Week of August 28

Dear Parents –

We had another great week. It was a busy one with school pictures and the beginning of our island adventure.  This week is a short week – only three days. 

Here’s a peek at our week ahead:

Monday (Day 3) – World Language

Tuesday (Day 4) – Art and PE (Swimming)

Wednesday (Day 5) – Library and World Language

Thursday – NO SCHOOL

Friday – NO SCHOOL

Reader’s Workshop

We continue to work on developing the habits that will help us grow as readers.  This week our focus is reading in bigger scoops to help improve our fluency and expression.   I encourage you to read poetry with your child.  Reading poetry, with its rhyme and rhythm, is a wonderful way to improve our fluency and expression. We will also begin looking at different strategies to help improve our reading comprehension.  Students will practice retelling a story across their fingers by including the characters, setting, main events and solution. 

Writer’s Workshop

Last week we selected a small moment story to write about.  This week our focus will be on developing that idea and stretching out the story by adding sensory details.  We will look at mentor texts to see how authors incorporate their senses to their writing.  Students will have opportunities to think about what they felt, saw, tasted, and heard in each scene from their story. 

Social Studies

Our class has been stranded on a deserted island for the past few days.  Students have learned to work together to determine what they need to survive and how to find those items on the island.  This week our lessons will focus on the different roles and responsibilities they have on the island.  We’ll discuss the qualities and characteristics of leaders, and the importance of rules and consequences in a community. 

Math

This week we continue our work on finding efficient ways to count a large number of objects.  Our lessons this week will focus on building numbers with base-ten blocks and writing different names for numbers.

Decorating Our Writing Notebook

We’re going to start decorating our Writing Notebooks with pictures of important people, places, events, and objects from our lives.  This could include pictures of family, special events, hobbies, etc.  The goal is to decorate the front and back covers of our notebooks like a collage.  A letter will be sent home tomorrow with more details.

Dinner Questions

What rules did you come up with for your island?  Why?

What does it mean to be a good leader?  Could you be a leader?  Why?

Tell me one thing you learned today.

What do you like to play at recess?  Who do you play with?