April 13-17, 2015

Students are back in the swing of things and we are actually 'gaining momentum' through these last 2.5 months of school!
Swimming is happening 3 afternoons this week, so please make sure your child has their swim attire on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Wednesday: Swimming and Popcorn
Thursday: Swimming (Last Day)
Friday: Spelling Test, Hot lunch, and Scholastic Book Orders due

Language Arts
Writing-The students were introduced to Research last week. They responded to weather questions based on a research website about thunderstorms. We have also been discussing the difference between 'good paragraphs' and 'strong paragraphs' and what distinguishes the two. The theme for our writing (through April 23) is Weather.
Spelling-Last week and this week have been focused on ed/ing/est endings. This weeks' list is made up of words that have short vowel sounds with an ending.
6+1 Traits of Writing-We have been adding to our writing with this 6+1 Writing program. Parts of writing that we have been talking about are: focusing on one topic/story at a time, what makes a good ending, writing with a voice, and how our voice comes through writing.
Phonics-The students have been learning different ways to use the letter 'y', and its different sounds. The letter "Y" has two sounds when it is at the end of a word: I or E (ex. cry vs baby). Moving forward we will be looking at consonant digraphs (two consonants that together stand for one sound; ex. sh, th, wh, ch; ex shells, choose, the, why)

Home Reading-I am noticing the Red Duotangs return to school less and less, but I am hoping that your child is still doing home reading :)

Math
We are still working on addition and subtraction to 18. These math facts need to be answered immediately without any assistance (using fingers, manipulatives, hundreds chart, etc).
We have started our addition and subtraction to 100 unit as well. The students are being exposed to different ways of adding 10s to a number (ex. 19+10; 19+50) and different strategies to determine the answer. Most adults were taught the vertical addition, and although that is successful, students are being exposed to different routes of providing the same result.

Science
We spent quite a bit of time on the past unit 'Exploring Liquids', and that is a tie-in to our next unit "Boats and Buoyancy". The students got a little intro to this unit when we went to the Telus World of Science, but they will be able to explore with different materials as to what helps an item float or sink. This unit will continue through most of April.

Social
"Looking at Work" will be our next major unit. We will be spending some time looking at different occupations, natural resources, and other defining characteristics of the 3 communities (Meteghan, Iqaluit, and Saskatoon) as well as our own community of Leduc.
This unit will continue most of April.