Week of November 26-30

Hello families,

Here is what is happening in Room 105 this week!

In reading we are continuing to work on non-fiction. We learned that readers of non-fiction look closely at details and ask questions before and during reading. We looked closely at a globe, Lego directions and non fiction books. We learned that we don't just look at a piece of non-fiction (like the globe) and think, "Oh yes, that is a globe I know all about it"." We found after looking closely and having a discussion there were many details we did not notice at first! Then we looked closely at the penny. We found we learned many new details we never noticed before!  We will continue to work with non-fiction to find out how each part of non-fiction teaches something new and ask "how does this book go?" before and during reading. Please encourage non-fiction reading at home, your child will love learning about topics and finding out details. Today we read about the Moon! Many questions came up. So we will be looking on Friday for books on the Solar System to learn more!

In writing we are continuing with Lab Report writing. In the classroom this week we will explore how air pushes a "balloon rocket" and propels the balloon forward. We wrote out hypothesis and steps today and will work on the reflections and revising the report the rest of the week. We will be addition definitions to our reports and researching to add more information for another source after our experiments. This week we have discussed air pressure, compressed air and how air propels the rocket forward.

In math, we are continuing on with unit 3, focusing on subtraction strategies. We have learned how to subtract 0 and 1. We worked on "what's my rule?" yesterday. Today we will work on using double facts to subtract. For example, we know 4+4=8. We can use that fact to help us know 8-4=4.  We will also play subtraction top it and a fun spinner game for subtraction. Now is the time if you child does not solidly know the doubles facts, to practice, practice, practice at home!

In Science we had a blast shooting off our balloons rockets. We worked on following the procedure, making a prediction about how far it would travel and testing our hypothesis. We will race our balloon rockets on Friday and try changing a variable too!

In phonics, we are working on the final k sound in words. We sorted final k by the -ke, ck and just k.
We learned that when we have the -ke the vowel before the end is long (cake). When we see -ck, the vowel just before it is short (duck), words that end in k by itself usually have a double vowel (look).

We will be going outside on most days. It has been cold for this time of year! You may want to send an extra pair of gloves/mittens to school just in case. Please label all items your child brings!! Most of our snow pants are black - this means we cannot tell them apart! Put names inside to help your child keep track of his or her things!