November 22nd

Dear Families,

Thank you for coming in for conferences last week. I enjoyed talking with all of you and sharing your child's successes!

 

Reminders:

November 23: Thanksgiving Multicultural Feast  (See note for more details)

November 25-29: No school for Thanksgiving Break

 

Language Arts:

Reading Workshop, This week we continued to read carefully in order to notice character changes through their emotions throughout the text. Next week we will start to learn the reading strategies we will use to talk in book clubs!

 

Word Work: In word work, we worked on the long /u/ sound including words with ui, u_e  and oo .  It is very helpful to point these types of words out to your child when reading with him/her at home.  Practice spelling some words with these patterns. 

 

Writing Workshop: This week we read mentor texts to help us see craft in writing.  Students continued the revision process and chose a piece of writing to edit and publish.

 

Math

This past week, we finished up Unit 3, Subtraction Strategies. When we get back from break, we will begin Unit 4 Place Value and Measurement. 

 

Science and Social Studies

This week students started learning about landforms.  They started researching to become experts on landforms. We'll start researching specific landforms and begin to work on presentations.

 

Remember that we only have school Monday and Tuesday of this week, then we're off for Thanksgiving break. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

November 15th

Dear Families,

This week on our team:

Reminders:

November 12-20: Book Fair

November 13: report cards sent home

November 17: Picture Retakes

November 19: half day of school with a 12:30 dismissal and Conferences from 1-4 and 5-7

November 23: Thanksgiving Feast  (See note that was sent home on Thursday)

November 25-29: No school for Thanksgiving Break

Language Arts: This week in Reading Workshop, we continued to work on identifying character traits and  focusing on using adjectives to describe characters. We read carefully in order to notice character changes throughout the text. Also, we analyzed characters so that we noticed the differences between traits and emotions. We read and reread some great books to discuss and write about some very interesting characters.
 

Word Work: In word work, we worked on the long /o/ sound including words with oa, and o-e  and ow .  It is very helpful to point these types of words out to your child when reading with him/her at home.  Practice spelling some words with these patterns. Next week, we’ll work on words with the long /u/ sound.

Writing Workshop: This week, we continued to work on personal narratives while studying author’s craft. We read the books Rollercoaster and Whistling to find author's craft to try in our own writing.  We’ve been working on taking our pieces through the writing process by revising and editing. Next week, we’ll continue writing personal narratives and studying mentor texts. Also, students have been doing lots of blogging and lots of writing from home! Everyone is having fun commenting and starting conversations with one another through our blogs!

Math: This past week, we continued to work on subtraction strategies, learning which strategies to use with different subtraction problems.  Children were asked to figure out the best or most efficient way to solve a subtraction math problem. Some of the strategies included Counting Up, Counting Back, using Fact Families, Minus 0 and Minus 1, and Think Addition. Please work on any of the subtraction activities on IXL.

Science and Social Studies: This weekwe continued to work at our Maker Spaces. Mr. F. stopped by and worked with another group. We need small boxes for our next Maker project (think jewelry boxes and small shoe boxes or any small box). We also continued to learn about working together in teams. We did a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) activity in teams and finished building chairs for a small stuffed animal. This chair had to be free standing and able to hold the animal without tipping over. Next week, we'll begin learning about Landforms and start to answer some of our wonderings by researching with our teams.
 

 

 

Homework:

*Use any of the websites that are on your password sheet to practice skills.

*Math Home links

 

*Blogging at home: Kidblog

*IXL Skills: have your child practice in any area they need to review and subtraction

*When reading aloud to your child, stop and discuss the character. Have your child describe the traits of that character.

*Practice math 10-15 minutes a night and reading for 10-15 minutes a night. Please complete this in any way that works best for you and your family.

Have a great weekend!

November 8th

Dear Families,

 

Here’s an update on what’s happening in our team:

 

Reminders:

November 6^th: end of first card marking

November 12/13: Special Person Breakfast,7:45-9:00a.m.

November 12-20:  Book Fair

November 19^th: half day of school with a 12:30 dismissal and Conferences from 1-4 and 5-7  (if you haven't signed up yet, please go to my Signup Genius page)

November 25-29: No school for Thanksgiving Break

 

Language Arts: This week in Reading Workshop, we continued to work on oral and written nonfiction retellings.  Your child practiced retelling a nonfiction article on November and then answered questions based on the article.  We practiced how to find text evidence and how to properly answer a question (close reading).  Next week, we will begin our second reading unit.  This unit focuses on characters.  We will learn to identify character traits and discuss how character traits can change throughout a story.

 

Word Work: In word work, we worked on the long /i/ sound including words with ie, igh, and i_e.  It is very helpful to point these types of words out to your child when reading or spelling with him/her at home.  We will move on to long /o/ words next week, which have the patterns oa, o-e, and ow.

 

Writing Workshop: This week, we worked on writing a personal narratives using different writer's craft.  We read some mentor texts to see what we could notice about a specific writer's work. We used the text "Rollercoaster," by Marla Frazee. We borrowed some of the craft that we noticed in her book to make our writing more interesting.  (ie. onomatopoeia, ellipses, word choice, etc.). Next week, we will continue to work on adding craft to our personal narratives.

 

Math: This past week, we did lesson 3.2, 3.3, and will do 3.4 on Monday. The Unit three review was sent home on Friday as well as the Unit two test for you to sign and return. If you notice that there is an area that your child may need to practice, please review that skill for homework this week.   Next week, we will be working on 3.4, 3.5, 3.8, and 3.9 . These lessons all teach students different subtraction strategies, so if you are using IXL at home, working on any of the subtractions skills will be beneficial.

 

Science and Social Studies: Last week we worked on collaboration skills and learned how to talk to one another, to listen to one another and how to agree and disagree (think win,win!). We began working on a team project,  "Building a Chair," so we could practice these team work strategies. This week, we'll finish up our chairs and begin to study landforms, using some aspects of Project Based Learning such as inquiry, team work, and research.

 

 

 

Homework:  We've really been working on using strategies to help to solve addition problems. Knowing your doubles facts really helps with fact power. Have your child practice doubles facts (1+1, 2+2, 3+3, 4+4,5+5, 6+6, 7+7, 8+8, 9+9, 10+10) if he/she doesn't have them memorized.

*Math Homelinks

*IXL Skills: have your child practice in any area they need help in

*Have your child retell a story he/she is reading at home (characters, setting, problem, solution).

*Practice math 10-15 minutes a night and reading for 10-15 minutes a night. Please complete this in any way that works best for you and your family.

 

Have a great week!