I hope that everyone had a great mid-winter break.  Mark and I stayed in the area.  I had lots of fun just relaxing at home and taking my dog, Frodo, to the dog park  every day.   We are back into the routines of school, working hard and having fun each and every day.

Reading

Our story of the week this week was The Shopping List.  This story was about a boy who went to the store , but forgot what he needed to get because he didn’t have a list.

We worked on the word families—ile, ide and ite.  Students worked in teams to write sentences and then we edited them as a class.  We also worked on using the verbs was and were correctly.  Proper nouns were also reviewed.

Math  Unit 6: 

Previously when working with money we have used pennies, nickels and dimes.  This week we introduced the quarter.  Students are now making exchanges and counting quarters, nickels and dimes.   We also practiced telling time on both digital and analog clocks.  Students identified the number of minutes that have elapsed as the minute hand passes each hour number on an analog clock.

Students played Tric Trac with a partner.  This is an engaging game that helps students to practice addition facts.  This game is in your child’s Take Home Learning.

Fairy Tales / Writing

Jack and the Beanstalk was our fairy tale this week.  Here are a few projects that students completed in class ...

· Followed a step by step drawing of a giant

· Sequenced events from the story

· Students wrote an expository piece describing what amazing place their beanstalk would take them

Next week, we will be taking a break from our fairy tale unit to focus our attention on the great author Dr. Seuss.  We will finish our fairy tale unit with many versions of Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood.

Students used a web to brainstorm  memorable events over their mid-winter break.  They used their web to write about their mid-winter break.  We also worked on stretching sentences to make them more detailed.  I gave the students a sentence and their job was to rewrite the sentence three times adding one new word each time.

Example:  I saw a cat.

                    I saw a black cat.

        I saw a spotted black cat.

        I saw a spotted black cat playing.

Reminders

] We will be going on our field trip to see The Three Little Pigs on Monday.  Please send a sack lunch with your child.  We will be eating in the classroom  upon our return.

] Next week is Read Across America.  We will be reading lots of Dr. Seuss books and completing various activities.

] Next Wednesday is Read My Shirt day.  Students are encouraged to wear a T-shirt that can be read.

] Next Thursday is pajama day for first grade.

] If you wish to participate in the Dr. Seuss cake contest (information went home on Thursday) you need to return your form to the library by Monday, March 3rd.

More Classroom Happenings....

] In computer lab this week, students worked on using the verbs were and was.  They also rearrange word boxes in Microsoft Excel to make sentences using their spelling words.

] On Monday, we met with our 3rd grade buddies.  First graders shared their Three Little Pigs books and their buddies shared a project that they had been working on.   We will be meeting again in mid-March to  work on a writing project together.

Upcoming Dates and Events

March 3rd  - Field Trip to see Three Little Pigs

March 6th—Read Across America event at Liberty  High School from 6:30—7:30.

March 9th—Daylight Savings Begins –move your clock forward

March 12th  - schools  ends at 1:38 for WASL  testing