What are we up to?

Well...
In Reading Workshop we are working in a brand new unit called "Reading Across Genres". The students are in book clubs as they were in the nonfiction unit, but this time they are reading both fiction and nonfiction books around one topic. Some of our "clubs" are The Moon, Knights/Castles, and China. The students are working on finding factual information in fictional books, encountering nontruths and looking through nonfiction to get accurate information, as well as realizing they can learn information from fictional books. Some of our next lessons will involve vocabulary related to the topic. We will continue with this unit until after vacation. The students will probably choose one other topic after vacation.

In Writing Workshop we are working on Persuasive Letter writing. The students are learning strategies for writing a strong piece of persuasive writing. I am so pleased with their progress, they are really working hard and putting a lot of thought into their reasons! The things that they are trying to persuade about are priceless! I will have some pictures up soon.

In Math we are working on finding differences, problem solving, place value and much more. The students have learned some new games such as "The Difference Game" and "Base Ten Exchange". I try to do a Math Workshop approach once or twice a week on my longer days which allows me to meet with small groups during this time.

In Science we are working on a unit on Plants. We charted our schema and put together our lima bean greenhouses. Those will stay up all week and the students will observe any changes each morning and write them down in their observation journal. We will learn about the parts of a plant and do a few fun activities.

Our class could use some of the following if you are able: skinny dry erase markers, glue sticks, colored cardstock (8x11), and did I mention glue sticks? :) We use these almost daily!

Thank you for stopping by!

Parent Notebooks

Thank you to those of you that are writing a brief note back to your child in her/her parent notebook! Remember, they do not earn a sticker on their cover if they do not send back their notebook with a short note back. They are working hard on these so they appreciate any and all responses! :)

Pictures!

Here are some pictures from some activities over the past couple of weeks.

 

Nonfiction Book Club posters

Updates/Challenge Time!

Hi Families, I told the students that we won't have our gumball quiz this week, instead they have an extra week to practice. We will take it next Friday. If your child received new math flashcards they should have come home yesterday. I am so proud of them! Even if they have not gotten a gumball, most of them were able to complete more than the previous week. They are doing so well.

Today we got to fly our paper kites! We have been reading some nonfiction books about kites. The kids learned some interesting facts! We also did an interactive writing piece "How to Fly a Kite". Then the students worked on their own booklets. I have some cute pictures to upload once my camera cooperates.

  This week we learned about oviparous animals. Your child is proud to know what that word means - ask them to tell you about it! We made a class chart of oviparous animals and then the students made their own little books. Today we read nonfiction books about chicks and eggs and the life cycle of a chick. Then they wrote informational text to tell some facts that they learned. We attached them to some cute little chicks hatching out of eggs that are hung in the hallway. Tomorrow we will lean the steps to dying an egg and then we will write our own how-to books. The students will get to dye an egg and take it home!

We are also working hard on learning about opinions in Writing Workshop. The students are writing their own opinions and next we will learn how to write persuasive letters. We have finished up our nonfiction book club unit and next week we will begin the unit of "reading across the genres" which will also involve book clubs.

  Have a wonderful Easter! I will be back to upload pictures as soon as I can!

Here is the challenge!
 1. Which two animals are the only mammals to lay eggs?
2. How many days does it take for a chick to grow and hatch from an egg?
3. What is a group of eggs called?
Please email me your child's answers! Thank you!

Our Opinions Matter!

American Symbols

Here are some pictures of the adorable Statue of Libertys that the students drew! I think they turned out great. We also made bald eagles when we were studying our symbols. :)

 

More Nonfiction Book Clubs

We continue to work so hard in our nonfiction book clubs. I have to say, the students are so engaged and I am proud of the work that they are doing. We have finished up with our first club and the students worked on their posters as their final piece to showcase some of their learning. This week we chose a new book club and have started exploring the books and we will plan out what we want to learn more about within this topic. Some of the topics that the students are learning about include earthquakes, butterflies, volcanoes, firefighters, and dinosaurs!