Weekly News 2-5-21

 Weekly News 2-5-21

Important Notes:

*We will be making our valentines at school - no need to buy or make anything at home.

*Our special this week will be MUSIC.  Students will now be able to exchange library books every Tuesday so send books back by then.

Our Work this Week:

*In spelling we have focused on silent e words.  We have learned that adding the silent e makes the short vowel become a long vowel.  Students have practice with this from Lexia.  With our spelling words we have worked on rhyming, vocabulary development, sorting and proofreading. Next week is a review unit of the last 5 weeks so students will only get a list if they have not yet mastered 90 or 100 % of the words.

*During math we worked on more subtraction strategies, like subtracting 0 and 1 from any number and subtracting doubles facts easily.  We also practiced solving addition and subtraction rules and finding patterns. On Friday we learned the “strategy of going back through 10” as a way to use efficient mental strategies to count backwards.  We have continued to work on mastering our addition facts daily.

*In reading workshop we focused on a new type of nonfiction - biographies!  Since it is Black History Month we focused on reading biographies of famous black Americans like Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver and Mae Jemison.  In our reader’s notebooks we recorded new learnings, asked questions and detailed character traits about these individuals.  Our Scholastic News taught us about Abraham Lincoln and his role in our country’s history.

*Writing workshop this week had us completing  our “All About” books.  Most students have written two books and took some time to edit their work for spelling, capitalization and periods, as well as add illustrations to accent their text. We shared these books with classmates Friday and will move on to writing lab reports next week as we learn about force and motion.  

*Science this week included lots of time observing and monitoring our 3 plant experiments.  We drew detailed observations of each experiment and analyzed why certain plants grew more than others. We were overjoyed to see our “grassheads” start to sprout grass!  Proof that our grow lights and heavy watering regimen is working!!!  (Last year my “grassheads” failed so Mrs. Pols has been super excited about our success this year.)

All About Book page

Experimenting with adding a "FUN FACT!"

Some of the kids tried adding a glossary to their books.

This student did some research for this page!

We recorded our root viewers - more next week!

Students recorded their plan and drawings on the Grass Head sheet as we set them up.

Our radish experiment has produced interesting results.  We observed and drew them after two weeks.

On Friday we learned an interesting subtraction strategy - going back through 10!

Every day students do "math boxes" to help solidify foundational math skills.

We think our grow light might be an important factor in the success of our Grass Heads. Credit to Mrs. Kaser for suggesting this!

We also discovered that when we added a plastic cover to our radish plants they grew much faster!

Students practiced identifying and following rules and patterns.

In our Reader's notebooks we recorded thinking about Rosa Parks after reading her biography.

Each student sketched something they felt captured who Rosa Parks was.

We are working on our valentine making every day during read aloud.  Students chose their valentines, cut them up, decorated them and are using a checklist to label one for all their classmates.