This Week...

October 9- October 12, 2018

Reading:  We were so excited to start our nonfiction unit!  Students learned how nonfiction books can be categorized into biographies, literary nonfiction books, and reference nonfiction texts.  They also spent time comparing and contrasting two nonfiction articles.  After reading about the history of pizza and sushi becoming popular in America, students completed Venn diagrams. Reading Logs are due Monday, October 15.  (100 minutes)

Math:  On Tuesday, students took their unit 3 test.  We also began unit 4, which focuses on multi-digit subtraction.  A family letter went home that outlines the key topics.  We learned the reasoning behind regrouping by using base-10 blocks and practiced solving various subtraction problems.

Science:  Students were excited to start our weather unit!  We had a science talk about what weather is, how it affects us, and why it’s important.  We learned that weather is how the sky looks and how the air feels.  Students recorded their observations about various weather situations.

Writing:  We continued working on the skill of showing!  Students wrote about a time when they saw someone open a gift.  They practiced writing details to show how that person was feeling instead of just telling us.  In grammar, students differentiated between commands and exclamations.  They learned that commands ask you to do something and require a period at the end of the sentence.  Exclamations show strong emotion and require an exclamation at the end of the sentence.

Word Study:  Students focused on consonant clusters at the end of words.  They identified various endings and found words that followed the same pattern while playing “Lotto” in small groups.

Miscellaneous:  It has been a great week getting back into the classroom and getting to know the students!  Thank you to Mrs. Riccardo for all her help in getting our year started on a wonderful note!  Also, thank you for taking the time to fill out conference goal setting forms.  These forms will help guide our discussions during conferences…I am looking forward to meeting with you next week!  In class, we spent time discussing bullying to honor October being Bully Prevention Month!  Students learned about “Stop, Walk, Talk” and what to do if he/she is a bystander.  As always, please let me know if you have any questions.  Have a fabulous weekend!