Hi,
We had a great first week of 2013 and worked very hard. Thank you for
sending your kids to school ready to learn.
We have a new class pet for two weeks! A family of hissing
cockroaches! George, Gracie, and a baby will be in our room. We will
be observing and researching them next week.
Reading-We are working on improving the depth and quality of our
summaries and responses. They each have a checklist glued into their
reading response books that they can use to help them remember things
that can make a great summary and response. I showed them a model of
a summary and response to our new read aloud, Wonder. They read a
book written by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s sister about their
childhood then wrote their own summary and response using the
checklist then met in small groups to share and discuss the book. The
students also chose an African American in history to research then
they will each write an essay about their person to enter into our
district's Black History Month contest.
Writing-The students will now be writing two entries a week at home.
One entry will be an expository piece and one will be a personal
narrative. These are drafts to help gather more ideas and practice
the format of each type of writing. Each child has two strips of
paper glued into their writing notebooks that they can use to remind
them the differences between these two forms of writing and help them
come up with a topic if they have difficulty with that. In class, we
are looking at mentor texts or books with great writing and taking
notes about what techniques the author then we will apply some of
those strategies to our own writing. We are planning and researching
for our expository pieces about famous African Americans for Black
History Month.
Math-We have been continuing our work on fractions. We have
been using fraction circles and color tiles to discuss equivalent
fractions, fractions that equal one whole, and fractions of a group.
They have been working very hard and sharing strategies that they use.
Ask them about the Horse and lasso game that they played today!
Applying these concepts to word problems while having a visual
representation in our heads will help us later to do better in later
problem solving throughout our lives. Thank you for continuing to
work on math facts at home.
Science-We finished up our properties of soil explorations and will
begin looking at changes to the land through weathering, erosion, and
deposition. Science Fair projects seem to be coming along nicely.
Thank you for working so hard on them at home.
Social Studies-Texas Revolution has been our focus. We are beginning
to look at the causes of the Texas Revolution and the events. We
explored an interactive site in the computer lab, began reading a book
together about the revolution called Remember the Alamo, and started
watching a movie about the Battle of the Alamo. We will continue to
study the revolution using text book reading, reading of historical
fiction novels, and looking at primary sources to gather information.
We will also look at important people in the Texas Revolution as
well.
Dates to Remember:
Monday, January 14-Reading Logs due
Tuesday, January 15-Math Club
Wednesday, January 16-Checkpoint #4 due
Thursday, January 17-Service Club Meeting
Friday, January 18-Forest Creek Talent Show-6:30 pm
Monday, January 21-No School- Martin Luther King Day
Tuesday, January 22-Science Project presentations begin in
class-tri-fold board or poster needed
Thursday, January 24-Writing Club
Wednesday, January 30-Pen Pal Visit, Spring Individual and Group Photos
Thursday, January 31-Service Club meeting and Science Fair/Math Night
Have a great weekend!
Sincerely,
Pam
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