A short week

I think these short weeks are sometimes longer than a regular week. Do you??????

We started out this week with our 100^th day of school.  I have to say the students were adorable.  Seeing canes, gray hair, mustaches, and rolled up nylons on them brought a smile to each person they passed.  Some of them even played the part all day.  You can image how long it took us to get to the lunchroom!

In writing we tried to add small moments or quick picture images to  our persuasive writing.  We used words like remember when…. to help create that picture image within our writing.  On Friday we began to also write opinion papers about our favorite Dr. Seuss book and the reasons why. 

In reading we brought home ONE special book to practice our reading on an audience.  Please make sure your child reads to you their special book and it returns it on MONDAY. A special note accompanies the book, please read it.  This is getting us read for our oral speaking part for our Coffeehouse Poetry conducted in early May.  You know what they say…. practice, practice, practice and then practice some more.

In math we are sharpened our math facts.  I sent home the rest of the math facts that your child should be able to answer quickly, according to the Common Core Standards.  This too will take time and practice.  Keep at it.

In Science our guppies and snails have arrived.  What excitement.  We have observed them and will watch them over the next few weeks to note any changes.

The long i sound will continue for another week.  I want to do a few more activities with them to strengthen their knowledge of the long i sound, so our word study will continue till next Friday, March 1^st.

Almost there

The 100^th day of school is on Tuesday.  Does your child have their 100 year old outfit ready?  I can not wait to see what they will look like as 100 year olds.  It will be a fun day in school.

In class this week we learned about Abe Lincoln and the story about his beard, we learned about Fastnacht Day and the delicious donuts, and celebrated Valentine’s Day.  It was a busy week.

Our writing is so much fun.  Our persuasive writing is getting stronger and stronger as the days and letters are created. We are learning to use different endings to our letters along with making them more persuasive.  Next week we will begin to add a small moment story within the letter to convince the reader even more.

In Reader’s Workshop we have completed all the comprehension strategies to make our readers become thinkers while reading.  I hope the bookmark is helpful at home when you are reading with or to your child.

In math we are learning different ways to represent a number.  We call them name collections. Your child should be able to represent any number 0-120 in at least 5 different ways.  Possible ways they can represent them is by dominoes, tally marks, addition, subtraction, Roman numerals, tens and ones, and money.

We also revisited the long sound of e in our work study this past week, it was tricky the first time around so we looked at some more words to make sure we became stronger in this word pattern.  Next week will be the long i sound words. This word pattern may also take more than one week to finish, if your child does not come home with a new list of word study words on Monday, Feb. 25^th you may assume that we are continuing on with long i word study for the week.

On Tuesday we added freshwater plants to our aquariums.  They students were hands-on and loving each minute their hands were in the water.  We made some great observations between the two plants we added also.

Enjoy your long weekend.

 

Love in the Air

Love is in the Air…..well, so is rain, snow, ice and anything else Mother’ Nature will throw our way.

In class this week our Living Organism unit began.  The class has put on their scientist hat and begun to observe and make woodland terrariums.  The woodland terrarium starts with a layer of rocks, then leaves, dirt, and we planted a pine seedling and moss on top.  The class is anxiously awaiting the special bugs that will live in their new homes.  Arrival date will be in a week or two.  During this unit, the class will be using their own science observation journals and taking note of the changes that occur.  We are also going to have aquariums for fish and snails. 

Our new writing unit this month is on opinion writing and persuasive letter writing.  Please do not be worried if a note comes home from your child asking for something or trying to persuade you to do something different.  It is just part of our unit.  Encourage their writing skills.

In reading we are working on our comprehension strategies.  I am sending home a handy bookmark with these strategies to use with your child when they read.  We are past the half way mark of our school year and our reading is really clicking.  Our readers are beginning to read with ease and fluency. Next is another crucial component of reading instruction that teachers students how to apply reading comprehension strategies.  When children start to place less emphasis on identifying words, they can put more emphasis on understanding what they read.  Use your very own Reading comprehension Strategies bookmark as a visual while reading at home with your child.  Help your child practice and learn to use their own comprehension strategies to make sure they understand what they read. This is the number one reason why your child sometimes reads at a lower reading level.  Keep practicing these skills and you will see the reading improve.  We have not learned all of the strategies yet, but I wanted to give you a heads up so you would know what we are doing in class.

In math we have started our second math book.  Book one is completed and yours to keep at home.  Unit 6 will have a strong emphasis on developing fact power.  I am also going to start sending home Rocket Math (5 minute fact timed papers).  I try to do them once a week.  The class is amazed how many more each week they can complete in 5 minutes.

Our Valentine’s Day Boxes are completed and ready to begin accepting valentines.  Your child can bring in Valentine’s Day cards starting Monday.  Please just have your child sign their name to the card; do not put a name on it.  It makes it easier to distribution of the cards.  We have 21 students in the class.

Enjoy your weekend.