Wow, this month has flown by and once again has so many things gone on.  Math and reading with both 1^st and 4thgrades and lots of reading with 2^nd grade.  My second graders had the chance to finish another novel and then we read some of my favorites, the stories of Frog and Toad.  The kids quickly realized why I chose that as our next book.  I have now added working with some 5^th graders.  It’s been very exciting working with them.  I worked with many of them for the past few years, but did not get to work with them this year until now.  It’s amazing to see how much they have grown since I last worked with them at the end of 4^th grade.  It’s even more amazing to look back at where they were when I first started to work with them in 1^st grade and well now, they are only about 15 weeks away from leaving us and heading to 6^th grade.  Where has the time gone!

Winter break has come and gone and the kids are back into the swing of things.  My second graders are so excited to have finished their novel and we’ve had many great conversations about it.  The first graders ventured in to telling time on a clock.  It’s a very abstract idea, but they got the hang of it.  Of course they are still a little baffled as to how I could tell time on my watch even thought it had no numbers on it.  Last, but not least, the fourth graders who are so strong with their multiplication and divisions it’s wonderful.  They now are moving into the world of fractions and seem to be handling it very well.  Once again I can’t wait to see what next month will bring.

Today was such an exciting day at Christie. I got to participate in Christie City. This was a truly authentic learning experience for our 4th graders. They got to work in shops, earn pay checks and spend their hard earned money. The kids had a lot of fun and definitely learned some good / hard lessons. They learned that if you spend all of your money you can't just go to the bank and ask for more. The employees at the bank realized that work is hard and that you can't just stop because you want to. It was a wonderful experience for everyone. A big shout out to the 4th grade team for helping to make it happen, and a HUGE shout out to Mrs. Amini for putting in hours of extra work at night and weekends to bring this amazing experience to Christie for our students. I really do work with the best people on earth. I hope everyone has a great break; it is well deserved for everyone, students and teachers alike.

I am so proud of my second graders and how far they have come in the last few weeks.  They started subtraction needing to use base ten blocks to solve 24 - 9 = ? and now they can solve problems like this 345 – 263 = ? without blocks.  They have realized that numbers can be written in many different ways and that helped them to realize that subtraction isn’t so scary.  For example

 

  345

 -263

            Both of these are ways to represent 345, but the second one makes it easier to solve.

             345

 

300      40      5          3 hundreds, 4 tens, 5 ones

200    140       5         2 hundreds, 14 tens, 5 ones

 

It is a great way to use place value to transition them to the standard algorithm without them losing the number sense related to what they are doing.

 

 

  345

 -263

 

 

As we near the end of October I look back and think about all of the fun happenings that have occurred here at Christie this month.

I went back to my roots and taught sight words to first graders.

I worked on sound symbol correlation with 2^nd graders.

With 4^th grade I have been working on capitalization and punctuation.  I even taught Idioms in one class.

 

Yes, I know I am known for my math, but I can do LA too!  Don’t worry though; I also did plenty of math.

First graders are working hard with their basic facts and strip diagrams.  Just today my group was so proud that they didn’t have to think about 7 + 7, they just knew it was 14.

Second graders are going to be pros at subtraction with regrouping.  They have been working so hard on it and I am so proud of them. 

Last, but not least, 4^th grade is tackling the art of multiplication and division.  They too have been working hard and it shows when you see them in their classrooms.

 

On top of all of that learning we had lots of fun with our school wide create a literary character from a pumpkin challenge and our Falling into Good Character assembly. 

November is just around the corner and I can’t wait to see what exciting things it will bring.

A message form Mr. Steele

All,

Due to the forecast calling for heavy rain tomorrow, field day will be postponed until next Friday. Unfortunately, at this time, it looks like it may rain next week as well. If it rains heavily starting on Wednesday of next week, we will once again postpone field day until May. We want to thank you all so much for your understanding – fingers crossed we have a sunny week next week!

Christie Elementary

 

Christie Elementary PTA has gone digital!  
See what's going on and mark your calendar.

English  -> http://elist.pisd.edu/eNews/0112_99_Christie_PTA__eNews_Oct_2015_English.pdf

Spanish  -> http://elist.pisd.edu/eNews/0112_99_PTA_de_Christie__eNews_Oct_2015_Spanish.pdf