Hello everyone!
Thank you for checking in to our weekly update! As you know, Progress Reports went home on Friday. I spend a lot of time thinking about the progress of each and every one of my students as I prepare these reports. I am so proud of all of their growth from the beginning of the year until now! It is truly amazing to think about all that the children are able to do in March that they were not ready to do back in August. Please acknowledge and praise those strengths with your child, and think about ways to focus in on areas that need some additional attention! We are beginning our third and final trimester together! Its hard to believe that this is the home stretch!
**Please remember to return the Progress Report envelopes to school so we can use them one final time for the June reports.**
You might have heard I was a bit under the weather this week. A trip to the doctor was helpful and now I'm trying my best to recover from a pretty powerful cough due to Bronchitis. It was a great reminder to take a few minutes to disinfect our learning space using the much appreciated Clorox Wipes that the children have brought in! The children are very quick and effective as they scour their desktops, and their chairs, and then with new wipes they move on to the lightswitch, pencil sharpener, shared markers under our whiteboard, the computer keyboards, listening center and more. It doesn't take more than 5-7 minutes, and they are quite a little cleaning crew! They think of places to cover that even I hadn't thought of! :) We are doing all we can to be as healthy as possible during these last few weeks of winter.
Reading
This week was a "Week 6" of Treasures, which means the children spent some time on review activities to prepare for their unit 4 assessment at the end of the week.
Spelling
The children chose their own spelling words! The children were very careful about their choices! I saw many words come from our recent science lessons, the upcoming Spring, or words from the children's "You Try" spelling sheets that they keep inside their desks!
Writing
The children spent some time writing a cinquain poem about Spring! Instead of thinking creatively to incorporate examples of alliteration, onomatopeia, and similes- as we did with our Friend Poems, the children switched their thinking this time to write short, succinct, descriptive poems about something under the umbrella of Spring. They really enjoyed writing these poems! We also explored and attempted to write some Limericks as well! This was another challenge for us, as the Limerick is locked into a certain number of syllables per line: 8,8,5,5,8. It was helpful for us to review our syllables a few weeks back, but it still really made us think!
We have also begun writing St. Patrick's Day tales! The children heard a handful of my favorite St. Patrick's Day stories, and we thought carefully about the characters, setting, problem and solution of each one. With a graphic organizer, the children began planning their own stories! We worked hard to really develop the beginning of the story, telling all about the characters and the setting in the beginning of our stories. The children were challenged to write beyond "outside," or "in a house" and really described the location, time of year, and time period! They have also worked on the middle of their stories, where the problem is introduced. We hope to have these finished and published during our short week next week!
Math
We are working hard on Fractions in Unit 8! The big idea is that fractions are "equal parts." If the parts are not the same size, they are NOT fractions! The children learned the terms numerator and denominator this week. They know that the denominator is the total number of pieces, its on the bottom, and it doesn't change! We also learned the term "equivalent" or EQUAL fractions. The children cut out a series of circles into different fractions. They practiced matching up the sizes of the pieces to the circles in their Math journals. They learned that 2/4 is equivalent to 1/2, and 2/3 is equivalent to 4/6, etc.
Science
The children worked through a number of exciting explorations this week! Again using our toy cars, the children practiced "pushing" and "pulling" the cars using different amounts of force. We made sure to note that with NO FORCE, the car did NOT MOVE! We learned that different levels of force will move an object at different speeds.
Another exploration they completed included a number of marbles made not only of different sizes but of different materials. The marbles were made of glass, metal, and cork, and there was a large and a small size of each one. Using a "track" constructed of two meter sticks taped together and anchored with clay, the children practiced rolling the different balls down the track, with their goal being to move the one ball on the track a certain distance. They were given a ramp that they could incline or decline. During this exploration the children thought about how the weight of the object might affect its speed, or the impact it has on another object upon collision. A lot of investigation and fun occurred in our room this week!
LMC
The children were able to connect their learning in science to technology this week as they explored a few websites that I found online. A few of the links the children used are here, have them show you! http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/physical_processes/forces_action/play.shtml
In this activity, the children are asked to change the incline of a ramp and then release a little truck set on a track, in order to get the truck to land at a marked spot.
In this interactive exploration, the kids think about friction as they change the surface the car is rolling on to change the amount of friction in order to manipulate the distance the car travels.
Star Students
You might have heard that my niece and nephew, Delaney and Braden, were our miniature star students this week! The children hear about them all the time when I model the comprehension strategy of "making connections" to things that happen in my life while we read together or are learning something new. They have been asking if they would get a chance to meet them! When I noticed we did not have a star for the week, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. The class loved getting to meet these cute little members of my family, I've never seen so many "high fives!"
Art Appreciation
Thanks to Ms. Heintz for coming in to spend some time with our class, and getting them to think about Art on a deeper level!
Coming Up:
Wednesday: Sports Spirit Day!
Thursday/Friday: Parent/Teacher Conferences
