April 19 Update...

Hi Parents,

Thank you for visiting today!  Check out below to see what we've been doing this week and take a minute to update your calendars with our "calendar items" section.  Don't forget about the special time the Stacy family is planning for us tomorrow morning at 8:00 at the Stacy Strawberry Farm.  Make sure you bring the pass that is in your child's folder today if you are coming.

Phonics/Spelling:  This week, we learned some basic homophones. We used the dictionaries and looked up the meanings of the words. We also played several games to help us learn these words.

Reading;  We read three different fables this week and discussed the characteristics of fables.  We learned that fables usually contain personification and there is a lesson to be learned.  We worked on answering comprehension questions for each fable.  We also created a classroom chart identifying the title, main character, setting, personification, and moral of the story.  We read out of our chapter book, The Wind in the Door.  It is a very challenging story and it is generating lots of discussion! 

Writing:  We began our end of the year review of the three types of writing we covered this year. This week, we are focusing on narratives. We began our organizers on an event that happened over our spring break.  We are working on fully developing our ideas, adding lots of descriptive language, and including feelings and emotions when writing.

Math:  We continued our study of multiplication.  We learned three solid strategies for multiplying (drawing an array, skip counting on a number line, and repeated addition).  We also worked on our single digit addition and subtraction fluency.  Your child is expected to know his/her math facts at this point in the year. This is a great thing to practice at home that will greatly improve your child's computation in math.  If your child is still counting on fingers to add or subtract, that is a clear sign that he/she doesn't know basic math facts.  Please work on this at home if needed.

Social Studies:  We learned about the leaders in our government.  We learned about the mayor, governor, and president. 

Class News...

Thank you, Paul Farley, for the dice donation to our classroom!  I love the small ones and the big ones!!!

Next week during the CRCT, no parents will be allowed in the building before 11:30 in order to provide a quiet testing environment for our students.

Thank you, parents, for donating to our Market Day!  We'll be taking donations up until May 9th, so keep your eyes our for items you think we could use. Mrs. Jouanet will be the "thrift shop", so it's a great time to clean out those toy chests and send in items your child is through playing with!

Thank you to Mr. Stacy and his family for planning a Saturday field trip for our class to come to his strawberry farm.  If you happen  to attend, I  know he would appreciate a thank you card or note.