Manoa Mountains News for February 28, 2008
The Manoa Mountains did a great job on their book report presentations. Their speeches were detailed, and the visual aids were very creative. The majority received four or five stars for their evaluations. We had some outstanding posters, a game, some dioramas, and a mobile. Everyone did a confident presentation.
We are gearing up for the art contest, open to all of our students, related to the opera "Kahalaopuna." It is an opportunity to be creative and submit a piece of art work in any medium which could be incorporated into the final program for the opera. We will be performing the opera in May; this art contest is to raise interest in it.
We will also have a t-shirt design contest for our Manoa Day on April 11. We will be spending the entire day visiting historical sites in Manoa Valley and learning about the history of the valley. Our guest speaker will be Mr. John Clark (Sachi's dad), who is writing a book about Manoa Valley. We will also tour Waikiki because it is part of the Manoa ahupua'a and part of our studies. We will end with a family dinner of Hawaiian food in the dining hall around 5:30 PM. Information and sign-ups will be sent home tomorrow.
Our regular work continues to challenge us, and we are doing a good job on the Literature Circle legends. Reading and discussing the stories in groups, answering the comprehension questions, drawing a plot picture chart, and writing a report of the story have given everyone many opportunities for success in articulating their understanding of what they have read. Our vocabulary work has helped us to learn the meanings of new words in the legends.
Our creative writing is producing some nice published stories for the authors to share. We hope to have everyone publish a story before we go on spring break. With only six computers on the classroom, we patiently wait our turn as others complete their stories.
Our math has been fun with the math multiplication games that the third graders have been playing. They will be creating practice flash cards to help them learn the more difficult facts. We hope to have everyone learn all the multiplication facts this year.
Our inquiry research about Manoa Valley has everyone working in groups to discuss their impressions of how the valley looked 100 years ago. The groups are creating posters to share their ideas. The concept of the ahupua'a and how the Hawaiians shared their natural resources has been interesting to learn since the Manoa ahupua'a extends from the valley to Waikiki.
The annual Ho'olaule'a will be held on March 14. Our class will need at least six volunteer parents to take our students around the Ho'olaule'a. Each student will purchase lunch, play games, and have a fun time. To make it safe, we need the parents to take small groups around the high school campus for all the festivities. We will begin at 11:00 AM and end at 1:30 PM. If you are able to come and help us supervise our students, please send me a note next week. In today's Thursday packet, you will receive information about Ho'olaule'a and an order form for purchasing scrip and t-shirts. I hope many of you can join us.
Posted at 6:18 AM| Permalink
Manoa Mountains News for February 21, 2008
The Manoa Mountains would like to thank all of the families who sent in Valentine's Day treats last week and/or supported the "Jump Rope for Heart" fundraiser for the American Heart Association. The students received their jump ropes and stickers yesterday for their participation in the event. They should still be practicing their jump rope skills daily since that is their PE unit for now.Plans for the opera are taking shape, and our class will be designing the official program with Mrs. Lorenzana's class. They have been learning the story and songs for the opera in music class with Mrs. Koshi.
We have also been discussing our impressions of how Manoa valley looked one hundred years ago and how the Hawaiians lived here. We will be going on a field trip to Manoa Falls and Waikiki in April to continue our studies. Mr. John Clark (SC's dad) will help us plan our tour and provide leadership on this educational journey.
The book report projects are due for presentation on Monday, and we will begin at 10:00 AM in our classroom. Guests may park in Wilcox Circle for the presentations. We hope to see many parents and grandparents join us for this project sharing.
Our Literature Circle work is getting better and better. The Manoa Mountains are answering the comprehension questions with greater clarity and have drawn detailed plot pictures of the stories. Their reports indicate that they have a good understanding of what they have read. Their vocabulary work is also well done. They learn fifteen new words every week, and many are using the words in their stories for Writer's Workshop.
We have published some stories for Writer's Workshop and will be sharing them from the Author's Chair next week. Everyone is trying to get one story published this month. The stories are then made into books with special designs and illustrations on the cover.
Our daily reading continues to challenge us with interesting books, and many are doing a very nice job on their Reading Log entries. Their summaries and response choices are more detailed and express their understanding of what they have read. It is fun for me to read their entries every week, and I appreciate the care that goes into every
report.
Our math continues to challenge us every day. The third graders are working with multiplication, and the fourth graders are doing lots of problem solving. Everyone is doing a good job of keeping up with corrections. Soon we will send the Unit 4 work home.
We are working hard on our test-preparation books and have become accustomed to the multiple choice format. We are making good choices for our answers and carefully coloring in the circles for our selected answers. The third graders are also working on their D'Nealian Handwriting books and learning to write in cursive.
Our Language Arts lessons have helped us to learn about nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions. We will continue to expand our knowledge of the parts of speech and their proper usage.
Posted at 6:11 AM| Permalink
Manoa Mountains News for February 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day! The Manoa Mountains have been very busy working hard in class. They have done a great job on their Literature Circle work this week and enjoyed reading and discussing the legends from Kauai. They have answered the comprehension questions and drawn their plot pictures to demonstrate their good understanding of the stories. Their reports indicate that they are able to articulate their understanding with clarity. It is nice to see the third and fourth graders working together on these assignments.
The vocabulary lists for this week have also been well done with word meanings stated clearly, sentences written with details, and pictures drawn with sufficient detail to make them meaningful. Our language arts work has concentrated on adverbs, adjectives, and prepositions this week, and it has been challenging for most of the class.
Our math continues to challenge us with problems about perimeters of polygons and areas of polygons with more than four sides. Triangles and quadrilaterals were fun to work with, and we did several exercises using combinations of as many as twelve figures to create new images.
Our daily reading is fun, and most are reading several chapters in class. The Reading Log entries include more specific details, and some of the responses are very creative. Everyone is doing a very good job of stating their understanding of what they have read daily.
Our writing is enjoyable, and everyone has been writing poems and personal narratives this week. We will continue to publish our favorite stories as time permits. Because it takes about two weeks to publish a story, the Manoa Mountains are taking turns using the computers for this task.
Our next project which is due for presentation is the book report for February 25th. We will begin at 10:00 AM and invite all parents and grandparents to attend. The children love to have an audience for their presentations.
"Jump Rope for Heart" will be held tomorrow afternoon from 12:30 - 2:00 PM at the gym. Many thanks to everyone for sending in the permission slips on time and making such generous donations. I'm sure we will all enjoy this special activity. Many of the students are honoring their grandparents by jumping rope for them.
Posted at 6:28 AM| Permalink
Manoa Mountains News for February 7, 2008
The Manoa Mountains have been very busy with their regular classwork every day. Their Literature Circle work has included some legends about Kauai, and their vocabulary work has enabled them to learn the meanings of twenty new words this week. Their Writer's Workshop pieces are being edited by their peers. Six at a time are being published on the computers. There has been lots of activity during writing time!
Our math lessons have been challenging and fun. The third graders are working with perimeters, angles, and areas. Their polygon-building kits, made of different lengths of straws which the children will cut up, will enable them to create various sizes and types of polygons. We will also compare different types of triangles and quadrilaterals.
Test-taking preparations have involved the use of workbooks to familiarize the students with test-taking questions and a multiple choice format. They are doing a good job on their work. The third graders are also working on their D'Nealian Handwriting books to practice cursive writing.
Reading Log entries are getting better and better with more details and information about the characters. The clarity of the writing has improved, as everyone has taken the time to do a thorough job on the summaries and responses. Drawings are becoming more detailed, too.
Now that everyone has brought their earphones to school, their Garageband compositions for music class are really taking off. They are learning to do some complex music composition.
Today we had the pleasure of celebrating the Chinese New Year of the Rat with a Chinese lion dance. The students all gave the lion a red envelope filled with four quarters as an offering so that they would receive good luck for the coming year.
The next project which is due for presentation is the book report, which everyone should be working on. The presentations will be on Monday, February 25, in our classroom beginning at 10:00 AM. We are hoping that many parents and grandparents will be able to join us for this sharing of projects.
Please turn in the "Jump Rope for Heart" permission forms and donation envelopes as soon as possible. The event will be held next Friday in the gym and should be lots of fun for everyone! We still need volunteers to help out at the event. We will be at the gym from 12:30 - 2:00 PM.
Posted at 6:11 AM| Permalink