Vowel Teams

This week in Room 4 students were excited for a shift in weather, as temperatures are warming up. Students transitioned from sound to light, wrapped up their realistic fiction stories and celebrated filling the pom-pom jar with a "Book Character Dress Up Day".Be sure to ask your child what characters they met at school. Here are some highlights from this week:

ELA: Students worked on reading and writing cvvc words, where a "vowel team" makes the long vowel sound of the first vowel: ai, ea, ee, ie, oa, ue. Students also worked on memory words: would, could, some, one, were, new and practiced should and come as well. We worked on reading in small groups and retelling stories and students reviewed nouns, verbs, pronouns and learned more about adjectives. Students reviewed endings: -ing,-ed and -es/s.

Writing:Students finished writing their realistic fiction series and had the opportunity to share their stories in small groups. Students worked on sharing as an author and being a good audiance. I encourage and challenge students to keep writing stories at home! Students will start learning about poetry next week and following the break we will start writing our own.

Math:In math students have been working on adding one and two-digit numbers together using a long bead strand and on an open/empty number line. Students have been breaking apart and decomposing numbers in order to make their jumps. Students also compared two and three-digit numbers, determining the greater. Students have been building numbers with different manipulatives and showing numbers in different ways, demonstarting their understnaidng of conceptual place value.

Science:Students did experiments with a tuning fork and a glass of water and ping pong ball. Students saw how the vibration, caused by sound waves, can move solids and create sounds. Students also made rice and sugar "dance" when placed under a speaker. We are now in the process of learning about light and students have read some about light as well as explored flashlights and sunlight, with shadow play and exploration.Student scientists are doing a great job recording their observations.

Other Info and Reminders: 

• Thank you for the recent snack donations! Room 4 really appreciates it! 
• April 14th is a holiday and there will be no school, which will fall right before our week of spring vacation.