Week in Review: September 6-9

For a short week, we got a lot done! We had our weekly visit to the library to check out books on Tuesday, and our school librarian introduced the class to the Bluebonnet Reading Program. Students are encouraged to read as many of the 20 Bluebonnet Books as they can, taking a short comprehension quiz over each one. If they read 5 books, they are invited to a Bluebonnet voting party at the end of the year. There are other prizes if they read 10, 15, or even all 20 books. I am strongly encouraging each student to read at least 5 so our whole class can attend the voting party. In fact, I have already read 2 of the books aloud to the class, so everyone has had a chance to take both of those quizzes. Ask your child what their goal is!

This week in writing, we discussed how to narrow down a topic for a personal narrative from a BIG "watermelon" idea (such as my soccer season) to a small "seed" idea (such as scoring my first goal in soccer). By Monday, each student will have chosen their topic to begin writing about.

In reading, we have discussed questioning strategies to improve comprehension while we are reading. We also established reading partnerships and practiced active listening and making good conversation.

Interviewing our reading partners

In math, we wrapped up our unit on graphs and data with an assessment on Friday. To review for the assessment, students worked through three stations: IXL practice on the laptops, teacher-led small group, and independent work. We will begin place value and addition next week.

In science, we designed career posters, as well as studied many famous scientists and their accomplishments. We briefly spoke about the states of matter, and properties of matter. We will continue this study of matter into the next 2 weeks.

In social studies, students are enjoying learning about what good citizenship means, as well as studying well-known activists from history such as Susan B. Anthony and Thurgood Marshall. We will continue these lessons next week.

Have a wonderful weekend, and I look forward to seeing everyone next week!