Week 7

Dear Parents,

        This week in math our focus was looking at story problems, analyzing them and deciding if they were addition or subtraction problems. We learned that stories that compared two things were subtraction problems. We also learned that when there is a problem with an unknown number  (I have 6 marbles. I get some more. Now I have 12. How many did I get?) We learned you can solve it using addition or subtraction as long as you realize which number is the answer to the problem. ( 6 + ? = 12 or 12 – 6 = 6) The answer for both is six. We practiced showing these problems with manipulatives and pictures. Our assessment was Friday.

        In writing we learned about common nouns and proper nouns. We looked in an article about butterflies to hunt for common nouns. We began writing sentences to see the nouns in our own writing. We practiced our handwriting and finished our final copies of our fall writing. On Friday we began writing a color poem in honor of American Indian Heritage Day.

        In reading we learned about nonfiction text features. We learned that they each have a purpose and learned what that purpose is. We went searching through nonfiction texts to find examples of those features. We set up an apple investigation. We have three apples: one whole, one cut in half and one cut up in many pieces. We weigh them every day and found out that they are losing weight. We came to the conclusion that they are losing water. Now we are predicting which one will lose the greatest mass. We learned about Johnny Appleseed and other famous Americans that we consider good citizens. We also had our next Leader in me Lesson which when beginning with the end in mind, we make a plan!

         In science we began Unit 3 called changing and combining matter. We began predicting what would happen to a marshmallow when we added heat to it and put it in a microwave. We were very surprised to see it blow up really big and puffy. We also observed how the properties of the marshmallow changed as it cooled. It got flat and crunchy. We also added heat to milk and a bar of soap. Each time we made predictions and noted what happened when we added heat and when we took the heat away. We got to write a secret message in lemon juice on a piece of paper and see what happened to it when it was heated. We loved watching our messages appear.

• There are a few important things to look for in your child’s Coyote Folder this week: A progress report with your child’s Texas State Fair ticket stapled to it, A Pumpkin Project with direction page attached, And information about our swim week which is coming up the week of October 15^th. There are two forms in the swim packet that I need completed and returned as soon as possible. Your child can earn 3 stickers if both forms come back on Monday.