Week of April 2

Dear Parents –

I hope you had an enjoyable break.  It was great to see the kids again today and to listen to their stories about their week.  I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome Yuki to our class.  We are delighted to have her join our community. 

Here’s a look at our week:

Monday (Day 6) – Music and P.E.

Tuesday (Day 1) – Art and World Language

Wednesday (Day 2) – Music and P.E.

Thursday (Day 3) – World Language

Friday (Day 4) – Art and P.E. (Swimming)

Language Arts

This week we begin two new units of study.  In reading, we will focus on Book Clubs with series books.  Students will work in small groups to read and discuss a common book.  We’ll practice asking questions and looking through the book for evidence to support our ideas about the characters and events of the stories.  Our new writing unit, Book Reviews, is tied closely with our reading unit.  Students will learn to share their opinions and support them with reasons and examples.  This week we will practice forming opinions about a variety of topics to help students become comfortable with the structure. 

Social Studies

This week we also begin our unit on Celebrations.  We’ll spend the next three weeks learning about the features common to many celebrations, such as purpose, traditions, symbols, food, and others.  We have been learning about celebrations throughout the year.  This week we’ll take a look at the books children have written about different celebrations to anchor some of those common features. 

Math

Our new unit, Developing Multiplication, begins this week as well.  We will start our week with some lessons about data collection and graphing.  Students will have opportunities to collect and record data by using tally charts and then using that data to create bar and picture graphs.  Later in the week we will tune in to our new math unit by looking at the vocabulary and skills covered in this unit. 

Dinner Questions

What is your favorite . . . ?  Why?  Share your opinion with a reason and example.

Talk about a celebration you know well.  What is the purpose of the celebration and what are some of the traditions and symbols?