March 16, 2012 Update...

Hi Parents,

Thank you for visiting this week.  Be on the lookout next week for your child's report card.  They will be coming home on Wednesday in your child's folder. Please remember to keep the report card, but return the signature card in the brown envelope. If you haven't done so already, you will also need to affix two stamps to the envelope and address it.  This will be used to mail your child's final report card to you.  Any envelopes without postage will be held here at school until the start of the next school year.   Check out below to see what we've been learning this week...

Phonics/Grammar: This week, we learned the two sounds of the "oo" spelling.  We completed two different word sorts, we generated a list of words, we practiced writing these words in our journals, and we played our fun flashlight game to practice reading these words. 

Reading:  We learned about facts and opinions this week.  We learned that a fact is something that can be proven and an opinion states someone's feelings.  We read several books and discussed facts and opinions.  We also read our chapter book, The White Giraffe.  We wrote about the events in this story and put them in our hallway to get others excited about reading this book!  On Friday, we worked on reading challenging site words by playing a fun St. Patrick's day memory game.  Your child is bringing home these challenging words on gold coins in  pots today! See how many words your child can read!

Math:  We began our unit on double digit addition this week.  We first used our tens and ones manipulatives to model what adding two digit numbers really means.  We used these concrete models to help our understanding, then we moved to learning how to solve double digit addition problems on paper.  We talked about the importance of place value when adding larger numbers. We used highlighters to help us learn what digits to add together and where to write our answers. 

Science:  We began discussing how animals are classified according to how they move.  We made a list and then created flip books which illustrated different ways animals move.  Next week, we will continue to compare and contrast animals based on their skin covering and how they grow.

News and Announcements...

Thank you to all the families who sent in pencils and candy this week!  You are all so prompt when we have a need!  I appreciate that so much.  If your child hasn't brought in their pack of pencils, please do so next week.

Thank you, Abrams family, for donating the game "Hedbands" to our classroom!  Keaton brought this game in to play last week, and the kids loved it so much that Mrs. Abrams bought it for our class. 

Our field trip is next Thursday. Mrs. Conner will have our tie-dye shirts to us early next week, so I will make sure to send them home with your child by Wednesday. Please make sure your child wears his/her shirt on field trip day. This will help me keep track of where our group is.  Depending on the weather, you may also want to apply some sunscreen to your child's face in the morning. There is lots of shade, but it's always better to be safe than sorry!  If your child is bringing a sack lunch from home, everything must be packed in disposable bags.