Number Line Strategies...

It has been a crazy 2 weeks, with three new students! Students have been so welcoming and helpful in greeting our new students and teaching them all about CF and room 4. They have also been patient with me as some extra attention gets put on the new students. I have such awesome students!

Here is a quick look at our learning:

In reading students have been looking at y as a vowel. They have learned it can make an /i/ or /e/ sound and a long /a/ sound when -ay/. Students have worked with superlatives, adding -er and -est or changing the y to i before adding an ending. We are also working on contractions with not, will, is, am, and are. 

In math students are digging deeper with place value. Students are comparing numbers into the 100's and thousands and really breaking apart numbers. We will start learning how to use open/empty number lines as a way to add and subtract numbers, such as jump strategy, split, jump/split and overcompensation. I sent a paper home yesterday that explains some of these strategies.

In writing students are working on their 2nd realistic fiction story. This story has the same character but different problem as the first story your child wrote, as it is the 2nd in their series. We have read some Henry and Mudge book to illustrate the concept of a series, but many of your children already understand the idea of a series with Magic Tree House books and Harry Potter books. Following writing each day students have been exploring sound, sound waves, vibrations, volume, and pitch. Ask your child about the "Bee-Hummer" they made in class! 

Have a great 3-day weekend! And if anyone is able to donate snack, we could use some!  

Fun with Farmer Leila!

Superkids Day 2018!

Students had a blast today on SUPERKIDS DAY! Centers included: dramatic play with superkids figures, acting out scenes from Superkids Stories, Sal's soccer game with memory words, a superkids matching game, pattern word board games, Ettabetta's  puzzles, Doc's building, etc.

SUPERKIDS DAY:3/23!

Just a reminder that this Friday is SUPERKIDS DAY! If your child should want to dress up as one of the Superkids, please send him/her to school in costume! We will have a fun day filled with creative Superkid-themed centers, which include: learning activities, art projects and games. I am thrilled to celebrate all the hard work and commitment your child had given to his/her reading this year! Thank you for all your support at home. If you have any questions about this day, please feel free to email me!

Almost Spring!

Hello Families! Can you believe it is almost Spring?! Let's hope the weather cooperates, although it may be that we have to get through tomorrow's storm before we switch gears! Students are doing some great learning in the classroom and have really been enjoying some of Farmer Leila's garden lessons. We are growing potato roots and germinating beans! Here's a peek at our learning for this week:

Reading:

We will start looking at y and the two sounds y makes at the end of a word (long /e/, long /i/ and the /ay/ ending. Our new memory words are: down, too, work, many, first. Students are going to be getting some extra practice with memory words and pattern word spelling in the classroom. There are many words we are learning and patterns, so feel free to practice writing them at home or review as their Superkids workbooks come home.

Writing:

Students are starting their realistic fiction writing this week. They spent last week planning their characters, setting, problem and solution and story events. Students will work on their leads, sketch across pages and then start to write. 

Math:

We will be wrapping up unit 8 of math this week. Students are working on learning time to the hour and half hour and 1/4ths. We will be doing some review of 2-D and 3-D shapes as well before our assessment. In our next unit students will be going back to place value and looking at it in a more conceptual way.

Reminders:

-The Irish Step Dancers have been rescheduled to March 15th. It should be a fun assesmbly!

-Superkids Day is March 23rd! Send your child dressed as his/her favorite Superkid!

Dancing Beans

This week students will be involved in some really fun activities! We will have Farmer Leila visit on Wednesday morning to teach us more about plants. Students are germinating beans in the classroom and watering them daily. On Thursday morning we will have a fun assembly, where students will watching Irish step dancers from the McDuffy school of dance. This is one of my favorite assemblies every year! Just as a reminder, Friday is no school for students. Here is a look at the rest of our week:

Reading:

We have wrapped up the last unit of Adventures of Superkids and students will be taking an end of unit assessment this week. It is long so we will be breaking it up over the course of the week in blocks. Students learned about suffixes: -ed, -er, -es, -ing, and -est and the pattern word rules when adding them to the end of a word. Students also practiced identifying the base word. We have been looking at contractions and compound words as well. Next unit, students will look at /y/ and /ay/ endings.

Math:

In math this week we will be working on 3-D shapes and halves. Students will begin to look at parts of a shape and equal haves. Students have been experimenting with making both 2-D and 3-D shapes with other 2- and 3-D shapes. Next week we will start to look at 1/4th's and time.

Writing:

Students continue to work on their realistic fiction stories. Students developed their characters last week and their setting. This week we will be writing the problem, solution and sketching across the pages to show the parts of our story: First, next, then, last.

Reminders:

Superkids Day: March 23rd! Dress your child as his/her favorite Superkid!

Wish List:

-table wipes
-extra snack
-dry erase markers

March 23rd: Superkids Day

Keep your eyes peeled for info coming home with your child about SUPERKIDS DAY. It will be Friday, March 23rd!