February/March Newsletter

Class 1-210 2018In Math, Module 3

Measurement- students will learn to Order three objects by length; Compare the length of two objects

indirectly by using a 3rd object. Express the length of an object as a whole number of length units by

laying multiple copies of a shorter object (the length unit) end to end: Understand that the length measurement of an object is the same size length units that span it with no gaps or overlaps. Limit to contexts being measured is spanned by whole number of length units with no gaps or overlaps.

Tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks

Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to 3 categories. Ask and answer questions about the total number

Continued Math Talks-with Rekenrek are 3 days a week. We are solving strategies mentally, recording our work, and use the focus strategy of the day. The students are having amazing discussions to agree or disagree with one another. The talks are student based.Math Centers are 3 days a week and each group is working on different skills and strategies using numeration. Ecam assessment is done and students were put in appropriate groupings. Next month we will start addition and subtraction.Chorally Counting: this activity is to engage a group of students in counting together, to discuss patterns in the number system and to connect written and verbal language.

In Reading: In Reading Unit 4 students continued, Getting to Know Characters.• This month we read Petunia, Bunny Cakes, Those Darn Squirrels, Where the Wild Things

Are, Iggy Peck Architect, The Gingerbread Man, Are You Ready to Play Outside, If I Had a Dragon as Read Alouds using these stories to find traits, lesson learned, feeling and emotions, changes in story, and retells.

• We explored Book clubs according to your child’s level. Each group had 3-4 different author series. Students were expected to read a series from an author. Students also got to act out scenes from their favorite story in a series. Students also responded to different types of responses. Ex. Beg, Middle, End-changes in characters using evidence to support their thoughts.

Poetry (Read aloud) 100th Day of School, The Clock SongOther Read alouds:How Big is a Foot, Gung Hay Fat Choy-Happy New Year, Groundhog Weather School,

In Writing Workshop, We are writing Opinions. The students are looking at how to give their point of view. Students write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic they are writing about. They state their opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide a sense of closure. The students reviewed: movies, games, restaurants, ice-cream shops, and their published piece are a book review. The students are persuading a person to like their favorite suggestion. We are convincing our reader by using: transition words, comparisons, ratings, recommendations, quotes, using details, and sparkle words. These books are hung up outside the classroom.

We also reviewed many books as a class: Recess Queen, Trouble Gum, and Guyku.Ask the students to tell you about each book and their opinion.

Author Study: This month’s author study is Jeff Brown. We read his popular book: Flat Stanley.In this upcoming month, we will create our own Flat Stanley to send to a loved one.Grammar, we learned about contractions and pronouns.In Word Study, We finished Unit 7 students were working on: * glued sounds: ang, ing, ong, ung, ank, ink, onk, unk.

* blending and reading words with ng or nk * segmenting and spelling words with ng and nk * narrative fiction vs. informational books * reading with accuracy and prosody

Now we are working on Unit 8: A digraph contains two consonants and only makes one sound, sh. A blend contains two or more consonants but they each make their own

sound, such as /s/ and /l/. Blending and reading words with up to four sounds Segmenting and spelling words with up to four sounds Suffix -s added to words with four sounds R-controlled vowel sounds: ar, or, er, ir, ur. Reading with accuracy and prosody

In Social Studies, we continue to discuss our community and the role that individuals play and where they work. We discussed the lives of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. To celebrate Black History Month, we discussed and read about Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges.In Science, Our class is continuing: Solids and Liquids. Investigation 1, The children examined liquids, looked at properties of liquids. For example, transparent, foamy, viscous, bubbly, translucent, and has color or no color. Investigation 2, We compared and contrasted two liquids at the same time and learned that some liquids might have the same color or both have bubbles. Investigation 3, We looked at how liquids can be passed from different kinds of cups and bottles and where the liquid levels off. These are all done in our classroom.Trips: Thursday, March 1 – NY Historical Society Wednesday, March 14 Transit MuseumStudent of the Week, It was great getting to know all of the children that talked about their families and interests. Thanks to Jordan, Arya, Colin, Alexandre100th day celebration: The student’s projects were fabulous! Each student presented their project. We also had groups that moved from center to center exploring, pennies, dominos, patterns, and percentages of me, and 100 what? They had a blast!Special thank you goes to Alexandre’s mom for reading and discussing the Chinese New Year and Celia’s mom for helping with the auction classroom piece!

Best, Dana Moses