School Family Update 3.16

Students and teachers are back into a routine from the many days off of school the past few weeks. Below you can find what we are working on in each subject.

Reading
Last week, students went to literacy centers. In small groups, we read leveled books. Students continue to practice decoding words and answering comprehension questions. We also practiced sounding out words/sentences and matching it to the correct picture. In whole group, we discussed singular and plural words. Students sorted pictures and words into these 2 categories. Students defined singular as only one and plural as more than one. They looked for the clue of an -s on the end to determine if it was plural. However, we also discussed words like bus which is not plural.

This week in whole group we will review opposites and onset & rime. Ms. Fragale our technology coach will visit, and the class will skype with a local libraian. For onset and rime, students will practice breaking a word into 2 parts (beginning then the first vowel and the rest of the word.) Some examples are: brown = br  own; dog=d  og; butterfly=b utterfly; stamp= st amp. In small group, students will continue to read books. At centers, students will use a new website www.mobymax.com. They will take a pretest and then for every time they log in they will get reading/math practice at their level. I am excited to try this new resource.

Writing
Last week, students wrote about the best superpower. We listened to theme song from The Incredibles and went through the entire writing process. Students practiced editing/revising and LOVED using red pens. They keep asking when they can use them again. On Friday, they wrote their final draft. There work will be displayed in our room.

This week, students will choose a topic for persuasive writing and go through the writing process again. Their final draft will be kept and graded as their assessment for the persuasive genre. I will be looking for a topic sentence/opinion, 2-3 reasons to support their opinion, spaces, capitals, endmarks, and phonetic spelling. An exceeding grade will come from including a closing. We will also be illustrating our book project throughout the next two weeks.

Science
We began our unit on animals. Students learned how to identify living or nonliving things and defend why something is living/nonliving. We completed a chart together where we had pictures of items and asked questions like "Does it need food/water?" "Does it move?" "Does it grow and change?" "Does it breathe?". Students also completed part of the assessment when they sorted pictures by animal parts and animal movements.

Next week, students will complete the assessment on body coverings (fur, scales, feathers). The class will complete a KWL chart about what we know and want to know about animals. The rest of the week will be sent discussing and researching animal habitats.

Math
Last week students practiced different ways to make the same number. On Monday, students shook 2 sided tokens and recorded the result in the form of an equation. They noticed every time they got the answer of 8. On Tuesday, students used cube towers of 9 and 10 and found different ways to make that number with 2 colors. For example, 8+1, 5+3, 4+5, 9+0. Wednesday-Friday we worked with the number 10 to find the missing addend. For example, 2 +___ =10 or 5+___=10. We have worked on a few different strategies to find the answer. Studends learned to count on (put the first number in your head and count how many more you need on your fingers). We used a ten frame, and students learned to put the first number in the ten frame and count the empty spaces to find how many more you need.

 The last way students learned was Best Friends of Ten where each pair that adds to 10 had a story. This is a fun way to memorize.

Best Friends of Ten:
10 and 0 are best friends because they have a lot in common.
9 and 1 are best friends because 9 has muscles and 1 admires him so they go to the gym together.
8 and 2 are best friends because 2 counts the number of circles 8 has.
7 and 3 are best friends because they are both open shapes.
6 and 4 and best friends because they both look like noses.
5 and 5 are best friends because they are twins.

Whichever way a student prefers works for us! All strategies may be used on the assessment.

This week we will be reviewing addition and subtraction skills with leveled games and worksheets.

Behavior
Last week many students had to move their clips. The class was extremely talkative and many were "wild" in the lunchroom. Please continue to reinforce expectations for school at home. We are still 3 weeks away from spring break. We will continue to be consistent with expectations in the classroom and reward good choices. Last Friday, students who had green all week were invited to eat lunch and watch a movie in classroom with me.

Important Dates
March 19th Sky Zone
March 26th Picture Day
March 31st Author Party 8:00-8:45am
April 3rd STEM Day
April 6-10th Spring Break
April 13th Field Trip to Cagle Farm


~Mrs. Daugherty