Science Vocabulary - Time

Please make sure your son practices his science vocabulary. The test is this Friday. Here is a video with all of the words and signs. We have watched the video a few times at school but they can certainly watch it with you at home for review in ASL. The 10 words they must know 1)meaning 2)spelling and 3)picture for are: time, year, season, month, week, day, night, hour, minute, and second.

2009 Begins!

Hi families.

I hope you all survived your *extended* winter break! I know I did!! I was really impressed with how well the kids all did coming back to school yesterday. Everyone fell right back into their routines with no transition issues at all! We kept things fun yesterday and had LOTS of gifts to open that Santa left us during the break. Here is a smilebox slideshow and a few of my favorite pictures.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

We played dreidel in Math



Agustin was excited to get all of the coins from the pot!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

December, already?!

Wow, has it really been a month since our last update?! Well, it's not because we haven't been busy! We've been getting started on our MCAS portfolios, making videos of our reading skills (I'll have to edit them a bit before I post them!), learning about colonial times, landscapes, place value and reading and writing about Thanksgiving.! November was a busy month!! Here is a slide show from our Friendship Feast, November 26th.

Today we had another holiday celebration with the annual Jackson/Mann Tree Lighting. Santa's "friend", Mayor Menino was there, but suddenly a firetruck came down the street with the Jolly Man himself! These pictures are just too cute! Agustin was beside himself with excitement!

Here's a few more pictures from today - it was also our December birthday celebration for two of our 5th grade friends, Leon and Sendy.

Mr. Social! He was all over the party today!

Unhappy looking birthday kids! Too cool for birthdays?

Agustin with his cupcake mustache!

Agustin and birthday boy, Leon!

Kayla, Agustin and Chung in the "fort"!

Phew, it sure is hard to focus with all the excitement going on! Even so, we have a lot of work to do before break. We will finish 2 strands for our portfolios, finish our math unit, start a unit on time and learn about writing letters to our friends who have moved, while doing reading and writing about winter holidays! Wow! Hopefully more updates to come soon, including science vocabulary and those infamous reading videos! Enjoy and HAPPY DECEMBER!
-Room B324

Happy Halloween!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Halloween! Hard to believe it is November all ready ... time is really flying!

Also, we had a nice family connection this weekend when Agustin and his family came out to see my husband play rugby in Lynn. Abby and her husband joined and brought Meli (their 1.5 year old Golden Retriever) to come play. It was a nice treat!
Here is a scrapbook from the day - Jisselle and Marcelo, thanks again for bringing him out! I printed a copy of this for you!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Math Games for Home

The boys are in love ...

with these computer games!

Agustin was bugging me all day to give him a CD/DVD with the games on it ... but they're FREE and ONLINE.

I hope you will let them play at home (especially Agustin!) as they are great math games that correspond to the unit we are doing right now. I'll be on the look out for more!

1) Submarine (Agustin calls it BOATS) Add 10 game:
http://www.ictgames.com/submarinenopad2.html

2) Tens and 1's game (don't use the 100s yet, just 10s and 1s):
http://www.learningbox.com/Base10/BaseTen.html

Enjoy!

School Pictures tomorrow

Parents, just a reminder ...

Individual school pictures are tomorrow. At this point I have NOT received any forms/payments. If this is incorrect and you send in your child's form, please let me know ASAP. If you plan to send in the form tomorrow, that is fine, but please let me know.

I will be out tomorrow for the deaf-autism conference at The Learning Center but hope to be able to share information with you soon!

Have a great weekend!
Becky

Concord/Lexington Trip

We had a fantastic time on our trip today. The weather couldn't have been better (especially considering I'm hearing about flurries in the forecast for Wednesday!!) and the kids all did a super job despite several schedule changes!

First, we went to the Old North Bridge and met some of the park guides who were incredibly patient with the many, many questions our students had. It was such a beautiful area that it was hard to bear in mind that it was a crucial spot in the fight for independence.

Next, we went to the visitor's center where we saw a very well produced film that the kids really enjoyed. It was IMPOSSIBLE to interpret so bravo to Linda for doing an amazing job! Thankfully it was visual enough that the kids were enthralled and had a lot of good questions because of it.

Finally, it was time for lunch and a game of tag before heading back to school.

Hopefully this slideshow will work for you - this is a new program for me! Let me know if you have any trouble!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Halloween Monster Video!

I realized that you can't tell in the email that the last image is actually a video of the play!
If you are having trouble seeing it, try going straight to the blog address at:
http://hmsroomb324.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

Deaf Awareness Day

October 17th was Deaf Awareness Day for us at Horace Mann School.

Enjoying hot dogs at the BBQ :)

Very funny play by some of my favorite girls :P

Kayla's performance!

The boys practiced their Halloween Monsters play for 2 weeks but due to Chung's absence on the day of, everyone shifted roles and was ... well ... thrown off! Special thanks to Delila who stepped in at the last minute! She really ran with the punches and handled it all like a trouper!

Enjoy!

Don't forget - field trip tomorrow (10/21) so dress comfortably and pack a lunch!

SPECIAL NOTE TO FAMILIES

PLEASE make sure your son studies for
1) the science make-up test on Friday. He should be able to match (and Jonah needs to spell) all 12 science vocabulary words:
sight
eye
nose
smell
hearing
sound
deaf
ear
touch
feel
tongue
taste

2) Our spelling test - repeat of last week's words because everyone failed last week!
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Bonus words: Halloween, Columbus Day, field trip

We'll be starting easier words next week since everyone is strugging but they need to pass these first!!

Thanks, everyone!

Becky

Jonah's 12th Birthday

Beautiful cake Jonah's mom, Silvia, sent in.

I love this picture!
Since the kids were SO GOOD and got so much done during math this week, I let them decorate them during the last 20 minutes of class! :)

They were really not sure about this!

Dig in, guys!

... and Kayla!

Jonah's first masterpiece!

A tray of birthday cupcakes ... yum!!


Almost done! What a team!

Jonah's 3 cupcakes - we had to put them aside for him to bring home!

Jonah and his cake!


Chung really wanted to use the streamers! We went all out for this birthday!

Ready for the guests!

Chloe was able to come join us for the party, and was an excellent guest!

4th/5th grade October birthdays: Jonah and
Katherine (12), Billy - para - (16???) and Adriel (10)


Jana, Billy and I trying to get the candles lit without burning down the school while Adriel discusses how dangerous this is. I love this kid!




Signing and singing "Happy Birthday"

Birthday crew gets their slices first! Yum, strawberries inside!



Happy birthday girl!

Chloe can't wait for her spider ring :)

Digging in! Thanks again, Silvia!

Jonah and Debbie

The boys, tired but happy from an exciting day.
Happy Birthday, Jonah!! :)