Week of February 26

Dear Parents –

I hope you’re enjoying your weekend.  We had a fantastic end of our week with the Chinese New Year cultural day.  The children really enjoyed the hallway activities and the lion dance performance.  Please see our Photos page for some pictures from the day. 

Here’s a look at the week ahead:

Monday (Day 1) – Art and World Language

Tuesday (Day 2) – Music and P.E.

Wednesday (Day 3) – World Language

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

Friday (Day 5) – Library and World Language

We have some exciting events happening this week. 

Monday – Author visit Tad Wells

Tuesday – Mini Academies

Thursday – Book Character Dress up Day

Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop

Much of our work this week will be spent reflecting on our work and preparing for our student led conferences.  Students will be identifying their strengths as readers and writers and setting goals for themselves for the next few months.  In addition to this work, students will have an opportunity to explore their interests through independent projects.  They will have menus of different activities to complete for both reading and writing and can choose which activities to do based on their interests and learning styles. 

Science

We just finishing up our work on learning about the different types of exercise and now turn our attention to healthy eating.  Students will begin learning about the 5 food groups and the importance of eating a balanced meal.  During our lessons, students will learn about some of the common vitamins and nutrients found in different foods. 

Math

We’re beginning our unit on Applying Base Ten Understanding.  Last week students were reviewing composing and decomposing numbers with base ten models.  This week we will look at strategies for adding up to four 2-digit numbers.  We will also begin working with bar graphs and picture graphs. 

Dinner Questions

If I called your teacher tonight, what would he say about you?

How did you help somebody this week?

What games do you like to play at recess?

If you could sit next to anybody in class, who would it be?  Why?

Week of February 12

Dear Parents –

I hope you enjoyed your weekend.  We have a short but full week ahead due to the Chinese New Year holiday.  Please let me know if your travel plans require your child to miss school this week or next. 

Here’s a look at our week ahead:

Monday (Day 5) – Library and World Language

Tuesday (Day 6) – Music and P.E.

Wednesday (Day 1) – Art and World Language

Thursday – No School

Friday – No School

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is February 14.  While we don’t have a party to celebrate, some students have been asking if they can bring in cards or treats for the class.  This is optional.  If your child wishes to bring in cards, please have him or her bring in a card for each person in the class. 

Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop

We continue working on our second informational book and hope to have that published this week.  Students are busy reading different books about their topic, recording their new learning on Post-It notes and organizing their knowledge into subtopics.  This week our focus will be on writing the introduction to our books and drawing clear and detailed pictures to teach their readers about their topics.  Students will close out the week editing their work to check for spelling, capital letters and punctuation. 

Science

Last week we started learning about exercise and the students had a lot of fun trying different exercise to get their heart rates up.  This week we’ll focus on three different types of exercise and how they help us to stay fit and healthy.  We’ll begin learning about stamina, flexibility, and strength. 

Math

Our math unit on Plane and Solid Figures comes to an end this week.  We’ll begin the week reviewing what we learned about arrays and fractions.  Students will learn that equal shares do not always need to look the same.  They’ll practice partitioning squares and rectangles into fourths in different ways.  We’ll take our end of unit assessment on Tuesday. 

Dinner Questions

How is your book coming along?  What do you want to write about next?

What do you enjoy about math?  Why?  What is difficult for you?

What do you know about Chinese New Year? 

Week of February 5

Dear Parents

Last week was an exciting week with our Mini Academies, a mid-week holiday, and our 100^th Day of School!  Thank you to all the parents who volunteered for our Mini Academies.  As always, the children love all the wonderful activities.

Here’s a look at our week ahead:

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

Home Learning

Our February HomeLearning menu has been posted.  Please encourage your child to complete one activity each week in addition to reading for 20 minutes each night. 

Reader’s Workshop

This week we focus on reading informational books to grow our knowledge about a topic.  Students will read multiple books about the topic they chose.  As they read, they’ll practice recording their new learning and vocabulary on Post-Its.  In addition, students will begin reading a number of books about their topic and think about how the information goes together.  

Writer’s Workshop

We are working on our second informational book. This week we focus on learning how to elaborate upon our ideas by adding facts, details, definitions of expert words, steps, and tips.  Our week begins by learning how to write a fact and then provide a little more information about it to help the reader gain a better understanding of the topic.  Our lessons on definitions will focus on how to write a definition in the glossary and how to write one within the text.  

Science

This week we begin learning about the role exercise plays in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  We’ll begin learning about different types of exercises that help develop our stamina, strength, and flexibility.  We’ll discuss the importance of warming-up before exercising and cooling down after to help keep our bodies safe.  Simple stretches and exercises will be incorporated into these lessons to help get our heart rates pumping!

Math

Our geometry unit continues this week and students will begin learning how rectangular arrays and how to partition squares and rectangles into halves and fourths.  Students will be asked to build and draw all the possible arrays for a given number.  As we begin looking at fractions, students will learn how to partition shapes into equal shares.  This is a great time to incorporate fractions into your lives at home.  Think of all the circular, square, or rectangular foods that you eat that can be partitioned into halves, thirds and fourths. 

Dinner Questions

What types of exercise do you like to do?  How do they help you to be healthy?

What information are you writing about in your nonfiction book?  What is the most interesting for you?

Show me how to partition a (square or rectangle) into halves, thirds or fourths?  Are there other ways?  How do you know?