4-30-21

Weekly News 4-30-21

Important Notes:

*Next students can choose new library books on Tuesday!

*Run Club next week Monday and Thursday.  Please send an extra afternoon snack for your child and a water bottle. 

Our Work this Week:

*In spelling we worked on inflectional endings - s and -es.  We have been doing this in our grammar work for a while so it made it easier. We practiced adjectives during grammar work, as well as possessive and plural nouns, identifying nouns/verbs, splitting compound words into their parts and using reflexive pronouns correctly. 

*During math we dug into unit 7 with adding three or more addends at a time.  We looked for efficient groupings of numbers to make it easy.  We practiced ballpark estimates and how to use the partial sums algorithm. ( I sent home a guide to that in each child’s folder.)  In another lesson we used data to solve word problems and on Friday we learned about measuring in yards and practiced measuring around the room.  We also found objects around the room to help us remember the size of an inch, a foot and a yard.

*In reading workshop and science we dove into bird study.  We spent time building our background knowledge about birds, the characteristics that make them birds, their anatomy, and beak functions.  We watched some live bird cams to see birds in action and read books and texts to help us become experts.  Our reading comprehension work was to identify how authors organize nonfiction texts.  We read a book that used a “question and answer” format and another that used a “true and false” format.  Next week we will continue to look at this topic as part of our bird research.

*Writing workshop.  This week we made the switch to writing poetry and the kids loved the change in genre.  We learned that poets look at regular objects with special poet’s eyes and often like to reflect on that object with their senses.  Since poets usually write about topics that hold big feelings, we brainstormed our own lists that give us big feelings.  We also learned how to use line breaks to make our poems have rhythm. The kids had a ball trying out this new type of writing and wowed me with their efforts.  Next week we will write more poems and start to publish them in a special book.

*PE was our special this week!  We got to use the scooters which was a big hit.  We also did a new fitness challenge and played some games that emphasized good sportsmanship and teamwork.  It was nice to get outdoors for PE most of the days this week.  

Poems about birds!

One of our BIG FEELINGS brainstorm lists

Our bird folders hold all our nonfiction texts and bird expert tools

We wrote facts about birds after reading nonfiction texts.

We practiced strategies for adding multiple addends.

Graphing and solving problems about data

Being able to watch birds on live web cams is invaluable!

Kids enjoyed checking out bird books, bookmarks, photos, nests and eggs.

That Ms. Luchies is always pushing around carts of books to make sure we all have reading materials!

Personal references to help us remember basic units of measure

This student is showing his efficient grouping of numbers while adding.

Second graders (not seen) are running while the younger kids cheer them on at Run Club.

Finishing a lap!

A distanced snack break outside to fuel up for Run Club.  Our whole class is doing it - so awesome!