Week of January 15

Dear Parents –

I hope you had a great weekend.  Last week we had a busy week at school as we settled back into our routines, started new units in all subject areas, and welcomed two wonderful students to our classroom community.

Here’s a look at our week ahead:

Monday (Day 4) Art and P.E.

Tuesday (Day 5) Library and World Language

Wednesday (Day 6) Music and P.E.

Thursday (Day 1) Art and World Language

Friday (Day 2) Music and P.E.

Home Learning

Our new Home Learning menu for January is linked to our blog. This semester we do expect students to complete ONE Home Learning activity each week in addition to their nightly reading. Each Friday students will have an opportunity to share their Home Learning with the class.  

Reader’s Workshop

Last week we began our unit on reading information books. We started by looking at the differences between fiction and nonfiction texts and were introduced to some of the different text features found in nonfiction books.  This week we will focus on strategies we can use as readers to help us preview nonfiction books, make predictions about what we will learn, and ask questions to help us deepen our understanding of the topic.

Writer’s Workshop

We started our unit on how to write nonfiction books. This week our writer’s will begin the process of writing their first informational book by selecting a topic and they are experts in and then learning how to organize their knowledge into subtopics.  We’ll look at mentor texts to model how authors organize their information. 

Science

Our new science unit on Healthy Choices got off to a great start last week.  We started by talking about what we already know about making healthy choices.  In this unit, we’ll focus on nutrition, personal hygiene, exercise, and mental health.  We began by sorting images of people making healthy and unhealthy choices. 

Math

Last week we started our new unit – Understanding Plane and Solid Figures.  We began by looking at the names and properties of different polygons.  This week we will continue to focus on how to identify and draw shapes based on a set of attributes. 

Dinner Questions

What is something new you hope to learn this year?

What are some healthy choices that we can make as a family at home this year?

What are some ways you can show kindness at home and at school this year?