Week 8

Dear Parents,

         This week  math centered on solving two digit addition problems using mental math, an equation box, or a hundreds chart. The students were very comfortable with the mental math because of the many Number Talks we have had. Every day after our intentional problem solving we come sit by the front white board to solve problems mentally, then use the answers we’ve already gotten to help us solve more problems. We then talk it through the problem to justify our thinking. Sometimes we find our errors and correct them. They absolutely love Number Talks.

           In writing we brainstormed things we know how to do, or things we feel we are an expert at doing. We then learned how to make a ghost pop. We learned how to use time order words and stretch out our topic. We wrote our how to paper together making sure someone who wanted to make a ghost pop could follow our directions. Then we made our own ghost pop. We then wrote our own directions of how to make a ghost pop. Next nine weeks we will be choosing our own how to topic.

            In reading we compared and contrasted two Henry and Mudge books by Cynthia Rylant. We compared how the books were set up as well as the story structure: characters, setting and plot. We chose one of the stories and created a mobile with the story structure.

           In Social Studies we have been researching important Texas symbols. We used facts4me to research as well as maps and information pages found in books to complete a state book. We love researching!

            In science our focus has been on changing and combining matter. We first were given some materials to cut, bend, or break. We made a T- Chart recording the before and after picture of what we did to the materials. The next activity was to fold, cut, or add pictures, paper clips, or tape to the paper to create an airplane. We wrote about how we changed the paper to make a paper airplane, then we had fun watching them fly outside. We next were given materials and challenged to make a boat that could hold ten pennies. We worked with a group to create our boats and then tested them to see if we met the challenge. After that, we tested which boat could hold the most pennies. That group got to visit our treasure box! 

*We are missing three pumpkins from our patch. Please send your child’s pumpkin to school with them on Monday.

• If you didn’t have a chance to make it to the book fair, you can still shop our Online Book Fair now through October 10^th! The online fair is available atwww.scholastic.com/fair. Orders ship free to the school, and all purchases benefit your CRE library!

*I was so happy to see so many dads make it to CRE’s Donuts with Dads! I tried to find everyone.