January 26th-January 30th

We had a very busy week! We have been enjoying activities relating to Kenny and the Dragon. We have been learning and illustrating vocabulary words from the book. We also read another book by Tony DiTerlizzi called Jimmy Zangwow's Out of this World Moon Pie Adventure .  It connected to our solar system unit and the class created their own martians.                           

Reminders...

Report cards will be posted on Aspen Friday, January 30th. Conference days are February 3rd and 11th.

Reading
In reading, we are continuing the non-fiction unit. This week, we will spend more time looking at text features. Students are reading a variety of fiction books for independent reading and are getting better at choosing "just right" books.

Writing
Students are doing a great job on their informational books. We are going to spend time on conclusions, revising and editing this week. We will start writing final drafts toward the end of the week.

Math
We are continuing the division unit. We are working on fact families and understanding how multiplication and division are related. It is so important that students are practicing facts at home. If they do not know multiplication facts, they will not be able to gain fluency in division facts. We do daily drills, but daily home practice is also very important. I have noticed that many students are not using xtramath regularly. If your child prefers flash cards, I am okay with that but please make sure they practice consistently.

Science/Social Studies
We are continuing the solar system unit. Students are researching planets and doing a variety of activities to go along with the planets. In social studies, we will be talking about government this week.



 

January 20th-January 23rd

I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend! We spent time last week talking about Martin Luther King, Jr. We read a book called My Brother, Martin, which was written by his sister, about his childhood. We had a great discussion to go along with it! Have a great week!

This week...

Reading

We are continuing a unit on non-fiction. We are reading a variety of non-fiction articles and books. Students are reading books of their choice for silent reading. We are still reading The Land of Stories for read aloud which is about a  boy and girl who enter a fairytale world. The class is so excited to listen each day!

Math

We finished the first part of the division unit last week. Students will be getting back their chapter 7 test to be signed and corrected this week. We will start chapter 8, Division Facts, on Tuesday. We are doing multiplication drills each day. Please make sure your child is practicing their facts at home!

Writing

We are still working on the informational unit. Last week, students used the library online resources to research their topics. They continued to write chapters and this week, we will be revising chapters and working on introductions and conclusions. 

Science

We are working on a solar system unit. Students are researching each planet in the solar system and we will be doing a variety of activities to go along with the research. 

January 12th-January 16th

It has been a busy week! We have been getting right back into the swing of things. Jasmine was Student of the Week and brought a special friend for Show and Tell! We celebrated Luke’s birthday on Friday and the One School, One Book title was revealed! The class is so excited to start reading Kenny and the Dragon! We will be doing activities in class that go along with the chapters so please follow the schedule on the bookmark. Please try not to read ahead!

This week…

Reading

We have started a unit on non-fiction. This week we will look at non-fiction text features. We will also be reading a variety of non-fiction articles. Students are reading books of their choice during independent reading.

Writing

We are continuing the informational writing unit. Students are continuing to research their topics and working on elaborating their chapters. We also started a cursive writing unit. The kids are really excited to learn cursive!

Math

We are finishing up Unit 7-Meanings of Division and will have a test on Thursday or Friday. Students have looked at division as equal sharing and repeated subtraction. We also spend time each day doing multiplication drills and word problems. Please make sure your child is practicing facts at home! This can either be on xtramath or flashcards.

Science

We are working on a solar system unit. Students have been researching planets and are doing a variety of projects for each planet. They are really enjoying this unit!

January 5th-January 9th

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and an enjoyable vacation. We'll be getting right back into the swing of things this week. We will be having the One School, One Book kick off assembly on Friday. Look for more information coming home this week!

Reading

We finished up the character unit and will be starting a non-fiction reading unit this week. This will go along with the informational writing unit we are working on. Students will also be continuing to read a book of their choice for independent reading. 

Writing

We will continue the informational writing unit. Students have chosen their topics and have begun drafting chapters. We will work on elaborating by adding details. We will also be starting two new writing activities over the next couple of weeks. Students will begin learning cursive and will start a program called Type to Learn to teach typing skills. 

Math

We finished the multiplication unit, but students still need a lot of practice with their facts. We will be doing multiplication drills in class and it is important that students are doing xtramath at least three times a week to practice facts. We will be starting division this week.

Science

We are working on a solar system unit in science and will be starting electricity.