Weekly Update 1/11/20

Happy new year! We had a great first week back to school after break. The students had a "snow ball fight" with each other to share what they did during their time off. Students wrote three clues about fun things they did on their paper and then formed it into a "snowball". After launching their snowballs, each student picked one up, unfolded it, read the clues, and then had to guess who wrote them. It was a fun way to reconnect!

The children also wrote resolutions for the new year. They could pick goals for school or home that were important to them.

In math, we have been continuing to work on Chapter 6, which covers addition with three-digit numbers. The students have been doing a great job with reviewing their regrouping rules. We will complete the final lesson from the chapter next week, and then review for a test on Wednesday, January 15th. Look for review pages to come home on Tuesday.

In reading, we have returned our focus to fiction books. Throughout the week, students learned and practiced strategies to improve their fluency, such as attending to punctuation marks and dialogue tags. For writing, students reviewed their opinion writing skills and got back into writing workshop routines by answering the question, "Would you rather be a snowman or a snowflake?". Their writing has been displayed next to the wonderful winter artwork done in art class!

We have started a new unit in social studies focused on learning about the different regions of Native Americans in the United States. Students will be learning about the food, clothing, shelter, customs, and daily life of the Native Americans from each region. They will also see how the climate, land forms, and natural resources affected how the Native Americans lived. Student created folders and are adding foldables for each region to help organize the facts they are learning. The foldables allow them to take notes and have picture reminders of important vocabulary. This week we learned about the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest.