Week 2

Dear Parents,

     The second week of school went very smoothly! It was a full week, so by Friday we were a bit tired, but we still learned to do our best! In math we continued learning how to use our manipulatives and math tools to solve problems or answer questions. We played math games such as Make Ten and Guess my Number on a number line. We built numbers with place value blocks and snap cubes. It can be really fun learning new math skills and working with partners.

       In writing I modeled several journal writes to show the children how to write from left to right, make spaces between words and use our spelling dictionaries to find correct spelling. Our focus this week was on ideas. Do our ideas make sense, seem in a logical order and focus on one main idea at a time? We had lots of journal writing time. Each child chose a journal writing for me to score this weekend on an ideas rubric.

       In reading we learned how to choose just right books, how our library is set up, and the difference between fiction and nonfiction books. We have continued building our reading stamina. We are at ten minutes and our goal is 15 minutes.

      In social studies we learned that we choose our own weather. We can choose to be like Grumpy Cat or we can be like the Happy Animals from our book. We learned the difference between tattling and reporting and how to decide if we should talk to an adult. 

       In science we continued learning about scientists, the tools they use and that they question, predict, hypothesize, plan and interpret information. We had an activity where we needed to try to save Sammy! Sammy is a gummy worm whose boat capsized. His life preserver ended up under the boat. We had to work with a partner to formulate a plan. We could only touch the boat, Sammy, and his life preserver with paper clips. No hands allowed. We had lots of fun with this challenge! See our blog for pictures. I can only post pictures of children whose parents have given me permission. If you could respond to this e-mail with just your child’s name and whether his/her picture can be posted on our blog, I can start taking pictures of the children. Example: John, yes you may post his picture on the blog.

        We practiced our four safety drills on Friday! All went very well. We have a very responsible class! I’d like to thank Liam, Kaylee, Anabel and Aleena for bringing in wish list items!