January 4, 2016

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday season. It seems that with the start of a new year the weather that we typically have in January has begun. Please make sure to send your child in with the appropriate outerwear (labeled with their names) including: hats, scarves, gloves/mittens and boots.

As we return to school we are turning our focus to Historical Fiction and Biographies in ELA. We will be working on cause and effect through a variety of different text structures. We are going to concentrate on this unit for two weeks so that will change our vocabulary and spelling word assessments. This week we have our spelling test on Friday and we will have our vocabulary text next Thursday. The extra time will allow us to explore the meaning of the vocabulary words through the context of several stories. We will not have a spelling packet or spelling words next week but we will continue to practice the word list.

In Math we are moving on to the study of Perimeter and Area for at least the next two weeks. Today we began with perimeter and used several real life examples for the students to begin thinking about how to problem solve perimeter. We also began a vocabulary flap page that we placed in their JAM. As we continue this unit we will add to the definitions on this page.

In Science we are going to begin the study of States of Matter. We began today by constructing their flap book which they will put definitions and examples of the states of matter. We also made predictions about what would happen to a balloon filled with water if we put it outside in freezing temperatures. We will be able to see which of the predictions were accurate as the temperatures outside drop.

Please remember that our day for library is on Wednesday, have your child bring their library books to school to return them on that day. If they finish with them early I have a library basket in the classroom that they can place their books in so that they are already here for library on Wednesday.

I am so excited to announce that everyone in our class earned Bee Your Best Certificates for the month of December and received  a winter pencil and sticker for displaying their best behavior.