If you find your family members are bored and in need of something to do, show them our blogs.  I added a new feature (the revolving globe to the right) that shows your location on the map as well as visitors from around the world.

For those who follow our blog outside the United States, or for all of you who would like a refresher course, visit this excellent History.com post about the history of Thanksgiving. You might find yourself learning some new facts to share around the Thanksgiving table later this week.  For those who think they know everything, test your turkey knowledge with this quiz.

Here is an update on what your child is studying at school.

Math- We have been working on: solving a variety of problems involving addition and subtraction, reading, writing, and identifying the place value of numbers to the millions and estimating sums and differences. We are taking a test on Monday.  Most students are ready and doing very well.
After Thanksgiving vacation we will have a short unit on angles and polygons.

Science- Students have been very excited to study rocks and minerals. Each day we used food ingredients to demonstrate a type of rock. Igneous rocks are formed by intense heat so we made rock candy by boiling corn syrup and sugar. Sedimentary rocks are formed into layers by pressure. We pressed together different colors of Airheads. This was very fun and even tasted good. (Our igneous rock had a slight burnt taste.) Metamorphic rocks are formed by a combination of heat and pressure. We layered, pressed, and heated graham cracker crumbs, marshmallows, sugar, and chocolate chips to demonstrate this rock. The rock cycle was shows how each rock type can change into another type. We also studied fossils.

The Rock Cycle

student writing

Writing- We have been writing about our ideas in the form of essays. We talk about “pushing our thinking” to generate ideas as we write. One of the essays students have been writing describes what they are thankful for.

Reading: Our reading mini-lessons have been about elements of a story-the plot, characters, and setting. The story The Princess and the Pizza has a plot with a “twist”-a variation from a typical “princess” story.
Most of the time students are given the opportunity to read books of their own choice during reading time. After Thanksgiving, students will be reading Stone Fox in small book club discussion groups. A book club of a few girls is reading the book Esperanza by Pam Munoz Ryan.

You may have noticed your child doing some drawings for math.  We have been learning how to do them to facilitate understanding of addition, subtraction and place value.  The goal is to do the problems the normal way we are all used to, yet understanding the value of each number in its place.  The 2 in 12,354 is not just a two, it is two thousand.  Mr. Bowen, a third grade teacher at Georgetown made a video explaining the drawings for addition.  Click on the link if you would like to understand this procedure.  (One of the methods shows carrying the number to the line below.  I explained this,  but I am not encouraging this method.)

Adding with place value drawings

My name is Bryan and the fiction book that I read was Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dog Days by Jeff Kinney.   I chose this book because everyone was reading it and it looked like a good book.  My favorite part was when his dad got mad and went out for a little while and came back home with a dog.  This author writes very funny books.

My name is Kyle D. and the fiction book that I read was Diary of a Wimpy Kid-Dog Days by Jeff Kinney. I picked this book because I like the other Wimpy Kid books and I could tell this one would be funny. My favorite part of this book was the part where Sweetie went out in the rain, ran back in, and jumped in Greg’s bed. I enjoyed this book because it was funny. Greg gets a dog for his birthday and it doesn’t like him at all. Don’t be surprised that he doesn’t get the dog until the book is almost halfway over.

My name is Audrey J. and the book I read was Katie Kazoo Switcheroo A Whirlwind Vacation by Nancy Krulik. This is a fiction book. The reason that I picked this book is because I have read a lot of other books about Katie Kazoo. Another reason is because I really like to read about anything. My favorite part of this book was when Katie got turned into the palace guard and she was not supposed to laugh because she was a guard. Then a little girl tried to make the guard laugh. Katie the guard laughed because she is just a little girl. I also enjoyed this book because I love the series and love to read girl books. You should read this book because it’s setting is in the country England and it is cool to learn information about a different country.

I also read Diary of a Wimpy Kid Dog Days by Jeff Kinney which was fiction too. I chose this book because I thought that it would be funny and it WAS!!! Another reason that I picked this book is because I have never read one of the Wimpy Kid books before. My favorite part of this book was when Greg and his friend Rodney went camping at a game place because they both wanted to win a thousand dollars. I enjoyed reading this book because it was very funny. This book is one of the best books that I have ever read in my whole life EVER!!!

My name is Kyle H. and the book that I read was Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Dog Days by Jeff Kinney and it is a fiction book.  I chose this book because it looked cool and everybody is reading it.  My favorite part is when he goes out in his underwear.  This is a very funny book.

My name is David H. and the Science Fiction book I read was Star Jumper by Frank Asch. I chose it because the cover looked like it was about space and I like stuff about space. However, it turned out to be a very funny book. My favorite part was when Jonathan kept making clones of himself and then his big brother Alex found out he was using the device and then they have a war. I think you should read this book because it is science fiction and also has a lot of humor.

My name is Jared Y. and the fiction book that I read was Wisconsin Werewolves by Jonathan Rand which is part of the American 
Chillers series. I picked this book because I like Suspense and Mysteries. My favorite part was when the group of kids heard the howls of the werewolves. I also liked the part when they saw the werewolf’s bloody teeth. This book provides mystery, suspense, and adventure and I like all three.

Please note that returning your RSVP to Mrs. Brouwer does NOT mean that you must purchase your child’s framed artwork. The RSVP just lets the Kids Art Fair people know how many frames to ship to Georgetown for the event. So please RSVP if you plan to attend and celebrate your child’s creativity, enjoy a fun make-n-take art project, and register for some cool door prizes to be given away during the evening.

Also – Georgetown’s December Kids Art Fair does not take the place of the annual district-wide Student Art Show, which will be held as usual in April 2010.

We hope to see you at Georgetown’s Art Fair on December 1st between 4-7 PM! Volunteers are still needed to help out – please contact Mrs. Brouwer!

Email: jbrouwer@hpseagles.net
Phone: 616.797.9797 ext. 22412
Art Blog http://josettebrouwer.edublogs.org

Just a quick note to SAVE THE DATE for our 2009 Georgetown Holiday program!

Although it seems like a long ways away, it will be here before you know it. So mark it on your calendar!
December 10, 2009 at 7:00 pm, Resurrection Life Church*
More details will be coming from Mrs. Bretz soon.

*This is the facility that we rent for our school wide performance.

Many thanks to our PTC for funding this assembly. We appreciate ALL that you do for us.