Math Update

In math this week, the children practiced using fractions to name parts of a collection. They learned about “equivalent fractions,” and identified fractions that mean the same fractional part of the whole. With fraction cards, the children worked to find pairs of equivalent fractions. Finally, we specifically found equivalent fractions for ½, including 2/4, 3/6, and 4/8. The children noticed that when the numerator increases in these fractions, the fraction equals MORE than half. When the numerator drops from the halfway mark, the fraction is LESS than half! The children practiced finding equal groups by creating arrays with counters, and were challenged to identify 1/2, 2/3, 3/5 etc. of the group. Our unit on fractions ended this week with our assessment on Friday. We are looking ahead to Unit 9!

Grammar Update

The children worked with contractions this week. They carefully combined two words with an apostrophe to make one word. Many of the contractions we worked with this week lost their "o" in "not!"

Reading Update

Our theme of the week was Animals Habitats and Homes. Our main story was called, "Nutik, the Wolf Pup." It is about a young Eskimo boy who takes care of a sick wolf pup. The boy’s sister was rescued by wolves, so we were able to infer that the boy and girl know a lot about wolves and were repaying the favor. Our comprehension strategy was making inferences, so as we read the story we mixed what we read with what we know to better understand the story. We inferred that the wolves trusted Amaroq and his sister to nurse the pup back to health, or else they would have made an effort to get their pup back. The children not only read the words in this story, but they read behind the words as well. New vocabulary words included: beloved, glanced, gleamed, noble, promised, and wiggled. We looked closely at word parts and inflected endings this week- words that end in 'ed' let us know that they happened in the past!

Ella is a star!

During Ella's star week, she had two special visitors, both her mom and her dad! They helped her perform her experiment and Ella read a fun story to the class called "The Princess and the Pizza." We all shared why we think Ella is a star! She is sweet, kind, caring, and helpful! She always has a smile on her face and she never gives up. We love having Ella in our class this year!!

Math Update

We've moved right into Unit 8, which is our unit on fractions! Our first lessons reviewed basic fraction concepts, including the identification of the numerator (top number) and denominator (bottom number and total number of pieces.) The children recognized that in order for something to be a true fraction, all of the pieces must be the same size! The kids are also working to split a whole number of items into small, equal groups. They are identifying how many pieces make up one-half or one-third, or one-fourth of the group. Using plastic counters is proving to be very helpful in our practice. The kids are doing a great job so far!

Grammar

The children continued to work this week with irregular verbs. They reviewed that irregular verbs are action words that do NOT end in ‘ed’ in the past tense.

Reading Update

Our reading theme this week was severe weather. Together we read the main selection called, “Super Storms.” Did you know that hail can be the size of a marble or a baseball! Or that a thunderstorm can drop millions of gallons of water in just one minute? The children learned all kinds of fascinating facts like these this week. Vocabulary words found in their texts this week include: beware, destroy, grasslands, prevent, uprooted, and violent. We worked on the comprehension strategy of making and checking predictions while reading. Additional skills we covered over the course of the week were: compound words, and identifying repetition and mood in poetry!