Week 33

 Dear Parents,

              This week in math we took two days to take our End of Year Math CBA. This tests the children on all the skills they have been taught this year during our math period. We then began a new unit on graphing. We will be looking at bar graphs and pictographs during this unit. We will read charts to fill them in as well as answer questions about completed graphs.

                In writing they have been finishing up their individual procedural papers. We should all be finished today as we will start another research paper as we write about the Great White Shark. We will research what they look like, where they live, what they eat, and interesting facts about these big sea creatures.

                In social studies we completed a map of the continents and oceans of the world. We then read a Scholastic News article about following a bottle as it gets recycled. We celebrated Earth Day as we learned how to save our Earth by reducing, reusing, and recycling. We created a project about what each of us can do! We watched The Lorax and ate a Barbaloot Snack. We learned about producers and consumers and sorted people into those groups.

                In science we began our unit on insects and life cycles. We will be focusing on frogs and butterflies. We were so excited when our butterfly larvae arrived in the mail. They are growing each day! We are also watching videos and observing each stage as we fill out charts in our science notebooks!

Week 32

 Dear Parents, 

          This week in math we finished up learning about plane and solid shapes. We took our assessment on Thursday. We then on Friday began reviewing for our End of Year Math CBA on Thursday and will continue on Monday. They will take the CBA on Tuesday and Wednesday. We also took our Math iready EOY diagnostic. We will be sending home te results soon.

          In writing we finished up our procedural paper called How to Draw a crab. We researched the parts of a crab and made sure we used order words and started each direction with a verb. We then brainstormed all the things we know how to do and each child chose a topic on which they will write their individual procedural papers.

           In reading/ social studies this week we continued with our map skills as we looked at a world map and placed the names of the three countries of North America and their surrounding oceans on a map. We then read two different stories about Jack and the beanstalk. We had a retelling and graphic organizer assessment of our understanding and comparing or contrasting these two tales.

             In science we continued learning about seed dispersal and pollination. We observed these two concepts through demonstrations, then wrote about what we did. We took a cloze procedure paper on the topic of pollination.

Week 31

 Dear Parents,

            This week in math we continued learning about plane shapes called polygons. We used pattern blocks on Monday to use two or more shapes to create new shapes, or larger shapes. Your children had a blast and challenged themselves to find more than one way to create a new shape. A BIG thank you to Mr. Hicks who was a watch dog for the day and helped out with this lesson. We then used lines do divide shapes into more than one shape. Many made the connection that it was like dividing a shape into fractions, but sometimes the pieces were not equal. We next moved into learning about out solid shapes. We used our individual math boxes so we each had our hands on on the shapes as we counted vertices, faces and edges. We learned that a sphere, a cone, and a cylinder have no faces, edges and only a cone has 1 vertex. A cone and a cylinder do have flat surfaces, but they are not called faces because these shapes do not have straight edges.

              In writing we continued working on our “How to Draw a Crab” class papers and learned about prepositions. We used the prepositions to give detailed directions in our papers. Next week we will edit, revise and publish our papers.

               In social studies we looked at a us map. We found our state, its bordering states and the other 45 states. We watched our swim videos and read two books about swimming safety to get ready for our swim classes on Thursday and Friday. In reading we learned about cause and effect and completed a paper that showed we could match an effect to a cause.  We read a Scholastic News about “A Tough Seed”. We took a comprehension check for a grade.

              I need 4 field trip chaperones  For the Museum of Science and History in Ft. Worth on May 12th. Children cost $13 and if parents ride the bus $25 (20) without the cost of the bus. The information and forms are going home in your child’s Coyote Folder today. The first 4 parents to respond get to join us on this adventure!

Week 30

 Dear Parents,

         This week in math we took our unit test on Fractions on Monday. We began our unit on 2-D shapes called polygons. We found out that they have sides, vertices and are closed shaoes. We learned the names of the shapes from 3-12 sides and vertices. We learned how to identify them and draw them.

         In wring this week we finished up our unit on researching famous Americans. I modeled how to research i9n several sources and how to decide what was the most important accomplishments of each person’s life. We also learned how to cite their sources. They were graded on the booklet they completed on their own. We also began our unit on procedural writing. This too, started with research as we are beginning a class paper on how to draw a crab. First, we need to research the parts of a crab and know the important parts of a “how to” writing.

          In social studies/reading this week we learned about our state borders. We learned about economics. We learned that we have choices on how to spend our money. We need to weigh the costs and the benefits of our choices to make the best decision for ourselves and our families.Wednesday was April Fools Day. We enjoyed a piece of Laffy Taffy and read the two jokes we had on each wrapper. The children had to pick one of those jokes, or find a joke in a joke book and write a page for our class joke book.

           In science we continued with our parts of a plant Brainpop Jr., and then took a quiz over the parts and what job each part has in helping the plant. We then created a plant part art piece with all the parts of a plant. If finished we could play the Plant Parts Game in which the first person to draw all the parts by rolling a die was the winner. We also observed our experiments in which we put white carnations and celery in colored water. We observed that the color ended up in the flower of the carnation showing that the stem takes the water to the rest of the plant. The celery had leaves and tubes inside that both turned colored as well.

 

*Check the Coyote Folder for important information about our swim days next week and our tradition of making a keepsake pillow case

Week 29

 Dear Parents,

            This week in math we continued our unit on fractions. We have been working hard on our math pages, homework scoot and on Friday we created a fractionpillar project. Our chant is top number is the shaded ( or colored parts) bottom number is the parts ( all the parts- halves, fourths or eighths).

            In writing we have continued with our research of famous Americans. We have learned what sources are primary and what are secondary resources. We have learned how to cite these two sources as well as a website. We have been using books, as well as Brittanica School and World Book Kids. We have verified our information by finding it in several sources. We have analyzed the information to find the central idea, or most important fact about each famous person.

             In reading we finished up our research of things now and then.  We looked at communication, homes, school and toys or games from the past and present. They had so much fun discovering how things were in the past. We read a short information writing called Growth of a Sunflower. We practiced turning the information into our own words. For social studies we read an article about wants and needs. We watched a Brainpop video about this subject. On Thursday we read the Scholastic News Rainbow Plants. We discussed the article and worked together to complete a comp check. No grade was taken as we did it together.

             In science we planted Lima Beans and began a growth Journal. We read about and discussed what plants need to survive. We began an experiment with flowers and celery with colored water. We can’t wait to examine the results next week. We also discussed the parts of plants and what each part does.

 

Preregister link for Donuts With Dads:

 

https://forms.gle/hsgRYmTEVCEgTh97A

Week 28

 

Dear Parents,

           In math this week we began our math unit on fractions. We learned that fractions have equal parts. We are focusing on halves, fourths, and eighths. We first shaded in one of the parts of each of these fractions and then shaded in more than one part. We then shaded in all the parts to realize that 2/2, 4/4, and 8/8 equal one whole. On Friday we had Lucky Charm math!

          In writing we learned about the concept of then and now. We looked at communication, homes, school and toys or games from the past and present. We are making a flip book to show what we’ve learned. We had the choice to write about the lucky charms, people we are lucky to have in our lives, and create a project. ( if our research was done)

         In reading we researched famous Americans using a printed page, facts4me, and/or World Book Kids. We will continue researching after Spring Break. In Social Studies we reinforced the map skills that we’ve learned so far.

         In Science we began learning about the needs of plants. We can’t wait to plant our lima beans after break! I hope all of you have a restful Spring Break!

    

 

PLEASE sign up for the student led Spring conference if you have not done so. Your child is looking forward to sharing his/her leadership skills and their growth with you. Here is the link to our sign up genius. Please let me know if the times left do not work for you. We will work it out! Four more and we will be 100%! 😊 !

 

Sign up Genius Link:

 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B4CAFA82AA02-62671187-mscarpenters

Week 27

 Dear Parents,

               We have had another great week of learning together! Soon we will only have one nine week period left. I  am still supporting your children through my teaching and small group, but I am letting them take charge of doing their independent work. They have all grown so much this year! I am proud of each and every one of them. In math this week we continued to practice three digit subtraction with and without regrouping in many ways. We had a scoot, a dice rolling paper and a spin paper to choose our numbers. We tested on Friday.

                 In writing we finished up our Helen Keller biographies and our poetry books. We went through our pockets for open house and chose one project to save for our student led conference with you. The rest of the projects in the pocket will go home with you tonight. 

                 In reading/social studies we read a map key and used directions to locate objects on a map. Some children had difficulty with this, but we will continue to practice our map skills on Mondays. The timelines were also presented during this time. The children loved sharing this meaningful project. We read two short stories and answered questions about them. We read the questions first, then highlighted things we thought would help us answer the questions in the story as we read. We had to analyze the 3 answers to choose the one that best answers the question. ( This is prepping them for the STAAR test they will take next year.) We also read a Scholastic News article called “ And the Winner Is … “ and answered comprehension questions.

             A big thank you to those who were able to make our Spring Open House! The smiles on everyone’s faces lit up our room. The children are so proud of what they accomplished this year. We have one more nine weeks together and we will make it a great one!

              PLEASE sign up for the student led Spring conference if you have not done so. Your child is looking forward to sharing his/her leadership skills and their growth with you. Here is the link to our sign up genius. Please let me know if the times left do not work for you. We will work it out! Four more and we will be 100%! 😊 !

 

Sign up Genius Link:

 

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0B4CAFA82AA02-62671187-mscarpenters