Newsletter 4/29/16

In our phonics lessons this week, we learned about digraphs (sh, th, wh, ch, ck).  Then we hunted for them in books we were reading during Reading Workshop.  We also read a classic nursery rhyme and highlighted all the digraphs.  Be on the lookout for digraphs while reading at home!

In Handwriting this week, we continued our discussion on punctuation.  We examined various poems and noted that poets don’t always follow punctuation rules!  We also learned about quotation marks and why they’re used.  Then we searched for them in books we were reading and had fun using character voices.  Keep an eye out for quotation marks, too!

We reviewed numeral formation and worked on addition equations both horizontally and vertically.

We are becoming such persuasive writers!  We read I Wanna Iguana and The Lorax and learned that we need to include A LOT of reasons if we want our reader to make a change.  We are writing letters, essays, posters, songs, - anything to prove our point!

Who is growing and changing over time?  WE ARE!  This week, we examined how living things grow.  We had so much fun looking at all of our baby pictures and seeing how we’ve changed!  We also looked at various animals’ life cycles.  Lastly, we made glorious sunflowers (complete with seeds!) to brighten our classroom!  Thank you to all the volunteers this week!

The flower part of the plant makes the seeds!

 News and Notes

Our class will visit the Book Fair and write our wish lists NEXT MONDAY.  Look for it in your child’s backpack mail.

Newsletter 4/22/16

In Reading Workshop this week we examined story elements: searching for characters, settings and main events within stories.  Nonfiction books don’t really have these story elements- why not?  We also did a character study of Peppa Pig, reading many of her adventures!

We began a new unit in Writing Workshop this week: Persuasive Writing!  Warning: your kids are learning how to make convincing arguments! J  We looked at model texts and learned how best to begin.  We can do more than WISH a problem away, we can WRITE it away, too!  

We are practicing forming various punctuation marks and knowing when to use them.

We combined science and social studies this week while learning about Earth Day!  We read and wrote books about ways to help our planet.  Keep your eye out for two new class books!  We also launched our unit on Heredity and Evolution, learning about living vs. non-living things.  What’s the difference?  Living things grow and reproduce.  We are watching things grow in our classroom! 

We pretended to recycle cans while learning about place value this week.  We “collected” cans by ones, tens and hundreds, put them in sacks and then counted the total of cans collected.  We also learned fancy math vocabulary words while doing Exemplars work.

Happy Earth Day!

Green and Blue tomorrow!

Tomorrow is Earth Day!  The school Leadership League is encouraging all Ox Ridgers to dress like the Earth (wear green and blue)!  

Math info for Parents- very interesting!

Have you heard about Exemplars, the new problem solving program in Darien?

Our classroom just did our first Exemplar last week, and EVERYONE was challenged!  

Want to know more?  See this email from Linda Johnson, the Elementary Mathematics and Science Coordinator in Darien:

Math Parent Workshop, Grades 2-5

May 19th, 2016 7:00p.m.-8:30p.m. Central Office/BOE Room

Presenter~Deb Armitage, Math Consultant from Exemplars

Please join in learning how students apply critical thinking and reasoning skills through problem solving tasks. Leave with an understanding of how student work is used to plan instruction.

Happy Birthday!

Our Kindergarten Concert!

Bravo!  Bravo!  Our K Kids put on a great show this morning!

A Writers' Workshop Celebration!

We celebrated all the we learned in our "How To" unit with our 5th Grade Buddies!  Then, they shared their writing with us.  They do Writing Workshop on the Chrome Books- cool!

Maps and Math this Week

We researched a topic with a partner in Reading Workshop this week!

Newsletter 4/1/16

We learned so much in Reading Workshop this week while researching about a topic with our partner!  We each read books on the same topic and then learned from one another.  When a reader is interested in a topic s/he gathers as much information about it as possible!

We finished our How To writing this week!  We picked one piece, worked on clarifying the steps and diagrams, edited the writing, fancied it up with color and added a cover.  Then, to celebrate, we shared it with our 5^th Grade Buddy.  Our buddies shared their pieces, too, on their Chrome Books!  

In Second Steps we talked about how our bodies feel when we’re angry and what we can do about it.

In math this week we did an activity called “Inventory Bags”, where students found bags around the room containing various objects (i.e. 5 markers, 2 crayons and 3 pencils), and worked with a partner to add them all together and find a way to record their findings.

We began a new unit on geography this week and it is so much fun.  We are looking a different kinds of maps: paper maps, electronic maps, globes and atlases.  We made classroom maps for our friends to find treasure that we’d hidden.  We examined the world on Google Earth and learned about the colors of our planet.  We also learned the purpose of a legend.

News and Notes

Book buddy bags are due on Monday.

K concert 4/5 at 9:30 am

No K April 7-8