March 15

The Leprechaun came today and left us STARBURST and Lucky Charm's, his favorite cereal.

Reading:  We have been working on visualization and using the 5 senses.  We looked at or summaries and highlighted them to see where we were doing really well and where we needed to imporve.
Math: We are working on different strategies for addition, some of them are:  Breaking down in 10's & 1's, decomposing by finding a friendly 10,  keeping 1 number whole and using the number line, and regrouping.
Science:  We finished our unit on habitats and now we will start making models of habitats and then we will compare them to each other.  The letter for the animal report will go home on Monday.  Here is a copy for the requirements:

Dear Parents,

All year we have been working on Non Fiction Text Features.  And now we are going to put all our knowledge to use on making our own animal book.  The students have started to research and gather information about an animal that they have chosen to write about.  They can use these notes and any other resources they can find to make their animal book.   The students should have brought their nonfiction text features book home with them to help with writing their book.

 Animal Book Requirements:

·      Cover: Title, author, picture (copied or hand drawn)

·      Table of Contents: Chapter Headings and page numbers in numerical order.

·      5 Chapters:  Heading (title), 1 Main Idea and at least 2-3 sentences that support the heading and main idea for each chapter.

·      At least one illustration or drawing.

·      At least one photograph. (Can be black and white)

·      Captions under drawings or illustrations.

·      Labels under drawings or illustrations.

·      Glossary:  At least 3 words in ABC order with definitions.  (The words in the glossary should be in Bold or colored in their book.)

·      Index:  At least 3 words that appear in the book that is of interest.  They need to be ABC order with the page numbers they appear in their book.

·      Map of where in the world their animal can be found or other information that fits in their book.

·      Diagram of anything interesting on their animal.

Some of your headings could be: Babies, Adulthood, Food or Eating Habits, Predators, Habitats, Fun Facts, Hunting, Camouflage, Life Cycles, What Humans Use Them For, Nocturnal or Diurnal, Hibernate or Migrate, How To Take Care Of This Animal, etc.

We will project these books and the children will be reading these books to the class.

These reports are due May 3^rd.

MARCH 8TH

This week we worked on visualization in reading.  In math the students are doing wonderful on adding 2 digit numbers.  We did regrouping today and they did marvelous. In writing we wrote persuasive letters to the Leprechaun. They will be hanging in the hallway.  In science we worked on habitats and some of the students started to research for their reports on an animal of their choice.


We are going to be doing a science project were we are making our own habitats.  If you have any extra plastic containers that strawberries, cookies, etc come in, Christmas garland or fake leaves that you would like to donate to our class we would appreciate it.  I will be sending home a recipe for salt dough that I would like all the children to make.

March 1st

Today was the end of the trimester.  I am really proud of the students.  They are working hard and doing a great job.  This week everyone turned in their HOMEWORK.  Thank You for working with your children at home.

Feb 22

Reading:  The students wrote fabulous summaries this week.  I was so proud of them that I took them to show Mr. Rencher.
We are continuing to study about adding details and characterization to fictional text and finding the main idea and supporting details in non fiction.

Writing: We wrote persuasive essays on why you should vote for them to be President.

Math:  Everyone scored above 86% on our Time Test, but our goal is 90% or higher so 4 students are still working on reaching that goal.  We started our unit on geometry and adding/subtracting 2 digit numbers with regrouping.

Social Studies:  We finish our unit on the Antarctica with a feast on canned food consisting of tuna, corn, beans, and pears.  The students made their post cards of what they would do, wear, visit, eat, and why they would/wouldn't recommend a visit to Antarctica.

Science:  We started to our unit on Habitats.  We learned about habitats in grasslands, streams & rivers.

Feb 15th

We had a fun Valentines Party and lots of candy and kind words for everyone.
Reading:  We have been working on writing 3 supporting details for our try/ wins and recognizing  the main idea and supporting details in non-fiction text.  We wrote similes about Valentines Day in the shape of a heart.
Math:  We are almost finished with our clock unit and will be taking the test this coming week.
Science:  We finished our unit on Matter and took the test.
Social Studies:  We talked about Antarctica and patriotism.

Thank You Parents for coming to SEP's.  I was able to visit with every parent.  Your students are doing wonderful.  I am so lucky to be their teacher.  Thank You for all your work.  We had every student bring back their homework this week/  WOW!!!

Feb. 1st

This week we have been working on making inferences, main ideas and supporting details, telling time (O'clock & half past).  We turned liquid cream into solid butter; read about and took notes on "gas".  We finished our unit on the Continent "Asia" by eating on a mat with chopsticks rice, won tons, and sweet & sour sauce.  We even had a fortune cookie.  Then the students made their post card of touring Asia.  Finally we  took a number sense test.  We had a great week!