This was a wintery week for sure. Lots of snow, ice, cloudy skies, cold days and bright white snow. Students who have all their winter gear have more fun at recess because they can play in the snow. Please be sure to send your child each day with a coat, boots, snowpants, hat, and gloves/mittens!
We filled our heart jar this week! We celebrated by doing some flashlight reading on Thursday!
We started our first PBL (Project Based Learning) of the year. A PBL is an integrated unit that requires planning, inquiry, collaboration and communication. Our PBL is a science, music, and engineering unit about sound! This week we looked and listened closely to hear different sounds, describe the sounds, and figure out how the sound was being made. We did a few experiments in the class to think about how different materials can be used to produce different kinds of sounds. The students are excited because the final project is making our own instruments from recycled materials! If you have any clean and nut-free recyclables at home please send them in on Thursday 1/23. We will begin making our instruments that day! Also, please mark your calendars for Monday February 3rd from 2:15-3:00. This will be the day our class will perform and demonstrate their learning from our sound PBL!
In math we focused on the make 10 facts (9+1, 8+2, 7+3, 6+4, 5+5, 4+6, 3+7, 2+8, 9+1) and used them while practicing a new addition strategy called Find 10. Here are samples of how to use this strategy. (Sorry--can't upload photos from home--will add them next week!)
In FUNdations we began a new unit that combines our short vowel and digraph work with the bonus letter rule. If a short vowel word ends with an ff, ll, ss right after the short vowel it gets a bonus letter! We also learned the chunk all and how that has a bonus letter but is a little different because the a changes its sound. Here are some examples of words from this unit: shell, miss, fall, huff, chill, wall, cuff, moss.
In reading and writing we are focusing on non-fiction. We are learning specific reading strategies to help us learn about non-fiction text features and how best to learn by reading non-fiction books. We also started to write books about things we already know a lot about! Students are writing "All About" or "How to..." books on topics where they are experts! Some topics include: soccer, fish, dinosaurs, HEART, art, red pandas, trains.
Dates to Remember:
- January 20 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day - NO SCHOOL
- February 3 - PBL Band Performances! 2:15-3:00
- February 12 - Half Day 12:15 dismissal; activities available with prior sign-up
- February 14 - Valentine's Day Celebration 11:30-12:00
- February 24 - March 3 - Winter Break + Inservice Days - No School
- March 4 - school resumes
❤ Mrs. Fox
No comments:
Post a Comment