What a week!

We had a wonderful week! The students worked hard and we were able to accomplish a lot in just four days. I am very proud of the effort each student showed throughout the week.

Next week...

   In reading, we will continue our work with Charlotte's Web. The students have made some exceptionally advanced observations of our main characters. Not only are they able to identify an accurate character trait, the students are also able to back-up their thinking with proof from the text. This week we will also begin book groups. The students will be working on character traits in their groups. 

   This week we began working with an excellent online resource for reading, called Raz-Kids. It  is a website that offers fiction and non-fiction reading materials with comprehension quizzes to accompany each book. The students can read and take quizzes to earn points, which they can use to build a rocket. Our class has enjoyed their work with this website and I am finding it to be very motivating. I have put a link to the website on the sidebar. My teacher username is lmooneyb. If your child would like to use the reading they do on Raz-Kids for their 20 mins each night that is fine with me. Have them record the title of the books they read on their reading log. 

   In writing, we will continue to work on our personal narratives. The students will begin the week by drafting their first piece. Our focus is to use their storytelling skills to write their narratives, not simply retell their memories. We will also continue our work with paragraphing this week. 

   In math, we will finish our unit on rounding and estimation. The students will take a chapter test on Thursday. One suggestion for conversation at home:  talk about whether numbers/answers are reasonable. We will be talking about this a lot this week. Do our answers make sense? Are they reasonable? Also, keep practicing those math facts. We will begin addition with regrouping on Friday.

   We have begun discussing the election in class. Our focus will be on the two main candidates. So far we have read an article about each convention and identified each presidential candidate and his running mate. Any conversation you have at home regarding the election would greatly enhance our classroom discussion! 

   What incredible young scientists we have in class! The students are busy observing their plants and measuring their growth. Friday we learned about the different types of leaves we will see develop on the plants as they grow. Ask your child which type of leaves their plants have! Next week we will spend a great deal of time discussing photosynthesis and the role bees play in the life cycle of plants.

   Enjoy this beautiful fall weekend with your family!