We are researching and writing about animals. Your children are working on applying their spelling and punctuation knowledge to their every day writing.
Our phonics and spelling pattern will focus on the "r" controlled ar spelling pattern. We practice reading and spelling these patterns daily, but children will benefit from practicing their spelling patterns for 5-10 minutes nightly. This will help them to be spellers, not just for a test, but for a lifetime. Application of basic spelling and sentence conventions are expected at this point in the year. Your children are working on being consistent with the following:
Our Social Studies unit focuses on being a citizen. This week's focus is on being a citizen of a country. We will learn about the United States. Next week, we will focus on our state. Please remember to read daily with your child. Reading to your child, sharing the reading with your child, and being present as your child reads independently are essential steps in building life-long reading habits. This week we wrote about one thing we were good at. We gave step by step directions to teach somebody how to do this activity. If you are in the building, please check out these outstanding writings!
Report cards went home today. Please be sure to return the envelope. The report can stay at home. We loved reading Hi, Fly Guy! Then we made our own Fly Guys and read to them! Puppets will come home tomorrow. I am not sending a reading book home today.
World Down Syndrome Awareness Day March 21 Wear your craziest socks to show your support! MORE ALIKE THAN DIFFERENT! Down Syndrome is caused by an extra (3 instead of 2) of the 21st chromosome: 3-21! This year, the global theme is “Leave no one behind”. All people with Down syndrome must have opportunities to live fulfilling lives, included on a full and equal basis with others, in all aspects of society. We have had an amazing learning week! I am so very proud of your children. We have been learning about animals, and this week we created a book based on the book, Voices of the Wild. We wrote in the "voice" of the animal. They then colored detailed pictures of their animal. The best part is, that this is a favorite book, and groups of children will gather to collaborate and ooh and ahh over their classmates' work. We are wrapping up another math unit. Your children are becoming proficient with their basic facts. They are learning to write numbers in terms of "tens" and "ones". They have even learned a "code" to write numbers in "tens" and "ones". Next week we will continue to learn about animals. We are focusing on how scientists and designers have used ideas from animals and plants to solve human problems. Today, we learned that velcro was based on a burdock plant and that helmets are based on a turtle shell! This is called "biomimicry". I've invited your child to share any Leprechaun shenanigans that might arise at their home. If your child has made a trap, or has a visit from the leprechaun, please snap a photo and send it to me. We'll share them on Monday morning. Have a wonderful weekend. Our field trip to Odiorne Point State Park is on June 11th. This is a learning rich exploration day. We need many volunteers to make the day a great one. In order to be a volunteer for this trip, the Designated Volunteer process must be completed. More information on this is detailed weekly in our school's Bobcat News.
More information about the trip will come out in late May/early June, but I wanted to let you know the date. This week we learned about animal teams and how animals can work together to benefit each other. Your children learned that this is a form of symbiosis. We also researched Penguins. We read many books, articles, and researched websites to get our information. The information was completed on Friday, and it went home with your child. Please have them share it with you. On Friday, we read Tacky the Penguin. We worked with our reading buddies to design a raft for a penguin to use (for when it didn't feel like swimming) and they had to float it in the icy waters, icebergs and all! This was a great engineering activity, and this Friday, they made a plan to try it again. This time with more materials, and more ideas that they gathered from each other. True engineers. This week we will continue to learn about animal behavior. Tuesday is Teacher Workshop Day. I have two conference slots available after my workshop. 3:30 and 4:00. Please let me know if you would like one of the slots. First come first served, but if that time doesn't work out or is taken, please let me know if you would like to try for a different time. A reminder about our Specials Schedule. Monday - P.E. (Wear sneakers) Tuesday - ART Wednesday - Library (Our goal is to have 100% book return) Thursday - Music We had a great first day back! Due to the Snow Day, there have been a few changes. We were unable to preview the Book Fair. We will be purchasing books tomorrow at the Book Fair. Here is the message that was in The Bobcat News on 2/21/19 regarding the Book Fair. It includes a web address that you could use to access what is available and order directly. ******************* PTA NEWS: THE BOOK FAIR IS COMING! March 4th – March 8th. The new eWallet feature is available now! Add money to your child’s account and don’t worry about cash or checks when they shop at school. The online book fair is starting on February 27th! You can shop during vacation and your books will be delivered when we get back to school. You can continue to shop online until March 12th. http://www.scholastic.com/bf/nbcs The in-school book fair will run from Monday, March 4th and close on Friday, March 8th. Friday’s book fair will be open during the family movie event! Please see the above website for the book fair schedule. **** For every purchase you make at school, the week of the book fair, you will be entered in a raffle for a book and a tote bag! Winners will be drawn after Friday’s event and prizes distributed on Monday, March 11th. ************ In other news...Spelling Words went home today. For this week, Math homework will go home on Wednesday. We will not be bringing a reading group book home this week. |
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