October 14, 2013

I hope everyone enjoyed this beautiful fall weekend! I am looking forward to seeing all of you at the parent conferences. The first of three half days is this Thursday, October 17th. If you have not scheduled a conference, please send me an email and we'll set one up.

We had a very busy week last week! Ann Schwanda, The Quilt Lady, came on Wednesday and each student made a quilt square to be part of a quilt which will be donated to a child in need. Thank you to the parents who came in to help! We went into Starlab twice and learned about the fall constellations. Make sure to ask your child to take you out on a clear night and tell you the story of Cepheus, Cassiopia, Andromeda and Perseus! Also, thank you to our room parents, Brooke Donovan and Brooke Killian, who came in and played a jeopardy game they created to celebrate Farm To You Fest. It was a lot of fun!

This week...

Reading
We will be reading October poems this week to practice fluency. I am still working on helping students choose "just right" books. Many students are doing a great job with this, but some students are still having trouble sticking with a book and sustaining silent reading. We will continue to use post its during silent reading and reflecting on Fridays.

Writing
We are revising personal narratives. I am having writing conferences with students to look at their writing and to make sure students are "showing, not telling". Last week, we looked at a mentor author, Kate DiCamillo, and made a list of things that good writers do. I am encouraging students to try this in their own writing.

Math
We are still working in Unit 2, Addition and Subtraction Strategies. Students worked on rounding and estimating last week and we will continue to work on this again this week. We will finish Unit 2 this week and will have a test early next week.

Science
We will finish drawing some constellations that will be part of a book that we will work on throughout the year. We will also begin our planting unit this week.

Social Studies
We are continuing the geography unit. We learned about the continents, cardinal directions, and the difference between a map and a globe.

Homework:
Math: Tuesday-Thursday: One sheet from Unit 2 each night
Reading: Read 20 minutes and record on the calendar each night
Spelling: Tuesday and Wednesday: Look, Say, Name, Cover, Write, Check
             Thursday: Look, Say, Name, Cover, Write, Check and practice test