Upcoming Dates:
Feb. 22 - Irving Fun Fair!!
Feb. 25 - Opera for the Young - school assembly
Feb. 25 - Field Trip - North Shore Center for the Performing Arts - Golden Dragons Show
*Italics are repeated from last week's blog.
Reading: We will continue our reading unit called: "Bigger Books Mean Amping Up Reading Power". This unit is all about literary language and meeting the challenges of reading longer books. This week the children will work on reading at a pace that is not too fast and not too slow - one that allows them to really understand what they are reading. We will also learn to pay attention to literary language (comparisons, invented words, figurative language). They will ask themselves: "What might the author want me to see, to understand?"
Writing: We will continue our writing unit called: "Poetry: Big Thoughts in Small Packages". This is such a fun unit where the kids will get to be creative and express themselves through poetry. This week we will start by focusing on how to edit our poetry. We will also work on word choice. Finally, we will learn about repetition and how that can give our poems rhythm, sound, and emphasize meaning.
Spelling: This year we will be using a program called: "Words Their Way". We will also use another program called: "Phonics Units of Study". We will continue to have individualized word lists. Students will bring their word sorts home on Monday and will be tested on 10 randomly selected words from their sort on Friday. Please spend time working on the spelling PATTERNS from their sorts at home. The goal is not to memorize the words, but to learn the letter patterns.
Math: We will start a new unit: "Problem Solving with Length, Money, and Data". This unit will focus on measuring with inches, counting coins, and using graphs to read and display data. This week we will learn to sort and record data and to use that data to solve word problems. We will learn to use a bar graph to represent and given data set.
Science: This week we will start a new science unit: "Pebbles, Sand, and Silt". In our first week we will be learning about three different kinds of rocks. We will learn what happens when rocks rub together (an introduction to weathering). The students will observe and compare these different kinds of rocks.