April 28-May 2, 2014

Math:  This week in math we are working on doubles subtraction facts.  Just like in our last subtraction unit, we are thinking addition to do subtraction.  For example, if you know that 9+9=18, then you also know 18-9=9 because it is a related fact.  We will do problem solving to reinforce.

Reading and Writing Workshop:  This week in Reading and Writing workshop, we will be reading Expository texts to become experts about an animal. We will be using the Research Process to help us. The students were allowed to choose an expository text about an animal from the library last week, and we will be using it and kid friendly research engines such as www.pebblego.com to learn about the topic.  All of the kids picked different animals to research, so I am excited to see what we can all learn!

Research Process:

1. Pic a topic to research
2. Activate prior knowledge (What do you already know about your topic?)
3. Ask questions (What do you want to learn about your topic?)
4. Read Expository texts (books, websites, magazines, newspapers)
5. Record the information found
6. Reflect (What did you learn about your topic?)

Word Study: 

Green: ip, ig, and ill word families

Blue:  at, ot, and it word families

Red:  Review for CVVC pattern (ai, oa, ee, ea)

Science:   This week we will be finishing up our Animal Unit.  We will be learning about the life cycle of the frog.

Habit #4 Think Win-Win:  I balance the courage of getting what I want with the consideration of what others want.

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

*Library day is Tuesday.

*Please remember to send back your child’s orange folder and homework bag every day.

*It helps me tremendously if you leave the reading response notebook and books in the homework bag every day.  We use them at school!

Dates to remember:

May 1:  Field Trip to ZACH Theater

             Talent Show (K-3)

May 2:  Field Day 10:05-11:55

            Talent Show (4-5)

May 5-9:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 7:  Early Release Day

May 9:  Career Day

May 12-16:  Book Fair

May 26:  No School-Memorial Day

May 29:  Game/Movie Day!

May 30:  End of the Year Party and Last day of school!

April 21-25, 2014

Math:  This week we will continue learning about fractional parts.  We will work with halves and fourths this week.  We will apply the knowledge we have gained about fractional parts when we solve word problems in our math notebooks.  Again, anything you can do at home to pull this concept into the kiddos’ daily life is great!

Reading and Writing Workshop:  This week in Reading and Writing workshop, we will be reading Expository texts to become experts about an animal. We will be using the Research Process to help us. The students were allowed to choose an expository text about an animal from the library last week, and we will be using it and kid friendly research engines such as www.pebblego.com to learn about the topic.  All of the kids picked different animals to research, so I am excited to see what we can all learn!

Research Process:

1. Pic a topic to research
2. Activate prior knowledge (What do you already know about your topic?)
3. Ask questions (What do you want to learn about your topic?)
4. Read Expository texts (books, websites, magazines, newspapers)
5. Record the information found
6. Reflect (What did you learn about your topic?)

Word Study: 

Green:  ut, ug and un Word Families

Blue:  k, wh, qu, tw

Red:  Short -e and Long –e (CVVC)

Science:  This week in science we will learn about the different natural resources, what they are used for, and how we can help by conserving them.  On Earth Day (April 22) we will focus on what reducing, reusing, and recycling and we will discuss how those 3 things can help our beautiful planet, Earth.

Habit #4 Think Win-Win:  I balance the courage of getting what I want with the consideration of what others want.

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

*Library day is Tuesday.

*Please remember to send back your child’s orange folder and homework bag every day.

*It helps me tremendously if you leave the reading response notebook and books in the homework bag every day.  We use them at school!

Dates to remember:

April 22-24:  STAAR Testing-NO VISITORS

May 1:  Field Trip to ZACH Theater

             Talent Show (K-3)

May 2:  Field Day

            Talent Show (4-5)

May 5-9:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 7:  Early Release Day

May 9:  Career Day

May 12-16:  Book Fair

May 26:  No School-Memorial Day

May 29:  Game Day!

May 30:  End of the Year Party and Last day of school!

April 14-18, 2014

Math:  This week we will begin learning about fractional parts.  We will learn what a fraction is first off, and then we will talk about equal parts of a whole and then even halves and fourths.  If you find the opportunity to talk about fractional parts with your child at home, that would be great!  Any time you can find the chance to relate math to real life is awesome!

Reading and Writing Workshop:  This week in Reading and Writing workshop, we will be reading Expository texts and learning about the Research process.  We will apply this knowledge when we begin our class Research project on Chicks!  After that, the students will be picking their own topic to research.

Word Study: 

Green:  et, eg and en Word Families

Blue:  pr, tr, and dr Blends

Red:  Short -u and Long –u (CVCe and CVVC)

Science:  This week in science we will continue our Animals unit.  We will focus on Mammals this week.  We will learn about the mammals’ body parts, life cycle, how mammals depend on the different things in their habitat, and last, we will learn what makes mammal babies so different from all other animals’. 

Habit #3 Put First Things First:  I spend my time on things that are most important.  I set priorities.  I work first then play.

Holy moly!  We had a lot of chicks hatch and we had so much FUN!

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

*Library day is Tuesday.

*Please remember to send back your child’s orange folder and homework bag every day.

*It helps me tremendously if you leave the reading response notebook and books in the homework bag every day.  We use them at school!

Dates to remember:

April 18:  No School- Good Friday

April 22-23:  STAAR Testing-NO VISITORS

May 1:  Field Trip to ZACH Theater

             Talent Show (K-3)

May 2:  Field Day

            Talent Show (4-5)

May 5-9:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 7:  Early Release Day

May 9:  Career Day

May 12-16:  Book Fair

May 26:  No School-Memorial Day

May 29:  End of the Year Party

May 30:  Last day of school!

April 7-11, 2014

Math:  This week we will continue our study of measurement.  We will be learning to measure with "inchworms", baby steps and Frog jumps.  Non-standard measurement prepares students to use standard and metric measurement in 2nd grade and on.  Measuring thing at home helps students to create meaningful experiences with measurement.  Have your child help plan the garden this year.  How many foot steps does each plant need to grow? How much water should we give each plant?  How tall is our plant when we put it in the ground?  How tall does it grow over time?  Enjoy measuring!

Reading and Writing Workshop:  This week in Reading and Writing workshop, we will be reading Expository texts and learning about the Research process.  We will apply this knowledge when we begin our class Research project on Chicks!  After that, the students will be picking their own topic to research.

Word Study: 

Green:  op, ot and og Word Families

Blue:  gr, gl, br, and bl Blends

Red:  Short -o and Long –o (CVCe and CVVC)

Science:  This week in science we will continue our Animals unit.  We will focus on Birds this week.  We will learn about the body parts of a bird and how the bird uses them to survive in their habitat.  We will learn about the life cycle of the bird.  We will also learn about how a bird depends on the things around it to survive.  This is called interdependence.

Habit #3 Put First Things First:  I spend my time on things that are most important.  I set priorities.  I work first then play.

HATCH DAY is THURSDAY!!!!!

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

*Library day is Tuesday.

*Please remember to send back your child’s orange folder and homework bag every day.

*It helps me tremendously if you leave the reading response notebook and books in the homework bag every day.  We use them at school!

Dates to remember:

April 10:  Chicks will begin to Hatch!

April 18:  No School- Good Friday

April 22-23:  STAAR Testing-NO VISITORS

May 1:  Field Trip to ZACH Theater

             Talent Show (K-3)

May 2:  Field Day

            Talent Show (4-5)

May 5-9:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 7:  Early Release Day

May 9:  Career Day

May 12-16:  Book Fair

May 26:  No School-Memorial Day

May 29:  End of the Year Party

May 30:  Last day of school!

March 31-April 4, 2014

Math:  This week we will begin our unit on Measuring Length.  This will be a two week unit of study.  Students will use non-standard measuring tools for continuous linear measurement - illustrating length using same size units laid end to end with no gaps or overlaps. The student will directly compare the length of two or more objects and use nonstandard units that have the attribute of length to estimate and measure length. Students will experience tasks in which they explore the relationships between the size of a unit and the number of units needed to measure the length of an object. The student will represent math concepts with concrete materials in problem solving connected to everyday experiences.

Reading and Writing Workshop:  This week in Reading and Writing, we will be reading many different types of poetry and identifying and analyzing acrostic poetry, color poetry, and descriptive poetry.  We will be learning that poets use different strategies and writing styles when they craft their art. We will practice writing acrostic poems, color poems, and using our five senses to write descriptive poetry.

Word Study: 

Green:  ap and ag Word Families

Blue:  cr, cl, fr, and fl Blends

Red:  Short -a and Long –a (CVCe and CVVC)

Science:  This week in science we will be learning about living and non-living things. We will sort and classify living and non-living things based upon whether or not they have basic needs and produce offspring. We will then extend our knowledge further and study different species of animals.  This week we will learn about the fantastic fish! We will learn about the external characteristics (body parts) of fish and how these external characteristics determine how fish move, what they eat and the ecosystem that they live in. 

Habit #3 Put First Things First:  I spend my time on things that are most important.  I set priorities.  I work first then play.

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

*Library day is Tuesday.

*Please remember to send back your child’s orange folder and homework bag every day.

*It helps me tremendously if you leave the reading response notebook and books in the homework bag every day.  We use them at school!

Dates to remember:

April 1:  STAAR Testing-NO VISITORS

April 2:  STAAR Testing-NO VISITORS

             Spirit Night

April 4:  Austin Reptile Show

April 10:  Chicks will begin to Hatch!

April 18:  No School- Good Friday

April 22-23:  STAAR Testing-NO VISITORS

May 1:  Field Trip to ZACH Theater

             Talent Show (K-3)

May 2:  Field Day

            Talent Show (4-5)

May 5-9:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 7:  Early Release Day

May 9:  Career Day

May 12-16:  Book Fair

May 26:  No School-Memorial Day

May 29:  End of the Year Party

May 30:  Last day of school!

March 24-28, 2014

Math:  This week in Math we will focus on strategies for learning Doubles Plus One facts (8+9) and Doubles Plus Two facts (8+10).  Using these strategies to solve math facts allows for quick recall.  Students find relationships with these math facts and future learning such as in third grade when they are learning multiplication facts.  We do not time test math facts but do want students to learn strategies so they can quickly recall the facts in problem solving situations.

Reading and Writing Workshop:  This week we will be combining our reading and writing workshop.  Our reading workshop will flow into writing workshop.  We are continuing with our unit on poetry and we will be learning how to find inspiration in our hearts to write poetry.  What really matters to you?  We will start the week off with creating a heart map with different ideas to help us with ideas for writing poetry.  We will explore different feeling/emotion words in reading workshop and follow it up with writing a feelings/emotion poem.  Next we will explore with imagery.  In reading workshop we will listen to poetry with imagery and draw what we think the object is without naming it.  In writing workshop, we will create our own imagery poetry.  The last set of poetry we will explore this week will be poetry using our 5 senses in sensory/free verse.  In reading workshop we will read different examples, focusing on the parts with the 5 senses.  In writing workshop, we will write our own sensory poem.  Last week we learned about the elements in poetry and this week we get to begin writing our own poetry!  This is a fun and exciting time for the children!

Word Study: 

Green:  an and ad word families

Blue:  pl, sl, and bl blends

Red:  Review of ar, Schwa-plus-r, and or

Social Studies:  This week, we will continue to talk about the things we need vs. the things we want.  We will learn about work, income, and budgets.  When you go to the grocery store, talk with your child about what you need to buy and your budget. 

Habit #2:  Begin with the End in Mind.  I set goals for myself and plan ahead.  I look for ways to be a good citizen.

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

*Library day is Tuesday.

*Please remember to send back your child’s orange folder and homework bag every day.

*It helps me tremendously if you leave the reading response notebook and books in the homework bag every day.  We use them at school!

Dates to remember:

March 21:  Shamrock and Roll

April 1:  STAAR Testing-NO VISITORS

April 2:  STAAR Testing-NO VISITORS

             Spirit Night

April 4:  Austin Reptile Show

April 10:  Chicks will begin to Hatch!

April 18:  No School- Good Friday

April 22-23:  STAAR Testing-NO VISITORS

May 1:  Field Trip to ZACH Theater

             Talent Show (K-3)

May 2:  Field Day

            Talent Show (4-5)

May 5-9:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 7:  Early Release Day

May 9:  Career Day

May 12-16:  Book Fair

May 26:  No School-Memorial Day

May 29:  End of the Year Party

May 30:  Last day of school!

March 17-21, 2014

Math:  This week, we will begin learning Doubles.  There are 2 main things the students need to know about doubles.  The first is that the sum can be split into 2 equal groups, and the second is that the sum of a double is always an equal number.  We will find doubles in every day life, we will make doubles with manipulatives and illustrations, and we will even write our own doubles math stories. 

Reading Workshop:  This week for Reading Workshop we will dive into our poetry unit.  This unit will provide opportunities for students to enjoy, study, read, and write poetry. This unit will last for three weeks and this week we will focus on what we know about poetry, noticing poetry in what we read, rereading poetry to create images and deepen our understanding, and learning where we find poetry in our world.

Word Study:  This week we will be learning about nouns, adjectives, and verbs.  At the end of the week, we will make a rainbow showing what we have learned.  You are welcome to come to our classroom to see it in the hallway. 

Writing Workshop:  Now that we've completed a fun week of Dr. Seuss in our classrooms, we will continue our quest to learn more about understanding and writing poetry by delving into the words that have been penned by other poets. We will learn lots about letters with alliteration and practice feeling rhythm and rhyme.

Social Studies:  We will be switching back to Social Studies this week.  We will be learning about goods and services.  We will learn what each of them mean and then identify different goods and services in our homes, at school, and in our community.  We will also learn about wants and needs.  Yes, there are many things that we want, but the things that we need to keep us healthy and alive have to come first. 

Habit #1:  Be Proactive.  I am responsible.  I am in charge of my actions.  I choose my actions, attitude, and mood. 

Reminders:

*Please remember to send a healthy snack every day.  Snack time is @ 9:30am.

*Make sure your child wears tennis shoes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

*Library day is Tuesday.

*Please remember to send back your child’s orange folder and homework bag every day.

*It helps me tremendously if you leave the reading response notebook and books in the homework bag every day.  We use them at school!

Dates to remember:

March 10-14:  Spring Break

March 19:  Early Release Day

     Family Skate Night

March 24:  Turkey Trot Make-up

April 2:  Spirit Night

May 1:  Talent Show (K-3)

May 2:  Field Day

              Talent Show (4-5)

May 5-9:  Teacher Appreciation Week

May 7:  Early Release Day

May 9:  Career Day

May 12-16:  Book Fair

May 29:  End of the Year Party

May 30:  Last day of school!