Weekly Update- 1/7

Happy Snow Day!

**Our math test will still be on Tuesday.  Study this weekend!  The students will take the practice test in school on Monday.**


Well we survived our first week back after our nice break!  We didn't waste any time getting to work.  In science, we started our new unit on States of Matter.  We did experiments with solids, liquids, and gases and learned about the properties of each. 
In shared reading we read the story, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.  This book is a twist on the original fairy tale and is told from the wolf's point of view.  We spent much of the week debating whose side of the story was correct- the pigs' or the wolf's?  We also talked about the main character, the problems he faced, and how the way he chose to solve his problems created the plot of the story.  In guided reading we focused on the skills of analyzing the setting, analyzing the character, and identifying the problem and solution in our books.

The students continued to work on their realistic fiction short stories in writing.  The students looked at examples of other short stories and graded them with a rubric.  We also talked about point of view and the students chose whether they wanted to write their stories in the first-person or third-person. The main focus this week was adding descriptive words into their writing.  The students began drafting their stories and they are coming along great!

In Fundations we are still working on unit 6.  This week we learned about another vowel that is sometimes considered an open exception.  In addition to the letter a, the letter i can also be an exception to the rule in words such as animal and compliment.  The students will be taking the unit 6 test next week.

The students are really trying hard to learn their multiplication facts!  This chapter they learned the 0, 1, 2, 5, 9, and 10 times tables.  In addition to making flashcards we have also been playing different games in class to help remember the facts.  The students' favorite is Multiplication Battle!  We will be having our chapter 5 test on Tuesday.  Chapter 6 will continue with multiplication and the students will learn the rest of their times tables in that chapter.  Please continue to practice facts at home.

In grammar we focused on changing singular nouns to plural nouns by adding -es or -ies.  The students are also working on their capital letters in cursive.  Soon the students will be writing in cursive!  In spanish we started learning the names of the different colors.

Have a great weekend!  Enjoy the snow!