Jan 18-22, 2016

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and were able to stay warm! It sure was a cold weekend! BRRRRR!

*Please remember to send back all Library books!! Lost books will be charged to your account.*
*Please check your account to ensure all outstanding balances are paid.*

Reminder: 
-Scholastic Book Orders are due Friday
-We have a dress up day this Friday...beach wear! Come to school wearing your summer gear. It may be cold outside but it will be warm inside!

I encourage you to talk to your child about proper hygiene as well. Washing hands (especially after blowing their nose, before eating, and after the bathroom) is a good habit to get into. This will prevent a lot of the unwanted 'bugs' from coming into our classroom. If your child does come down with something, please keep them at home for a day or two to get better. We appreciate sharing but not when it comes to illness!

Language Arts
Writing-we continue to work on 'extending our endings' and recalling a memory, feeling, decision, wish/hope, or defining action in the conclusion of our story. We will also be looking at using a variety of words to explain feelings or emotions without actually saying the emotion. For example: I wore a big grin on my face INSTEAD OF I was happy.
Reading-During our Daily 5 station "Read to Someone" we are reading "The BFG" by Roald Dahl. The students get to read to each other then ask comprehension questions after each chapter (one chapter/day). The students are REALLY enjoying reading about the BFG (Big Friendly Giant). I chose this book because it is being made into a movie and coming to theaters in Fall 2016.
Spelling-see the tab above for our list of spelling words this week. All of the words end in Y, focusing on the 'long i' or 'long e' sound.
Phonics-compound words (continuation from last week)
Home Reading- I have noticed a slight decline in home reading since the end of November and I encourage you to remind your child to read every night for 10 minutes. The goal this month is 4 hours and if they all read 4 hours they are rewarded with a popcorn and movie party!

Math
Today we worked on representing numbers and the various ways to show the same number. We use words, addition/subtraction sentences, base ten blocks, counting by 1/2/5/10, groups of 10, etc. Try this with your child! Give them a number between 1-100 and ask them to show it using different strategies.
We also worked on organizing numbers from greatest to least, and visa versa.

Science
The students have been learning lots about different temperatures: watching temperatures fluctuate, what affects temperature, what higher/lower temperatures feel like, etc. They are starting to read the thermometer and all of the different markings. They have lots of questions! It is wonderful seeing them relate information about temperature to different solids/liquids/gases and understanding what they look like at different temperatures (properties of materials). They are definitely going above and beyond the curriculum by asking all these questions! It makes my 'inner science nerd' so happy!

Social
Students will be looking at the land and bodies of water in the 3 communities.