Time flies...

It is hard to believe, but it's already October. We've been so busy that every time I get ready to post something, I think of another thing to add and the whole thing gets put off for another day.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their understanding after the unfortunate wreck that caused me to miss Parent Orientation. I would still like to hold such an event, but until I get my second vehicle replaced, I am driving all over the city every afternoon. Hopefully that situation will be cleared up this week and perhaps next week I can hold a make up orientation meeting. In the meantime, I am posting the presentation that I had intended to show that night. Let me know if you have any questions.

As for the work we are doing in the classroom, there has been a great deal to cover. In reading we have arrived at our Unit One Review. This week we will revisit the topics and skills covered so far this year. These include theme, summarizing, character, setting, plot, sequence of events, and nonfiction comprehension skills. In math we are working on rounding to estimate solutions and on solving two step word problems with addition and subtraction. In the coming weeks we will begin multiplication and division, but I will update you on that when the time arrives. In science, after covering safety rules and behaviors, we have moved on to the properties and states of matter. In social studies, as I'm sure you heard, we learned the Preamble to the US Constitution through song. Now we are working on making and interpreting maps.

As part of a partnership with our Book Buddies at Piney Point Elementary, we gathered pine needles for them to use as mulch in their butterfly garden. In return, they have sent us milkweed seeds to start. We will be using paper egg cartons for starting the seeds so if you have any of those that you are finished with, we would love to have them. We are hoping to have our own butterfly garden in the habitat near our classroom. We also planted some purple hyacinth beans that I had started along the fence between the cafeteria and the habitat. For Constitution Day we had a guest reader from the Houston Bar Association come read the book "John, Paul, George, and Ben" by Lane Smith. Last week we have a visit from the mobile dairy and the students were introduced to a real dairy cow. They learned about how the milk gets from the farm to their table in all the delicious forms dairy products can take.

Later, I will post a slide show of some of the pictures that I have taken over the last few weeks. Thank you for all the support you give your children at home. Don't forget, Open House is October 17th.