* Book orders were put in on Friday. Hopefully we will receive our orders sometime the end of this week or the beginning of next week.
* Our MVP of the week is Sydney! We can't wait to learn more about her!
* In reading we will work with elements of fiction text. This week we will focus on character. We will work on making connections to personality, perspective, and actions. The kids will work to extend their comprehension skills by comparing/contrasting their experiences with various characters. We will begin our Reader's Notebook and Reading Binders this week. All of these things will help us prepare for the start of our small reading groups/book clubs in the next couple of weeks!
* Spelling this week will be done online again. We will take a pretest in class to determine your child's spelling list of the week. All of the lists will have the long "i" sound. The children will be required to do a minimum of 6 activities this week. All activities should be done by Friday. I am able to see scores of activities your child does, as well as, when he/she completes the activities. We will take our final spelling test in class on Friday.
* In writing, we will move from the concept of focusing on one event to "showing" in our writing. Showing is using precise observations, descriptive details, and expressive language to communicate emotion, evoke an image, and present evidence. For example, "I was cold" can be turned into the showing sentence of "I shivered and zipped up my coat." Both focus and showing will be the components of our revision assignments in class. This is where I will bracket a portion of your child's writing and he/she will need to rewrite the portion to focus more on one moment and extend it, or to use lots of details to SHOW what is going on. The kids received writing tools packets last week which help to make our vocabulary/word choices sizzle. They are having fun choosing interesting words to spice up their writing!
* We took our test over Unit 1 in math and the kids will get these back on Monday. We will go over the test in class and then continue on with Unit 2. A parent letter about Unit 2 came home with your child last week. Unit 2 deals with numbers and organization. Throughout this unit, we will examine different names for numbers, review the base ten place-value system, review procedures of addition and subtraction of multi-digit whole numbers, and reintroduce and extend ideas of data collection, organization, display, and analysis. This week we will work with making many names of numbers, place value to the one billion, and displaying data in a tally chart to determine the maximum, minimum, range, and median.
* In science, we started talking about Pangea and the continental drift. The kids will be working to make a short, animated film about the continents and plate movements. We will also begin to talk about the 4 different ways that plates move and the effects that this has on our land.
* Just a reminder to turn in your Room Rep forms and fees as soon as possible. Thanks to our room moms for getting us off to a great start to the year!
* I think that covers everything! If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know! Have a great start to your week!
