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