- Make sure your child eats a good breakfast!
- Make sure your child gets a good night's sleep!
- Make sure your child gets a good "brain break" in the afternoons/evenings... there will be no homework and they need to play and relax...trust me.... their brains will be exhausted!
I am excited for your children to see the notes you sent to them...thank you...Monday morning will be full of smiles thanks to YOU!!
Our week was great...here is the run down...
In Language Arts this week we continued to discuss test taking and took some sample tests...the kids did a great job...remembering all of the tips they've been learning about. They did such a great job using their "before reading" strategies...they did such a great job writing BCRs and answering questions...and I was probably most impressed with the job they did rereading and checking their work. This is a skill that is very necessary for this group of kids...and the hardest to get them to use! We will dive right back into our novel, The King of the Wind, this upcoming week. The students will be working on an independent project for the novel and reading the rest of the book at their own pace...I know they will LOVE this!
In Writing we have been reviewing the necessary parts of a persuasive essay. We have been talking about the different letters that I received and I have been using them as examples. We have a new lego box for recess, I am explaining "big words" more often when I use them :-), and we will be listening to classical music in the mornings next week...just to mention a few of the things I've been persuaded to change or add! In the weeks after MSA we'll be writing multiple paragraph persuasive essays...so these are the steps leading up to that final product!
In Math this week we did SO many different things! All of the children got a chance to try out the CPS chalkboard (you may remember if from Back to School Night...I used it to advance the power point instead of using the computer)...they got a real kick out of trying to write on something and looking at the screen to see what they were writing...we used this tool as we reviewed fractions, decimals, and money. This week we also worked on comparing and ordering decimals and created a human number line using decimals. The students had to answer the questions which decimal is bigger 0.28 or 0.6? Most of the kids were able to answer this with ease...they did this in their math spiral and I graded it, but it will remain in their desks as we use the spirals most days. We will be working with money a little bit this week...using what we know to solve the mystery of how much money did Mary have after they have read a take off on the Mary Had a Little Lamb song. They will get a real kick out of this problem solving experience!
We have left Science and the Rocks, Soil, and Fossils unit...but not before we were fortunate enough to have Mr. Esko share his expertise of this subject with us...we went out to his "learning cottage" to have him take us on a virtual field trip to the Potomac River. They were instructed on that particular area of the Potomac River and were asked lots of questions challenging their background knowledge of the subject of fossils...fyi...they did well! Then, the kids worked in groups of four to dig through sand looking for fossils...they were to categorize the things they found as fossils, non-fossils, and a category for ones they weren't sure about. They LOVED this investigation. Keep in mind, this investigation was followed by an even more informative lesson about the different types of fossils, why sharks teeth would be in the Potomac, why crocodile teeth might be found in the Potomac, how the snail's shell dissolves and the sand and muck that was inside it becomes the fossil, what a stingray dental plate is and what it looks like 10, 000 years later, etc, etc (I could go on for pages!) The kids soaked it all up. He followed the lesson with a segment of a movie that shows what life may have looked like millions of years ago when water covered the land. To say that the kids loved it would not be doing the lesson justice. The kids wrote letters to Mr. Esko (in beautiful cursive) thanking him and sharing all that they learned. He will love reading them!
In Social Studies we began our unit on Economy...starting off with a lesson about scarcity. There is a wonderful DVD that goes along with this unit...Econ and Me. Econ is a person who helps a group of kids understand that everyone has "economic problems" (ain't that the truth!) and that when making choices you're often faced with an economic problem...this first lesson focused on a scarcity of hats and space as the kids were playing. It's a fun unit with lots of vocabulary, but all used in situations that the kids can understand!
So...as usual...we've stayed busy...oh, and I didn't even mention our in depth study of affixes and roots this week...we'll be continuing with that for awhile...once the kids understand the word parts and their meanings, it is amazing how well they can decipher unfamiliar words.
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I hope you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy your families. Your kids are doing such a good job...make sure you tell them I said so!!
