A Simple Note to Say…
Spring break is fast approaching! I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a relaxing vacation. The kids have been working so hard, and they certainly deserve a break!
If you have not turned in your permission slip or money for Trap Pond, please make sure to send it to school as soon as possible. Thanks!
What’s Been Happening in Our Class?
• In writing, we completed our Narrative Lab. We read several family stories, identified story elements, and completed various graphic organizers. We used our graphic organizers to finish our version of "The Three Little Pigs" that included details about the main character, supporting character, setting, problem, solution, and lesson. Finally, we revised, edited, and published these writing pieces. In this unit, we referred to an editing checklist and completed the editing process with much more independence than the Animal Research Lab.
• The morning messages continue to be an integral part of our instruction, and we have spent the last couple weeks on reviewing long and short vowels. We also reviewed synonyms and antonyms. We are able to provide synonyms or antonyms for various words, which has enhanced our vocabulary.
• In math, we completed Unit 6. We each made a pair of identical penguins and glued them in a special arrangement on a class chart. We discussed our observations and counted by multiples of two.
• In Unit 7, we began working on place value and adding and subtracting multiples of ten. Two new workplaces were introduced to support these skills. “Two Turns to Build” workplace allows us to collect bundles of craft sticks and individual sticks to represent a 2-digit number. We add our total number of sticks and compare the total to our partner’s total. In “Race to Zero” workplace, we subtract multiples of ten from 90, and the first person to reach exactly 0 is the winner.
• Finally, we related our math skills with the story of Hansel and Gretel. We made our own trails with our partners and practiced adding multiples of ten, counting by tens and ones, and counting forward and backward (by ones) from any number between 1-120.
• In science, we compared the rate of flow between two different liquids by performing “drop races”. We reviewed our fabulous vocabulary to identify the rate of flow… viscous and fluid. We also observed what happened when certain liquids were mixed with water. We learned that oil actually floated on top of the water and would not mix.