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