Weekly Update- 11/23

This week the students completed Topic 5 in math.  Today we took the practice test and the students worked on center activities to reinforce the concepts in this topic.  We will be having our Topic 5 test on Tuesday, 11/29.

In science, we learned about more instruments that meteorologists use to study the weather.  We talked about anemometers which measure wind speed, hygrometers which measure humidity, and rain gauges which help show how much rain has fallen.  The students also made their own wind socks and we used them outside to determine which direction the wind was blowing. We have continued to use the iPad to track the weather each day. 

We continued to practice making connections while we finished the book, Molly's Pilgrim in reading. The students completed their summaries of fiction in writing and we held conferences to talk about ways that the students can improve their writing.

We will get back to our regular schedule next week!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Weekly Update- 11/18

This week in math the students started learning their times tables.  They are doing a great job memorizing their facts.  Thanks for all your help at home!

In shared reading, we are reading the book, Molly's Pilgrim.  While reading the book we are working on making connections.  The students have been making text-to-self, text-to-world, and text-to-text connections.  They are also making connections between themselves and the characters in the book. 
In guided reading, the students are practicing with this skill as well.

We are having a lot of fun learning about weather in science.  This week we focused on weather tools.  We discussed thermometers, barometers, and wind vanes.   The students made thermometers and completed an experiment using them.

 

Next week, we will talk about anemometers, hygrometers, and rain gauges.  In addition to learning about the instruments scientists use, we are using the iPad to check the weather each day.  The students are keeping a weather chart in their science notebook and each day our "weather checkers" update us on the temperature and weather outside. 

The students are working on summaries of fiction in writing.  In a summary of fiction, they need to put the title, author, main characters, problem, solution, and main events.  The students have chosen their book, completed an outline of the summary, and will complete their summary next week.  In addition, the students also wrote scarecrow stories and colored scarecrows to decorate the classroom.

In Spanish, we started to learn the numbers 1-10 and that will be our focus for the month.  In grammar, the students practiced writing titles correctly.  We are continuing to work on our cursive writing and are about halfway through the lowercase letters. 

Don't forget that we will have early dismissals all next week.  Please remember to send in lunch with your child for each of those days.  Have a great weekend!

Weekly Update- 11/9

A short update for a short week!  In math, we completed Topic 4.  On Monday, we will be starting Topic 5 in which the students will begin learning their times tables.  It is important that the students practice their facts each night!

In reading, we began the book, Hiking the Appalachian Trail.  This is a narrative nonfiction book that talks about a family's journey on the Appalachian Trail.  There are many interesting facts in this book, including the fact that the youngest person to hike the entire trail was 6 and the oldest was 79!  While reading this book, the students are working on their summarizing skills.  We will continue with this book next week.

In writing we are still focusing on narrative writing, and this week our focus was on prompt writing.  We looked at different types of prompts (narrative, descriptive, persuasive) and we have practiced responding to them.  We will be doing more practice with this next week.

We finished our map skills unit in Social Studies.  On Tuesday, we discussed the concept of map scale and how it is used.  Today, we read the book, The Wall and watched a movie clip about the book as a kickoff to a discussion about Veteran's Day.  The students shared stories about their relatives and neighbors who have fought in wars.  We talked about the importance of these people to our country.   On Monday, we will return to science and start our weather unit!

In Fundations, we are continuing to work on adding suffixes to v-e words.  In Spanish, we practiced more with greetings and we will be learning numbers next week.  Today in grammar the students learned about interrogative (question) and declarative (statement) sentences. 

REMINDER: Thursday 11/17-Wednesday 11/23 are early dismissal days.  On these days, the cafeteria does not serve lunch.  We will be eating in the classroom, so please send in a lunch for your child on these days.

ENJOY THE LONG WEEKEND!

Weekly Update- 11/4

Even though the snow rescheduled our Halloween party, the students still had a great time celebrating on Tuesday!  They ate some Halloween snacks and rotated through 3 stations; Mummy Wrap, Pumpkin Painting, and Bingo.  Thank you so much to the class moms, Mrs. Sears, Mrs. Shellenberger, and Mrs. Sehring for all your work organizing the party.  Also, thank you to all the parents who donated items for the party!

In math, we started (and almost finished!) Topic 4.  In this topic, the students are learning about the basics of multiplication.  These lessons have focused on strategies such as making arrays and repeated addition that students can use to help them understand how multiplication works.  They will also be useful when we start memorizing multiplication facts in Topic 5.  We will be finishing Topic 4 on Monday, reviewing on Tuesday, and taking the test on Wednesday.

In writing, the students completed their personal narratives.  This week was spent revising their narratives for voice and editing for capital letters, spelling, and punctuation.  The students are really improving in their abilities to edit each other's papers and offer suggestions for how to improve their work.  A copy of this assignment will be sent home next week accompanied by a rubric.

For shared reading we read a play called, A Home for Nellie.  We read through the play throughout the week while also focusing on strategies used to self-monitor.  The students practiced asking themselves the question, "Does this make sense?" as they were reading.  Each day the students summarized what they had read so far so that they were not lost when we began reading.  They also learned to use text features (captions, illustrations, headings, diagrams, etc.) to help them make sense of what they were reading.  In guided reading, the students worked in groups on the skills of making predictions, identifying fact vs. opinion, and summarizing.

In grammar we practiced using capital letters correctly.  Since the students are trying to add dialogue into their writing pieces, it is important that they remember the first letter in the quotation is capitalized.  In addition, we did a mini-lesson on the uses of there, their, and they're.  The students are trying to use these words correctly in their written work.

This week in Fundations we continued to work on v-e (vowel consonant e) syllable.  We learned the rules for adding suffixes to these types of words.  If you have a v-e word like brave and want to add a vowel suffix (ed, est, ing), you have to drop the e before adding the suffix (bravest).  However, if you have a v-e word like brave and want to add a consonant suffix (ty, ly, s, ful), you leave the e and add the suffix (bravely).

We have completed our social studies unit on continents, oceans, and map skills.  We will be having a quiz on Monday.  Please remember to bring back the social studies folder and Map Essentials book on Monday. We will be returning to science and focusing on Weather next!

Remember that this Sunday is Daylight Savings.  Don't forget to change your clocks!  Have a great weekend!