Upcoming Dates:
Feb. 25 - Opera for the Young - school assembly
Feb. 25 - Field Trip - North Shore Center for the Performing Arts - Golden Dragons Show
Feb. 28 - Amazing Africa School Assembly
March 11 - Spring Sing Concert - This will be in the evening - more information to come.
March 13 - Second trimester report cards will go home with students today.
March 17 - Institute Day - No school for students
March 23-27 - Spring Break - No School - School resumes on Monday, March 30th.
*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 learn that readers notice when an author uses language in creative ways by playing around with words. They will work to understand what the author is really saying. They will also learn to transfer this type f writing to their own writing during writer's workshop.
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 learn that poets consider the mood they want to convey in their poems, making sure the mood matches their poem's meaning. They will also learn to use comparisons to clarify feelings and ideas.
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 continue Module 7: "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 solve word problems using data presented in a bar graph. We will also begin to learn about coins. This week we will focus on recognizing the value of each coin and counting up to find their total values.
Science: This week we will continue our science unit: "Pebbles, Sand, and Silt". This week students will wash their rocks to see how they change when they are wet. They will also learn to sort rocks by their properties.