Happy April Fool's Day! I have lots of kids trying to trick me today! They keep trying to telling me that there is a spider or monkey on my head or their sister is in college. One student really got me by saying he was going on a vacation to Florida!!
Over the last few weeks, we have been talking about Fix-up Monitoring and Summarizing in Reader's Workshop. Our class enjoys discussing the characters, setting, problem, and solutions of stories and also including these things when they write their own stories! We have been writing like Mo Willems, since we just finished our author study on this great writer and illustrator. You may have seen books about Pigeon, Gerald, Piggy, and Knuffle Bunny coming home. I am so impressed with the ideas and writing that is taking place in here. We have been working hard on remembering writing conventions (like leaving spaces, capital letter and the beginning, punctuation at the end, and even using only lowercase letters within the sentences).
In phonics, we continue to practice letters, letter sounds, and sounding out words. We review rhyming, breaking apart words, and saying words slowly each day.
In your child's reading group, we continue to meet several times each week to read a new story and to talk and write about it. Thank you for your help at home rereading the stories, reading new books, and completing the monthly homework packets. I am so proud of the growth that each child is showing this year. I appreciate you taking the time to practice skills at home, because it is so beneficial in the classroom too.
In science, we just finished our unit on bodies and germs. This was a favorite for many of our classmates. They were very interested in finding out what different parts of the body do and why they are important. Ask your child about our potato experiment, too. It was very gross, but also very interesting!! During the month of April, we will be learning about the earth and waste management. With the weather getting nicer, we will also talk about plants and will be growing some in here, too!
Please send 1-5 recyclable items to school with your child by Friday. Items may include paper, plastic, metal, and glass. We will do some sorting activities, talk about waste management, reuse many of the items, and recycle the rest. Thank you for your help in making this a fun experience!
In math, we continue to practice skills that we have learned this year in large and small group activities, with paper and pencil tasks, and within learning centers. We have several math games that the children like playing together. We have been talking about "math mountains," (which are like fact families), the symbols < > = and their meanings, strategies for solving addition problems, and problem solving.
These are some things that are coming up soon:
4/2 Turn in your child's Read-A-Thon money! ***Thank you for participating in this fundraiser!
4/4 Bring recyclables for a recycling sort and other Earth Day activities!!!
4/5 Kid's Fair- Community Elementary Gym, 9:30-11:30
4/11 Early Release for students
4/14-4/21- Spring Break
Here are a few pictures from our time at school:
Spring writing
Trioxide and Knuffle Bunny stories
