Mrs. Lummis’s Classroom:
Newsletter – January 14, 2016
Hello everyone! We have been very busy during the month of
January. The weather is getting a lot colder, and we are checking the daily
cloud coverage, temperature, and wind speed in class. Try and watch the
Weather Channel with your child, discuss the high and low temperatures,
and the changes that may occur in the weather from day to day.
In reading, our class has learned about three types of nonfiction,
which are biographies, reference, and literary nonfiction. We have learned
how to identify the 5 W’s and 1 H by completing a fun activity with rotation
stations and different types of text. As they rotated around the classroom in
groups, there were cards with nonfiction text and questions for them to
correctly categorize at each station. The purpose was to answer each
question and define the “Who, What, When, Where, Why, How” for each
text. We also learned how to identify the author’s purpose in a book, figure
out unknown words, and organize a story in chronological order.
During writing, we have started persuasive paragraphs. We have
learned that persuading someone is to get him/her to like your ideas! We are
starting to write descriptive opinions on what snowmen should not do. Our
class has learned a lot about nouns, verbs, and adjectives as well.
During math, we started chapter five and are learning about hundreds,
tens, and ones. Students practiced the “greater then, less than, equal to”
strategy with three digit numbers. They also ordered numbers with three
digits from greatest to least and least to greatest. Our class also learned about
marking the direction of a turn, whether objects turn to the left or right. They
were also introduced to terms such as “half turn” and “quarter turn.”
In science, our weather study is well underway! We are charting daily
weather patterns and have studied a lot about the water cycle and
meteorology. In small reading groups, we have read about thunderstorms,
the water cycle, and even read interviews with scientists answering
questions. Our Scientist of The Day will start next week. When it is your
child’s turn, an experiment and due date will come home.
In social studies, we continue to study landforms and directions on a
map.
In our 4R’s program we are learning about active listening after
reading the story Angel Child, Dragon Child. Our class talked about how
active listening can help us to solve conflicts. We made paper bag puppets of
ourselves and practiced active listening skills!
I appreciate all of your support! Have a wonderful weekend!
Mrs. Lummis