Weekly Update- 3/4/11

In math we have started our chapter on division.  Since the students have done so well with memorizing their multiplication facts, they have started off very strong with this chapter!  We learned how division is repeated subtraction, how to write division stories, and practiced our division facts by playing Bingo.

Thank you to those of you who came out for Young Consumers Math Night.  The students had so much fun showing you how to do the tangram and pancake puzzles.  We still need a lot of volunteers for our trip on April 6th.  If you are able to chaperone our trip, please let me know!

In shared reading we read the book, Lon Po Po, which is the Chinese version of the story, Little Red Riding Hood.  This week the students learned about taking notes while they read and using different types of graphic organizers.  We learned about using venn diagrams to compare and contrast information, a story map to plan the beginning, middle, and end of a story, and a fishbone diagram to show the cause and effect relationships in the story.  As an extra assignment the students also made "Wanted Posters" for the wolf in the story. 

In guided reading the students read the book, Discovering the Titanic.  They learned lots of new information about the sinking of the "unsinkable" ship.  We concluded our study of the book by watching a short video about the ship.  We also took a trip to the computer lab and the students researched to find the answers to questions such as its size, how long it took to build, and how many people were on board.

In addition to our guided reading groups we have also added an additional reading project to our daily schedule.  The students are reading the book, Donavan's Word Jar and completing an assignment for each chapter.  The students were told that they have 2 weeks to complete the book and the assignments, and they are working at their own pace to complete their task.  So far they have been doing an excellent job of managing their time and they are really growing in their independence.  Donavan's Word Jar is about a boy who collects words that he thinks are fun, funny sounding, and interesting.  We started our own class word jar and the students have been adding to it each day.  As we have time we will look at the words and try to figure out what they mean.

In writing the students spent the week presenting their Summary of Fiction projects to the class.  The students did such a great job coming up with creative dioramas to go with their books.  Now that the students have finished presenting their projects, the dioramas are going to be on display in the school library.

In science we spend the week learning about the phases of the moon.  The students learned all 8 phases and worked in pairs to make a poster illustrating the phases.  We will be having a test on the sun, stars, and moon on Friday, March 11th.

This week was Love of Reading Week.  We had so many parents volunteer to come in and read to our class.  The students really enjoyed having you there and we appreciate the time that you took out of your day to come and visit with us!  Have a great weekend!