Week in Review: December 14-17

Although it was a short week, we fit a lot in! Students spent time finishing up their research for our habitat loss project. They used articles, internet resources, and non-fiction books. At times, they worked independently, but also spent some time in their groups as well. After the winter break, we will take our new knowledge and write informative feature articles to share what we have learned. We also had a district common assessment in reading over non-fiction text.

We finished our fraction unit in math, and our soil unit in science and had tests over each one. Those grades have been entered online and will be included in the second nine weeks report card, which will come home after winter break.

We fit in a lot of fun this week too! The countdown was a bit hit once again. This week's surprises were no homework for the week, an afternoon of board games on Tuesday, lunch in the classroom on Wednesday, and a visit to our kindergarten buddies on Thursday.

Of course, the highlight of the week was the party on Thursday!

Thanks for sharing your child with me for these last few months, it has been my pleasure to spend time with them each day. I hope you all enjoy these next two weeks with your family and friends. School starts back on Tuesday January 5, and I look forward to seeing everyone in the new year! Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Week in Review: December 7-11

We began the week with a countdown to winter break! With only 9 days left of school for 2015, I created a countdown envelope chain and each day, we open an envelope to reveal a special treat for the day. This week students enjoyed choosing our seat for the day, an extra 10 minutes of recess, an extra HOUR of coding, no shoes day, and writing thank you notes to the choir students who performed on Friday. The students look forward to opening the envelope each morning, and we are all excited to see what next week holds!

Hour of Code on Wednesday

In math, we are continuing our study of fractions. This week we focused on set models and linear models of fractions. We will have a test over this unit on Wednesday of next week.

Two days of math fraction stations, lots of hands on exploration!

 

Fractions on a number line.

More fractions on a number line practice...writing on our desks is always a treat!

In social studies, we spent some time studying maps and learning what features most maps include to help us understand them.

In science this week, we learned firsthand about weathering, erosion, and layers of soil through a variety of experiments. Our test over soil will be on Monday or Tuesday, after we spend some time in class reviewing.

Rock banging to learn about weathering!

Soil samples with water added, after they have settled, so we can examine the various layers.

In language arts we learned to differentiate between fact and opinion, which helped us glean important information as we continued our research on habitat loss. We also discussed author's purpose (to persuade, entertain or inform), and worked more on our expository writing skills.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and remember that next week, there is no school on Friday.