Week 25

Dear Parents,

      We continued working with three digit addition and subtraction. We practiced writing our own story problems to go with them. We even worked through several two -step problems. We learned that when there are three numbers in a story problem, we will have to solve two problems to get the answer. We learned to look for the hidden question that will be our first step in solving these two step story problems.

       In writing we began our unit on imaginative stories. We had mini lessons that taught us how to use our sensory words while writing. We learned how to show emotions through the actions of our characters. We tried to incorporate stellar adjectives. We brainstormed our characters, plot, setting and solution together. Then the children got to write their own version of our story making sure there was a beginning, middle and end.

        In reading we are beginning our unit on Folktales. We are reading the many different kinds of folktales and learning what characteristics make them a fairytale, a fable,a  legend, a pourquoi, a myth, a trickster tale or a tall tale. We are learning how to identify the theme of a story as well as how to make text to self, text to text, and text to world connections.

         In science we began our weather unit and have been observing as well as recording our weather. We are looking at a thermometer and learning to read it in degrees Celsius and Farhrenheit.  We are having discussions about how the weather effects the things we do as well as what we wear.

          In social studies we created our own continent and added 7 landforms to it. We created a map key. We know so much about landforms because of our research. We loved showing what we learned.

   

*Check the coyote folder for a conference form. Conferences will begin after spring break. I have gotten 8 responses back. If you sent back a response I put a copy of the conference schedule in your child’s coyote folder so  that you can get that date and time on your calendar. If you would like to have a spring conference, it will be student led. I gave some choices during my conference period, but those are only if you would like a second conference with me to discuss any concerns. Please do not choose the 10:40 time for a student led conference as your child has enrichment at that time. If you choose to not have a conference, please sign the front page of this letter so that I do not send you any more reminders.

Valentine Fun!

Week 24

Dear Parents,

        We continued to work on three digit subtraction with regrouping. We added the harder skill of trading across a zero. I am so proud of their effort to push through this tough concept. Next week we will have mixed practice with addition and subtracting three digit numbers with and without regrouping.

        In language and reading and  we have been researching using multiple resources. We are using books, ipads, and chrome books to got to different websites to learn about our chosen three landforms. This report will contain information learned, reworded and revised to make an interesting report. We used connecting words to combine sentences and used adjectives to describe our landforms. We are using paragraphing as well. 

        In science we are finishing up our unit on objects in the sky! We cannot wait to begin our unit on weather. We will be observing and recording things like temperature, wind direction, and cloud cover. We will be learning what a meteorologist does.

        In social studies we have been creating our own continent by adding landforms to the land. We made a map key and named our special continent.

         A big thank you to Mrs. Clarke and Mrs. Patel for a wonderful Valentine Party! The children had pretzels and strawberries, then got to play a fun game that was a Valentine version of pin the tail on the donkey. They also got to create their own ice cream sundae. Some children chose to make creative cards with the supplies that were brought while others just loved digging through their Valentine cards and treats. 

Just a reminder that Six Flags Read to Succeed Logs are due back to me by Thursday, February 21^st.  The time read is to be 360 minutes or more and must be signed by the parent.

Hard at Work Researching

We made Banners!

Chinese New Year Activities

Week 23

Dear Parents,

        In math we started three digit subtraction with and without regrouping. You can support the learning by continuing to practice a couple of three digit addition as well as three digit subtraction at home in the evening. Knowing how to do both sometimes causes confusion. They are doing well so far.

        In language and reading we have started a unit on landforms and are combining this with research. Your child will learn the many landforms, then pick three to write about in an expository paper to inform. We will organize our facts on a RAN chart then use graphic organizers to organize our facts into a paper. This fun project will continue into next week. 

          In social studies we have continued our map skills as we learned how to read a map key. We celebrated Chinese New Year on Tuesday as we learned about China and some of their customs. We tried eating noodles with chopsticks and had a fortune cookie. We learned that it is the year of the Earth Pig. 

          In science we are learning about objects in the sky. We are talking about how the sun appears to move across our sky, but it is really the Earth that is moving. We have discussed that the Earth revolves around the sun and also rotates on an invisible axis. The sun never moves. We know that the moon has no light of its own and appears to change its shape throughout the month, but it is only the amount of sunlight that reflects off the moon that we see. The moon actually never changes . It is a dark sphere of rock that is revolving around the Earth. We see no moon when the Earth is between the sun and the moon. We see a full moon when the Earth is not blocking any of the sun’s rays. These are hard concepts to understand, but we are reading, watching videos, discussing and writing about what we learn.

Week 22

Dear Parents,

        In math we continued practicing our three digit addition with and without regrouping. They understand the concept, but need to work a bit on their accuracy when adding two or three numbers. Thank you so much for your support with their math logs and fast facts. This will help them with their accuracy if they know an addition fact, and don’t need to figure it out. We took our assessment today.

         In writing we have begun our unit on research. We were introduced to the RAN Chart as a means of organizing our information. We list things as what we think we know, confirmed information, new information, misconceptions, and wonderings. We researched Martin Luther King Jr. together and then each of us chose a famous African American to research on our own. The purpose of this this beginning research project is find the information that states what was their person’s major accomplishment. We are creating a pyramid with the information they find. 

          In reading we have been learning about nonfiction text features and creating a book that shows examples of each and tells the purpose of at least 8-10 of the 13 in the book. We have had fun working on this project!

          In science we finished up our unit on natural and manmade resources. We took our assessment and then began our unit 9 Patterns of Objects in the Sky. We made a moon phase slider and began learning about how these objects appear to move across our sky and how they actually move.

Important Dates: