This week was short and sweet, yet we accomplished so much!
- Our cursive handwriting practice has begun! The children have promised not to go ahead as we learn the letters of the alphabet in cursive. I can see that they are taking this very seriously! I love to see how tall they sit in their chairs, with proper posture, their paper slanted, and their guide hand holding their paper steady. Their handwriting is coming through right on the lines, and so smoothly, too! I'm so impressed!
Spelling
The children worked on words with the “consonant clusters” this week. These words all begin with /sc/, /scr/, /sp/, /spr/ and /st/, /str/.
Reading
This week we read a story that many of the children had seen before, called “Click, Clack, Moo, Cows that Type.” We worked on the comprehension strategy of visualizing the story as we read along. The children also identified examples of Cause and Effect throughout the story. Ex: *Because the cows were cold, they wrote a letter asking for electric blankets. *Because the farmer would not give them electric blankets, they would no longer give him milk! New vocabulary word we worked on include: demand, emergency, furious, impatient, sincerely, and snoop.
As we have discussed various literary elements, the children and I are constantly on the lookout for examples of them. Lucas showed me an example of a simile (comparison using like or as) in his library book this afternoon! Alya recognized alliteration (repetition of the “b” sound) as Peter read aloud to the class during his star student presentation! All of the kids found examples of onomatopeia as we read the story “ROAR!” earlier in the week, it was full of words that imitate the sound they make. The children are challenged to include these elements during our poetry writing, as well!
You might have heard, we have begun a new read-aloud, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Its so much fun to bond together as a class through the sharing of a story. I love to watch how excited the children get as they listen to the book- they actually cheered today when they found out that Charlie had found the 5th golden ticket! (hooray! :) Grammar
The children worked to combine two short sentences with the same subject or predicate into one sentence using the word “and.” We reviewed correct punctuation at the end of sentences, too!
Math
We worked on three key concepts this week. First we practiced solving addition problems with three addends. We reviewed identifying numbers that “make a ten,” because those are the easiest numbers to add together first. Next, we worked on comparison number story problems. Coming up, the children will become more familiar with the “Quantity, Quantity, Difference” diagram to help them solve subtraction story problems
Our subtraction fact practice is going strong. The children are familiar with a variety of strategies to help them solve these facts. The strategies include: Count up, Count back, -8 and -9. Keep up the good work!
Science
We continue to explore the amazing rainforest! The children learned the four layers (sung to the tune “If You’re Happy and You Know It!” Have them sing it for you! We are in the process of constructing our own miniature rainforests in which we can label and describe each layer. We read a book this week called The Shaman’s Apprentice, which showed us all of the endless resources the rainforest provides us, especially in the area of medicine. Thinking about the fact that acres of the rainforest are being destructed every minute is a sad one. We will talk more about the destruction of this valuable habitat next week as we draw this portion of our unit to a close.
Coming Soon:
Monday, January 24: SIP Day. The children will have a nice long weekend while the teachers are back to work!
Tuesday, January 25: Back to School!
Friday, January 28: Spirit Day- Crazy Hats!
Have a nice weekend!
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