Last Blog of 2015

I want to thank everyone who was able to come see you child's schoolwork today.  I was glad to see that so many of you were able to make it.  The class was so excited to share what they've been working on in writing and science as well as their portfolio's so far this year.  Thank-you also to those who expressed how much you appreciated being able to come in and see what your child has been working on in school.  There's always something special about a parent coming to school:)I

Next week we are in school on Monday and Tuesday only.  We will be doing hour of code again on Monday as the students really loved this and it will give them some extra practice with coding.  Our "Voice Contest" will continue for the second time.  The class really enjoyed being able to show off their fluent reading.  We will have a special treat at the end of the day on Tues.  We are still in need of juice boxes.  If you are able to send these in, please let me know.

 I hope that everyone has a wonderful and restful break.  Beginning in January we will be full force starting new units in Reading, Writing and Science.  In math we will continue with our measurement unit.

Enjoy,
Nancy

A few pictures from the sharing time:

Week of December 7th

This week in reading we are working on our fluency.  We are working on scooping words into longer phrases.  We are talking like characters while making our voices match the mood and reading at a "just right" pace.  To help us with this we have been playing a game that we call, "The Voice".  Students take turns sharing a passage of their reading out loud and then the class picks the person they think is most fluent.  We have 6 winners who are moving on to the semi-final and then we will have a final round.  The class is really enjoying this and they are becoming very fluent readers with their book.  Ask them about it:)

In writing we are writing book reviews that we will share with our families next Friday.  We are stating our opinion about a part of the book and sharing examples to support our opinion.  We are excited to share this piece of writing along with our informational text writing and some other things we have done this year.  We will be doing this at 8 am next Friday.  Invitations are in our Friday folders.

In math we finished up Unit 3.  This week we made graphs with data about M&M's and analyzed this data.  Next week in Unit 4 we will focus on standardized units of measurement.

In Science we continue to look at unique features of animals and how they help them survive.  We explored with camouflage this week as well as doing experiments to see why certain beaks are used to eat certain foods and also at the differences of various bird feathers.  Next week we will be wrapping this unit up. 

This week we participated in the Hour of Code.  The site we used can be accessed from the Library Links on the School's webpage.  Students wrote lines of codes moving Star Wars' characters around.  They really enjoyed this time.  For more information about Hour of Code or to allow your child to work some more with it, you can go to the Library links page and click on the link.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend,
Nancy

Week of November 30th

I hope everyone got a chance to have a restful Thanksgiving break!

This week in math we are wrapping up our problem solving activities. Next week we are going to be working with data and graphs.  In number corner we have been taking surveys and talking about the data.  We took a survey looking at 4 colors and deciding on our favorite of those four.  We also took a survey of our favorite Red Clover book that we have read.  Blue was our favorite color from red, blue, green and purple.  It got 7 votes.  "Blizzard" is our favorite Red Clover book so far with 14 votes. 

In reading we are working on fluency.  We are practicing rereading different passages and thinking about how the character would sound and how that character feels to determine the voice we would use to read it.  We also talked about looking out for punctuation and how it tells us that we need to have a natural pause as we read.  Our theme for this unit is Fairy Tales and Folktales.  The week before break, we will also be doing some reader's theater. 

In Writer's Workshop we are continuing with Opinion pieces and writing about books.  We are writing our opinions about characters in the book, favorite parts, pictures, the title or the cover.  We are working on Introducing the book we are writing about, giving our opinion, giving reasons for that opinion, using evidence to support that opinion and thinking about the audience.  We will be sharing a piece that we publish over the next couple of weeks with families on Dec. 18th at 8 am in the classroom.  Invitations will go home next week.

In Science we are continuing to look at unique features of animals. This week we read several books with information about different animal features.  Next week we will think about these features and how we can use them to create other things that will help solve problems. 

Have a wonderful weekend,
Nancy