March 26th- April 5th
Reading/Writing Workshop
Last week in Reading Workshop we began our new unit on Reading
Nonfiction. I have many nonfiction books at a variety of reading
levels for the children to use. Each child brings a nonfiction book to
the day’s lesson. We discussed the differences between fiction and
nonfiction by reading two books about apples. In our nonfiction
books, we looked for titles and subtitles, Table of Contents,
chapters, photos, captions, and sidebars. This week we looked for
boldface and italic type, lists, comparisons, charts, maps, graphs,
labels, diagrams, tables, and more! When the children leave the
lesson, they read the nonfiction books they chose. They have also
recorded lists of the text features they find in their books. During
their independent reading time, I have begun meeting with children
individually to assess their current reading levels.
In Writing Workshop many children are working to complete the
publishing process of their character stories. When the stories are
typed, the illustrations complete, and the book bound- the authors
will read their books to the class!
Science/Social Studies/Projects
We will be completing our Maps unit this week in Social Studies.
This unit of study goes right along with the next unit I have already
introduced to the class: Rural, Urban, and Suburban Communities. I
finished reading Charlotte’s Web to the class as an example of life
in a rural community. Then I read The Cricket in Times Square as an
example of life in an urban community. The children compared the
two books in Centers this week.
Our rural field trip to Critz Farms last Tuesday was a lot of fun!
The children learned how maple syrup is made and experienced the
workings of a farm. Thank you to the parents who came with us!
Math
In Math we have done a lot of work using the 100 chart! We
solved equations and filled in the numbers on blank 100 charts. Then
we explained how we decided where to write the numbers. We played
a game called “Roll-a-Square” in which the children rolled dice and
placed that number of cubes on the gameboard. The goal was to
build 100 cubes, but there were other tasks they had to do along the
way- including continually figuring out how far they were away from
100! The children should be very aware of patterns and placement of
numbers on a blank 100 chart.
While the children really like using Whooshes and Pops, we
reviewed other number strategies that can be used to solve twodigit addition and subtraction problems. One way is to split the
numbers into tens and ones: 52+16=___ 50+10=60, 2+6=8, 60+8=68
Another way is to keep the first number whole and split the second:
52+16=___ 52+10=62, 62+6=68. All of these strategies can help
children solve the same problem by looking at it in different ways.
They are also shorter and easier to do!
Reminders
*Check out the Loforte Lake website to see pictures from Critz Farms and
additions to our “Creative Creations” slide shows! Also- MLK final
projects/slide shows are now under the heading of Social Studies.
*No School- April 6th-15th- Spring Break
*Report Cards go home- Friday, April 20th
*Coming soon: Friday, April 27th- Old Fashion School Day! I will need
parent volunteers to run craft centers that day from 11:00-12:30.
*Pencils, pencils, pencils! Midyear I replenished the following supplies for
your child: crayons, markers, pink eraser, and gluestick. Our school does not
supply pencils and many children are without. Please send in a new supply of
pencils to help your child get through the remainder of the year!