I hope that you all enjoyed a wonderful April vacation!  It was nice to have a little break, but I missed the class so much and was thrilled to see them again on Tuesday!

***Please remember that the "STAR" book that is being circulated should be returned after one or two nights so that it may be passed on to the next student.  We will have a new book to share shortly but it will need to be passed around diligently in order for everyone to have a turn with it before the end of the year.***

Reading Workshop - Tackling Tricky Parts in Books

• During this unit, we will be reviewing the tools that we've learned throughout the year and tying it all together to help us read more challenging books moving forward.
• This week, we took time to look at the entire book (front and back covers, table of contents, took "picture walks", etc.) before even reading a page.  This helped us to predict tricky words that we might see in the book, making it easier to recognize them when they come up.

Writing Workshop - In My Opinion....

• This week we wrapped up our unit on "All About" books.  The class completed their "fancy copies" to be hung in the classroom and brought home at the end of the year for you to keep.
• The launch of our persuasive writing unit took place this week as well.  We began by discussing the differences between fact and opinion.  Then we thought of some of our favorite things and why we like them so much.  Through partner work and whole-class activities, we learned more about forming opinions and have been focusing on going to the next level, explaining why we feel the way we do.  In the coming weeks, we will be working on "In My Opinion" books and we will also move in to some letter writing.

Math:
We completed the final lesson in "Bunk Beds and Apple Boxes", in which the children played a form of Bingo with number cubes, Unifix cubes, and a "game board".
Our next unit will be focusing on shapes.  Through whole class and individual work, we have looked for various shapes in the "real world" and have worked on verbally describing different shapes so that others can guess the shape.

Social Studies/Science:
Our week started off with Earth Day, so many activities this week focused on the environment.  We discussed the concepts of "reduce, reuse, recycle" and watched Brainpop Jr. videos about recycling and endangered and extinct species.  Our week finished off with the class planting tomato seeds which will be planted in our outside garden later in the year.


Technology: This week, we played an addition game in the Smartboard center.  All groups had the opportunity to play the game, spread out over a 2-day period.

With April vacation coming up, I'd like to take a moment to wish all of you a happy and safe break, whether you are staying near or traveling far.  It's hard to believe that once we return from break, there will only be about 8 weeks left of the school year - time flies when you're having fun!

***Please remember that the "STAR" book that is being circulated should be returned after one or two nights so that it may be passed on to the next student.  We will have a new book to share shortly but it will need to be passed around diligently in order for everyone to have a turn with it before the end of the year.***

In art class, the children have been watching a live streaming video of an eagle and eaglets in Decorah, IA.  I have been using the link in the classroom as a treat, and will continue to do so.  If you would like to view the live streaming with your child, the link to it is: www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles - as of last night, 2 eaglets have hatched!

Just a few quick reminders:   

1. There is no school for kindergarten on Thursday, April 10th and Friday, April 11th (all other grades will have normal school days).  April 21st is a professional development day for teachers, so students will not be in school that day.  Enjoy an extra long April vacation with your family!
2. It seems that our computer lab schedule may be a bit "off" through mid-May.  The lab is being used by the older grades for SBAC testing and we have been working to schedule our time there in between testing sessions.  We will do our absolute best to ensure that the class visits the lab at least once in each 6-day block, it may just be at various days and times.
3. We will have our classroom Spring celebration on Wednesday, April 9th at 11:30am.  Thank you in advance to the parents who have or will be assisting with that!
4. We finished up this week with new seating arrangements for the children - it's exciting to have new table-mates!

Reading Workshop - Reading continues to be an adventure!

• We met with our 2nd grade reading buddies in Mrs. Robbins class on Friday morning.  It's always fun to have new partners to read with and it's nice to interact with some older students who have been great role models for our students.
• Readers continued to read nonfiction leveled books and practiced pulling out important facts and new information.

Writing Workshop - We continued our unit on "All About" Books!

• Writers continued to work on their "All About Me" books.  Many students have completed their "All About Me" book and have moved on to writing "All About" other subjects that they are experts on.
• Up next, we will be choosing an "All About" story to edit and revise in order to turn it in to a "fancy copy" to go in their end-of-year writing portfolios.

Math:
This week, we returned to the Cathy Fosnot "Bunk Beds and Apple Boxes" and worked on the apple boxes portion of it.  This unit began with students, in partnerships, examining how many different combinations of red apples and green apples that they could put in a box containing 5 apples (at least 1 red and at least 1 green apple had to be in each box).  We then came together, compared the results with other partners, and drew a graphic representation of the boxes.  We repeated the exercise, bringing the number of apples in each box from 5 to 10.  As we compared and charted our findings, the children began to notice a "staircase" pattern (as the number of red apples increases, the number of green apples decreases and vice versa).  Our next step will be to predict and discuss the number of combinations that can be made with different amounts of apples in each box.  We will be wrapping up this unit next week, before breaking for vacation.

Social Studies/Science:
We will be continuing to work on our living/nonliving studies in the coming weeks.  As we move forward, this unit will involve working with plants and ladybugs to observe and learn about the life cycle.

Our newest social studies unit pairs nicely with examining living/nonliving and the life cycle, as we have begun learning about timelines and how they can be used.  We began by developing a timeline of one day.  We then discussed other things we can use timelines for (week, month, season, year, entire life) before creating a timeline of the week together.  Hopefully you have seen the letter that was sent home on Wednesday, requesting various important dates and events in your child's life.  Please don't feel pressured to share anything that you would not like to, but if you can help your child put together a few significant events from their lives, it will be helpful, as they will be creating their own personal timeline in the coming week.  Any photos that you are able to print out may be helpful, but your child may also draw a picture if a photograph is not available.


Technology: This week, our Smartboard center focused on matching pictures with their beginning sound/letter.  All groups had the opportunity to play the game, spread out over a 2-day period.