It was great to see so many of you at the Open House this week. Whether it happened at home or at school, I know the children enjoyed sharing their work. They glowed after hearing and reading your acknowledgement of their hard work and growth.
The children had a very successful week with their Word Sorts. Many of them told me that they are also practicing at home. They were able to show off their fluency when we played “Beat The Teacher” at the end of reading time. It was obvious that I had not been practicing, because they all sorted faster than me. A new set of words will be coming home next week.
Today we read a book about Ben Franklin and a math game called magic squares. Have your child show you the magic square activity we did in class, and maybe try some at home.
We will begin a few new activities next week:
Life Books – These are a special, journal type book that will be for children to record special events and memories. They will be different than our daily journals, because in our Life Books we will record only real stories and memories from our lives. The stories can be something recent, like “the ferry ride I took to Seattle when I went to the dentist. “ We might also pull from older stories that we remember, like “the time I went to my Aunt’s house last summer”. Another way that these books can be made more special is that we can bring in mementos and photographs to help tell the story. These items could include the ferry ticket, the sticker from the dentist, a picture of my aunt, or the children’s menu from where I ate lunch... Here is a way to scrapbook some of those treasures that children collect (or is that just my children?) and inspire our writing. The children will write once a week. They don’t need to bring something in to scrapbook, but they will all be telling their own stories in a special way.
Air and Weather Science – This is an interesting and fun unit in which we will explore air pressure and movement, and how those factors impact weather. We will have lots of opportunities for hands-on exploring, as well as discussing and recording our observations.
Penguins – This is one of our big, integrated math units, where we will focus on measuring, weighing, and comparing as we also learn about penguins and Antarctica. We will be experiencing it as if we were taking a trip to Antarctica, including planning, “packing”, and observing as if we were researchers. The trip to Antarctica is long, and we will visit a few continents along the way, and find penguins there as well. Expect your child to be very excited about all things penguin for a while. We have also had a few occasions in which children became so immersed that they thought we were really going on a field trip to Antarctica, so be prepared to clarify if needed.
