, I saw….
6. A yellow glow was coming from the jack-o-lantern, only…
7. I couldn’t believe it… my brother was a werewolf!
8. They claim the house was haunted, but it looked okay to me, so….
9. I was counting all my candy when all of a sudden…
10. At the Halloween party...
11. The mad scientist was creating a new monster that could…
12. The large cauldron of purple liquid started to boil when…
13. I got an eerie feeling when I heard…
14. The mysterious object started floating in the air and…
15. The Halloween pumpkin turned into a…
16. Something in the closet made a strange noise, so I opened the door and…
17. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw…
18. You won’t believe this story, but it is true…
19. As I carefully entered the haunted house, the door shut behind me and…
20. The silliest Halloween ever started when….

3)  Find a JUST-RIGHT pumpkin at the market - be sure you can carry it to school!!!!!

4)  Decorate your pumpkins’ costume using material/paint/carvings, ANYTHING creative       

   Ex:  felt, fabric, sequins, ribbon, cotton, feathers, foil, yarn, paint, foam, markers, clothing, buttons, hair

For no more than two minutes, you will narrate your story.  Know it well enough to tell it from memory!

Include the following details:

• All Narrative Story Elements:
• Characters/Setting
• Initiating Conflict/Rising Action
• Climax/Falling Action/Resolution

• A Heart to the story - a lesson that should be learned or understood

• Sensory Details, Action, Main Character’s Thoughts and Feelings, Emotion

Grading:  pumpkin design, narrative content, preparation, time, volume, eye contact, gestures, expression, enthusiasm