Week 4

 Dear Parents,

          This week in math we have been practicing many skills: counting a group of coins, then figuring out how many more cents are needed to make a dollar, time to the hour and half hour(Chant: minute, long word long hand, hour short word, short hand), using a hundred’s chart to add number strings and using a number line to compare numbers.

           In writing we focused on being authors by looking at what real authors do in their books. We can write large words (to show shouting), small words ( to show quiet talking), write words at the top, middle or bottom of a page, put only pictures on a page and use speech bubbles. We can’t forget that our story needs to have a beginning, middle and end. We are excited about being authors of our own books!

           In reading our focus was on characters. We learned more about how to look for external and internal traits as we read the story Picture Day Perfection. We discussed several higher questions as this story took a surprising twist at the end. We took a comprehension check over this story. We also learned about Labor Day and why Monday is a holiday. 

           Science has been so much fun this week as we went on a scavenger hunt in our room to look for objects with certain properties. We observed frozen/ unfrozen gummy worms, frozen/ unfrozen popsicles and blown up/ not blown up balloons to compare their properties. Did the size, shape, mass, color or texture change? Did the state of matter ( solid/ liquid) change? We maybe even got to eat the unfrozen gummy worm! We classified matter as flexible/ not flexible, hotter or colder, heavier/lighter, solid/liquid, its shape and texture.

 

*The first three weeks’ grades can be found now on Skyward. I start off the year giving a lot of support, directions and chances to do things the correct way. You may notice that grades are very high. I feel as an experienced teacher that to grow successful students, they must first feel successful. Once work habits are established I give less and less support until your child is working independently on all graded papers. Many of the children have very high grades this three weeks. As a group, they are great direction followers. Thank you for partnering with me this year to help your child learn and grow in his/her independence.

          * We are flying through snacks. If you’d like to donate the individual packages of goldfish for our snack bin, it would be appreciated.