Posted by kavery508 | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on March 31, 2014
Literacy Night is an annual event at our school that will occur this year on Friday, April 4. The focus is on engaging kids and families with the joys of reading and writing. There will be a visiting author: Marty Kelley (http://www.martykelley.com ) . There will also be a book swap, and much more! Our class has been working on writing pieces which will be displayed outside our room, so come check them out. The evening begins at 6 PM.
The end of the year is in sight! Thank you for your contributions of health supplies this year. To get us through the end (and through allergy season) we need boxes of kleenex. We can also use boxes of band-aids (regular, not antibacterial, please). Thank you for helping us stay healthy this year!
We continue to think critically about texts by looking for the important parts and separating out interesting but unimportant details. This kind of thinking is essential to understanding what is read. One way to do this is to start with the title of a chapter, or heading of a section (in nonfiction). As you read on, look for ways the author explains what is meant in the title or heading. If the sentences or facts tell about something else, chances are those are details which enhance the reading but aren’t necessarily developing the main idea. Time for Kids is an excellent online resource to practice this strategy with a range of interesting topics: http://www.timeforkids.com/
This week we will finish our writing pieces based on genres and topics of our own choosing (persuasive, poetry, informational, opinion, procedural). We will then practice editing our pieces for clarity and presentation in order to share/publish them!
Our math work this week involves introductory lessons in fractions. What’s important for kids to know is that fractions represent equal parts of a whole, and that we frequently speak in terms of common fractions (1/2, 1/3, 1/4) when talking about time and amounts. Students will apply this concept as they divide shapes into parts, label them with numerators and denominators, and identify fractions in pictures and on clocks. Here is a read and play site kids can do with a little help at home: http://www.aaamath.com/fra.html. In addition, Youtube has a wealth of offerings you can search for!
Our science focus in term 3 is on biology, specifically characteristics of living things and the interaction of organisms with their environment. We will explore the idea of living vs. nonliving things; identify, compare, and contrast life cycles of plants, worms, and insects; and design habitats for a variety of creatures. We start this week by sorting and classifying living and nonliving things and by planting flowers which will provide us with opportunities to learn about scientific observations and life cycles.
