The upcoming week is full of excitement, as it's Read Across America Week, in celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday!
Monday: Cat in the Hat day: wear a crazy hat!
Tuesday: Fox in Socks day: wear mismatched or crazy socks!
Wednesday: Thing 1 and Thing 2 day: dress up as Thing 1 or 2, or like twins!
Thursday: One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish day: wear red and/or blue!
Friday: Green Eggs and Ham day: wear green!
We will be doing a ton of extra reading in class for our reading logs; please be sure your child is completing the read-a-thon reading log that came home on Thursday!
NO MORE EARLY RELEASE WEDNESDAYS! Oregon Trail School District solved the problem of all the snow/ice days by extending Wednesdays' school hours to match the rest of the week. Please plan accordingly.
Upcoming week
Language Arts
Spelling: Week two of Unit 9. You can always view our most current spelling words by clicking on the "Spelling Words" tab above. You can also click here.
Writing: We will be working on identifying and emulating the tricks other authors use to make their writing come alive.
Reading: We will be starting a new unit in reading: Everything Changes. We will learn about cycles in nature and changes in nature, including the seasons, weather, the rock cycle, how fossils are formed, AND MORE!
Math
We are into our second week of chapter 6, which is all about adding larger numbers (into the 100s and 1000s place).
Content area studies (Science)
Students will be beginning a research project about an aspect of the natural world they are curious about. They will do some research, some writing, and create a small presentation (this will also be our public speaking for the month).
Week in review
Language Arts
Spelling: Week one of Unit 9. You can always view our most current spelling words by clicking on the "Spelling Words" tab above. You can also click here.
Writing: We worked on crafting powerful endings, by studying Aesop's fable "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing," and rewriting the ending using several different authors' tricks.
Reading: We wrapped up our unit, making a great connection between William Steig's classic "Amos and Boris" with Aesop's "The Lion and the Mouse." We also worked on fluency, answering text-dependent questions, and being sure to take our time to answer questions thoughtfully and thoroughly.
Math
We have been working on adding, and learning strategies to make adding quicker and easier in some circumstances. Thank you for your patience and open-mindedness with some of this "new-fangled math." The focus of math instruction has changed since you or I were in school: instead of simply learning the algorithm for addition (stack up the numbers, start in the ones place, add, if it goes over nine, you need to carry over into the next place), students explore strategies for making it easier to add. These tricks, along with mental math, will help them be better, more confident mathematicians.
Content area studies (theater)
Our class worked very hard to put together plays for your enjoyment. All of their costumes were made by themselves. Here are some pre-production pictures. I will hopefully update this post after our big performance this afternoon. Public speaking and performance, when started early, and in a safe, comfortable atmosphere, helps children grow into confident public speakers.
