The Cardboard Challenge was terrific! Please be sure to check out your child's photo in the STEAM journal from this week.
The month of February will be a busy one. Our biography focus will be on Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Valentine's Day for our class will be celebrated on February 16th. Children may bring in Valentines to deliver to their classmates. Children may wish to include a wrapped candy treat with their Valentines, and this is fine. We will CREATE a special Valentine Carrying Device here at school. I would like to have a special Snack on that day. I'd love donations of the following: bottled waters (12), juice boxes or bags (12), pre-packaged/factory packaged cookies or cakes (3 boxes of 12). To help with Valentines, a list of classmates will be sent home on Tuesday in the folder. This week we will show what we know by completing the reading Unit 5 assessment. We will also be focusing on some KEY high frequency words, and your child will be tested on Thursday on these 8 Sight Words. The list will be on SEESAW on Monday morning. We will be working on picturing what we are reading (visualizing). We will be reading several Jan Brett favorites this week and writing about what we are picturing while we are reading. Your child's writing journal this week will focus on this skill by using poetry. In math, we are working on making numbers with Base Ten blocks and understanding place value. Our science work will look at shadows, and we will answer the question...Does a statue's shadow move? It looks to be a VERY cold week. Please be sure to pack snow gear - boots, hat, mittens, snow-pants daily. We will work on our Engineering and Design skills on Tuesday, as we participate in the NBCS Cardboard Challenge. During Friday's ZOOM, we read Not a Box and watched a video about a young boy who created an entire arcade out of cardboard boxes.
Our journal this week will be all about the design process. Your child will begin to plan and imagine on Monday and record thoughts and ideas into the journal. On Tuesday, we'll post a photo in the journal, and on Wednesday, the kids will reflect and write about what they might change, etc. We have plenty of tape...THANK YOU! I have lots of small boxes, but if the kids are planning on Monday and decide to bring in a box, that is fine too. Just be sure that they keep the box on the small side...cereal boxes or smaller are encouraged. We are finishing up our fourth math unit. We will have a math assessment on Tuesday and begin unit 5 on Thursday. This next unit will focus on adding and subtracting past ten, solidifying place value, and writing numbers past 100. We will continue to read and learn about maps. We are creating maps of things that we know. Later in the week, the kids will bring home their Me on the Map booklets. They will then complete the last couple of maps at home. Be on the lookout for this to come home on Thursday. We continue to work on reading and spelling words with the "h" brothers digraphs. (ch, tch, wh, ph, sh, and th). Looking forward to a week of learning, laughing, and growing together. Today, the children began to learn about Martin Luther King Jr. via SEESAW. We will continue to learn about Martin Luther King Jr. this week during our in class learning times.
Our reading and Social Studies work will focus on maps. We will focus on understanding the following: continent, country, state, and community. In math, we are reviewing Ten More and Ten Less. Next week, our school will be involved in the GREAT BOX CHALLENGE. The class will put on their Engineering and Design caps to design, create, and imagine! I have plenty of boxes, but I am in need of large donations of masking tape! If you could donate a roll or two to the classroom, it would be really appreciated. Paper towel and toilet paper tubes are needed too! If you are able to donate a roll or two and/or a tube or two, I'd like to have donations by this Thursday. Tomorrow, our special changes, and the kids will again be having ART! I'm looking forward to a wonderful week of learning and growing! The kids have done an outstanding job on finding their WORD for the year. We are publishing their writings this week. Here is a picture of a project we did with the word last week. This week we will be continuing to work with our sh and th digraphs. Our spelling check in will be on Thursday. We are continuing to read stories about helping in the community. Our comprehension work is on identifying characters, the setting, and important events. We are working on our Friends of Ten Fluency. The kids are doing a fantastic job with this. We are also working on doubles to 20. This morning, we worked on a shape and art project, in the hopes that it might bring a few snowflakes! Our Social Studies work will focus on biographies. This week, we are learning about Albert Einstein and his contributions.
Welcome to 2021! I am looking forward to seeing the Shining Super Stars on Tuesday.
Since our week will start off with SEESAW, I wanted to share some changes that I have made to SEESAW work. When you see a lesson/assignment, I will have it marked as PRACTICE or GRADED. All assignments get graded, but I wanted to share what this will mean. PRACTICE assignments are to practice and these receive a participation grade. GRADED assignments, will be graded in relation to the skills associated with them. GRADED assignments are things that we have been working on. IXL assignments are GRADED assignments. When I assign IXL skills to your child, these are based on the work that we have done in class, and your child has had some experience with the concepts and content. I wanted to share that, as I know sometimes it is difficult to complete all assignments. Although the practice assignments are essential and are how your child works towards mastery, missing an occasional practice assignment is preferred over missing a graded one. The expectations in our current reading and math unit are increasing. In reading, we are beginning to work with some challenging phonics/spelling patterns. We are also beginning to look back at our stories to find text evidence to show our story understanding. Beginning this week, our weekly reading units will be stretched out over a two week time period. This will enable students to have more instructional time with me on these challenging concepts. I will also begin to have a bi-monthly spelling test. This will be given on the Thursday of our second week in a reading unit. This will replace our Friday ZOOM Check-in. Spelling Words will come home with your child on Tuesday. Our Social Studies work this month will focus on biographies. We will be learning about famous explorers, scientists, and leaders. To start this unit off, as part of Monday's SEESAW work, your child will be asked to listen and read the story One Word. Your child will then be asked to think of his/her One Word. We will be sharing and creating a project with this on Tuesday morning. I am looking forward to sharing this new year together. Although I wish that we were beginning this year with more days together, I am grateful for the ones that we have, and for all the effort you are putting into the at home portion of your child's day. With Gratitude, Mrs. Veilleux |
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