Newsletter 5/31/19

We began our last unit in Reading Workshop this week:  Character Studies.  We read some of Amelia Bedelia, but before we read, we spent a long time looking at the pictures.  A reader can learn a lot about a character by just looking at the illustrations.

We finished up our persuasive writing this week.  The students wrote one last persuasive piece suggesting a place where the Henry Family should go out to dinner!  The most popular was Shake Shack, with Post Corner following.  Students really tried to convince me to take my kids out!

In math, we are finishing up a quick unit on addition stories.  Look for more information coming home today.

We were out three times observing living things this week!  We are such amazing scientists.  We observed where animals were hiding and wondered why they were hiding there.  We looked at what animals were doing, and wondered why they were doing it.  Lastly, we joined our 5th Grade buddies in the garden for one last nature study.  Together, we used our five senses to examine the environment.

News and Notes:

• FIELD DAY is on Monday from 1:30-3 pm.  Please dress your child in his/her color (see note coming home today) and sneakers.  Students should also bring a water bottle labeled with your child's name.  Please put sunscreen on your child before school, but better yet, stop by and apply a fresh coat in the afternoon.
• All book sleeves are due on Monday. The book room will be closed for inventory.
• Please let me know if your child will not be in school through the half day on 6/18.  I want to make sure to pack everyone up and get everything home.
• The first class to return all of their library books will win a prize!  Please send all books back ASAP!

Scientists making observations in nature

Nature Walk #2

Addition games

May's wonderful weather

Buddies in the garden

Newsletter 5/23/19

We continued being avid readers of nonfiction texts this week, but we did something new!  We formed book clubs based upon our interests!  We learned how readers can teach others about their topics, using fancy vocabulary and sounding like an expert.  We shared our WOW moments and questions with these clubs as well.

The Darien Library librarians visited this week and told us all about their summer reading program.  EVERYONE wants to participate!  Notices were sent home today with information.

We will see a presentation by Shakespeare on the Sound on Friday that will share a bit about the play, "Twelfth Night". 

We are working on writing full sentences in our phonics lessons.  We need to remember to start with a capital letter, use spaces and punctuation and spell correctly.  We can do it!  See the photo of our dictation time below.

In Writing Workshop, we learned that persuasive writers can also include their emotions in their writing.  We all wrote letters to Mrs. Meno asking for help solving a problem on the playground.  We got a checklist to use as a reference so we can see if we've included everything we know in our pieces.

Our math lessons were on measurement this week.  See the Chapter 14 note sent home.  We measured length and height, and we measured ourselves, too!  We've done some serious growing this year! 

Science is happening right outside our window!  Mrs. Robin's eggs have hatched and she is busy flying back and forth, feeding her babies.  She is also chirping really loudly, to protect her nest.  We read a book called The Salamander Room, and discussed how the character gave his salamander everything it needed to survive. 

News and Notes:

• No School Monday.  Enjoy the long weekend.
• Book sleeves are due on Tuesday.  Tuesday will be the LAST DAY that we will bring books home from the book room.
• Please make sure that you've received the Save the Dates email/note home for June

Excited for summer reading with the Darien librarians

Dictation during phonics lessons

A "Growing Things" book club

A book club studying animals

Making accurate measurements and comparing 

Newsletter 5/17

In Reading Workshop we learned how we can be avid readers of nonfiction texts, too.  When we look at nonfiction books, we can't imagine what the character is feeling, and it's sometimes it's hard to act it out.  Instead, we can highlight things that make us think: WOW!  and we can ask questions.  We pointed out WOW moments with our groups and discussed our questions together. 

We've been writing so many persuasive letters in Writing Workshop!  This week, we added even more tools to our writing toolbox.  Persuasive writers are polite.  Persuasive writers think of a strong ending to their letter.  Sometimes, a persuasive writer can write a new letter to another person to solve the same problem.  See the photo below for our complete anchor chart.

We did two Exemplars in math this week and we have been working on the concept of combining sets (adding) and counting on.  Please note that we don't do any formal equations at this time (1+3=4), but we're using common vocabulary instead (1 and 3 make 4).  More formal vocabulary is coming, though! 

We learned about living things that have super powers this week!  Animals have amazing adaptations that help them get what they need to survive. 

News and Notes:

• Book Sleeves are due on Monday.  We will go to the book room 2 more times this year.  No books will be sent home in June.

Hunting for digraphs within words

Reading poetry about flower parts

If I have a party with 9 people, how many more sandwiches do I need?

Animals with super powers!

Our Persuasive Writing Toolbox

Using a number line to help us count forward to find a difference

Newsletter 5/10

We continued our reading playdates in Reading Workshop this week.  This week, we remembered how to play reading games with partners and we learned how to play pretend.  Playing pretend was a big hit!  When we play pretend, we act out the book, and really jump inside the character's body.  We imagine what s/he is thinking and feeling.  We also learned how to read with feeling.  Our goal is to read familiar texts with expression in our voices.  See the photo below for our Playdates anchor chart.

We began a new bend in our Persuasive Writing unit: writing letters!  Now we are looking outside of our classroom to solve problems all over the world!  We are learning many strategies to help us be more persuasive.  We studied persuasive texts and noticed that those authors sometimes use ALL CAPITALS or bold or lots of exclamation points to get the reader's attention!!!!   We can do that too!  We are going to send these letters out once they're written, so you may get some home.  Be on the lookout!

Now that we've mastered the many ways to make 5, we took on 10 this week.  We build 10 trains using 2 different colored blocks.  How many different combinations can we make?  The trick is not to repeat.  We learned how to organize our 10 building:  first using 0 of one color and 10 of the other; then using 1 of the first color and 9 of the second- and so on.  See the photo below to see all the ways to make 10 trains.  Then, we took the trains apart and tried to remember the number combinations we used to make 10.  We realized that we can use our fingers to help us remember!  We played a game called "Perfect Partner Makes 10".  Ten is a "friendly" number in math, and it's very important for children to know how to build it.  Practice this skill at home with math games if you'd like.

We had a blast on our field trip and we continued studying living things all week long.  The MOST exciting news is our new friend, Mrs. Robin, who is sitting on a nest in our tree outside our window!  She built a nest right where we can see her!  See the photo below.  We're hoping she lays eggs soon!

We are specifically learning about what plants need to live this week.  Ask your child about the various parts of a plant and how they keep it alive.

We've also been up to a bunch of secret fun preparing for Mother's Day!

News and Notes:

• Book sleeves due Monday

  

  Snack outside!

  
  

  

  Building the ways to make 10

  
  

  

  Playing pretend during reading playdates

  
  

  

  Hunting for sight words during reading playdates

  
  

  

  Acting out the story during reading playdates

  
  

  

  Mommy Robin- right outside our window!

  
  

  

  Our reading playdates anchor chart

Newsletter 5/3/19

We learned how to play school during reading play dates this week.  Avid readers love to talk about books in groups.  This week we began to learn how to have reading play dates, with larger groups of peers.  We learned how to play school on reading play dates.  Not only are we learning from one another, but we're also taking turns and being respectful towards our peers.

Some writers began to publish their pieces in Writing Workshop this week.  We are not all publishing simultaneously, as we usually do.  We are not saving pieces of writing in our folders, but getting them out in the world, so we can solve our problems.  Check out some of the finished work that we have displayed around the room (see photos below).

In our math lessons, we focused on counting back or forward to find the difference between numbers.  We compared numbers and found how how many more and how many fewer they had.  We also decomposed the number 5 and found out how many ways we could build a 5 train (1+4, 2+3, etc.).

We have finished our unit on geography and have moved on to a new science unit: Living and Non-Living Things.  We read a book about what living things need and they we tried to sort a collection of photos into two groups: living and non-living.  This led to some very interesting discourse: Is Elmo living?  Is water living?  Is fire living?  Why or why not?

We also collected April's weather data and observed our tree outside. We were SO excited to see apple blossoms!

We enjoyed another session of games this week, and continued to work on our phonics skills while doing so.

Author Dan Yaccorino visited on Thursday.

News and Notes:

• Book sleeves due Monday
• Field trip on Tuesday!  Students should be dressed for a day outdoors. Long pants, closed toed shoes and appropriate outerwear (for cold or rain) is required. Rain boots are highly recommended.  Sunscreen and insect repellent should be applied at home.  Please pack a disposable snack in a disposable bag labeled with your child's name.  There is no ordering snack that day.  Remember to check your child for ticks after school on Tuesday.

Reading Play Dates

Author Dan Yaccorino

Persuasive writing poster displayed in the classroom:  "Please leave jewelry at home because it's distracting."

"No talking when the teacher is talking because your might forget your question.  Raise your hand because it will get too noisy.  You should raise your hand."

"Do not run because you can hurt someone else.  Please walk."

"If I have 2, how many more to make 10?"

"Who has more?  How many more?  How many fewer?"

Sorting objects for science lessons

Apple blossoms!