March 14-18, 2016

There is quite a bit going on this week! Library is on Thursday (please make sure their library books are returned this week so they can take out new books for Spring Break!). 

Friday is going to be a busy day: scholastic book orders are due, hot lunch, spelling test, assembly at 8:45am in recognition of World Down Syndrome day (wear CRAZY socks), and its 'wear your favorite jersey' day. 

Language Arts
Writing*-This week the students will write a story about a St Patricks Day picture prompt. The students will plan their story, write their story, and be exposed to editing this week. 
Phonics-words containing 'y' as a vowel

Reading-finishing up the book 'The Mouse and the Motorcycle'

Daily 5 Read to Someone-continuing "The BFG" by Roald Dahl (almost done!)

Spelling-the words this week are a review of the past 5 lessons. Test is on friday. 

*We are going to have a heavier focus on writing for the remainder of the year. The students are going to write, edit, and submit one story each week. Sometimes this story will be one of their own creation, and sometimes it will be in response to a picture (picture is shown and they write about the events surrounding it). We are encouraging students across the grades to write all of their ideas down, edit their writing, add to their writing, print legibly, and build their stamina. 

Math

We are continuing to work on our Addition and Subtraction to 18, except now we are mixing up the information and trying to comprehend what the question is asking to determine which sign (+/-) to use. 

Our focus this week will be on adding/subtraction using the '1 or 2 more' method and counting on or counting back. We will also be using the strategy of 'making 10' which allows the rearrangement of numbers to make 10 and add on. For example: 8+5 could be rearranged to make 10+3. This will be an alternate strategy for the students to use (and will lead into double digit addition/subtraction). 

Science

We are wrapping up our science unit "Exploring Liquids". This week we will learn about more properties of water through an experiment using paperclips and a cup of water. The cup will be filled with water (right to the top) and we will predict (and test) the number of paperclips that the cup will be able to hold without spilling over. 

We are also going to test the various ways of drying a towel. Our last experiment will be exploring a variety of items (cloth, glass, cardboard, styrofoam) and their ability to absorb water. 

March 7-11, 2016

Two five day weeks are upon us. With all the snow falling (then melting) we are encouraging parents to send an extra pair of pants and socks for your child. Our class has been pretty good with staying out of the puddles/mud, but it doesn't hurt to remind them. 

Language Arts
Writing-We are going to have a heavier focus on writing for the remainder of the year. The students are going to write, edit, and submit one story each week. Sometimes this story will be one of their own creation, and sometimes it will be in response to a picture (picture is shown and they write about the events surrounding it). We are encouraging students across the grades to write all of their ideas down, edit their writing, add to their writing, print legibly, and build their stamina. 
Phonics-final blends (blends that appear at the end of words, ex. tent, plant, skunk); words containing 'y' as a vowel

Reading-Chapter 5 of 'The Mouse and the Motorcycle'

Daily 5 Read to Someone-continuing "The BFG" by Roald Dahl

Spelling-this weeks' words are all contractions. We discussed how we use these words in informal writing and what the apostrophe means. I explained it that we use the apostrophe as a letter that we do not write. For example, in the words "let us" we replace the 'u' with an apostrophe and don't write it. It's like a shortcut. 

Math

We are continuing to work on our Addition and Subtraction to 18, except now we are mixing up the information and trying to comprehend what the question is asking to determine which sign (+/-) to use. 

I have introduced daily math journals as well. They get a question every day that they get a mark for (usually out of 3 marks) where they have to read the question, use a picture to solve the question, provide the correct answer, and write a sentence. This is building multiple skills including comprehension, explaining thought processes, and responding to questions. 

Science

Our 'Exploring Liquids' unit is going awesome! The students are loving all the different properties that we are learning about. This week we are testing dissolving. We are going to explore a variety of elements (water, sand, snow, salt) to see if they will dissolve in water.