It was a busy weekend for all! Fun fair, talent show, and Super Bowl in one. Thank you to all of the parents who volunteered at the Fun Fair and to those who came by. It was fun to see so many people. Here is a look at our week ahead:
* Allison is our MVP this week!
* Welcome to Sarah G! Sarah joins our class from Seattle. We're excited to have her in our classroom--we are now a class of 27!
* Thank you to Mrs. Cichon for presenting our Art Awareness lesson last week. It was fun to look at the different sculptures and to have a chance to make our own out of clay in class.
* In reading this week we continue to work with literary devices. The kids will work with poetry and have a chance to identify personification, metaphors, author's tone, and rhyme scheme. We will also continue practicing the long response to reading. This will be done with both fiction and nonfiction passages.
* Our new genre of the month is nonfiction. The kids are expected to read at least 3-5 nonfiction books. They can then pick one of these report on. The report form is a bit different than the other months, since this is such a different genre than the others we have covered. This assignment is due March 1st.
* In writing we are still working on our response to fiction essays. The kids will work to find evidence to support the character trait they picked to describe James. The kids will eventually put their plans into a 5 paragraph essay and revise their ideas to support their opinion.
*In math,we will spend the first couple of days of the week learning long division with 2 divisors. I will present both the traditional and partial quotient methods to the kids. They will be able to pick which method they are most comfortable with. The rest of the week will be spent reviewing what we have learned so far during Unit 6. The kids will take a practice test in class (which can be used as a study guide) and our final test will be on either Friday or Monday (depending on how the week goes). I will hold some review sessions during lunch if any of the kids want extra review time. We will also keep practicing our problem solving and putting our thinking down in words.
* The kids will draw conclusions about their excavation in social studies and we'll divide the artifacts into 3 categories: new technology, motives, and products. We will take a test on these artifacts on Tuesday (a study guide will go home on Monday). Our next chapter deals with explorers. The kids will become an expert on one explorer and have the opportunity to pick from 4 project options to present their learning. All work will be done in class and this project will take the place of their chapter test. We will use our History Alive text book, along with ipads and lap tops to help with research.
* Valentine's Day letters went home on Monday. Please read over the notes before filling out valentines. Our classroom party will be on Tuesday, February 14th in the afternoon.
* I think that is it for this week. If you have any questions of concerns, please let me know. For those of you who would like to check out the Ivy Hill teachers and kids in the talent show, click on the the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFzFukvo6hs
