Week of December 3-7

Dear families,

As I begin this blog I can't believe that we are already into the month of December! Wow, time flies when you are having fun!

In reading this week we will continue to work on non-fiction. I will teach readers how to anticipate and use the language of a nonfiction topic. Non-fiction texts use vocabulary specific to the topic. We will talk about how readers preview a text with this in mind. We will practice using text features to notice and understand key words. We will build knowledge of unknown words through using context clues. Students have already picked up on how non-fiction books teach us about a new topic and use a variety of ways to teach with: photographs, captions, bold words, maps and diagrams.

Our phonics goal for last week was learning how to write words with final k sound. After checking students understanding, I have decided to spend two more days working on final k. There are three ways we have worked on -ck, ke and just k.

In writing and science, we are working on writing lab reports and including definitions using dashes this week. We will also begin a new experiment from our air and weather kit. We will be designing kits and observe blowing bubbles. We will begin the weather section of this unit. We will preview the unit by brain storming all we know about weather. We will begin charting the changes in the weather and recording the temperature.

We are nearing the end of unit 3 in math. We have been using strategies for subtraction and reinforcing concepts with math games. In the last few lessons students will learn a strategy called going up through 10 and we will explore geometric shapes and coins. A  unit study guide will be coming home for unit 3 on Tuesday. We will do an in class review on Wednesday ("math scoot") where students move around the room and solve math problems from unit 3.  The test will be on Thursday, December 6.

Please send outdoor clothing daily! Label all of your child's belongings. Many students have a hard time keeping track of their mittens, boots and snow pants. We do our best to remind them!

Upcoming dates:
December 6 - Holiday sale after school
December 13 - Half day for students - dismissal time is 11:09 a.m.
December 13 - Parent teacher conferences (please login to Skyward and sign up!)
December 21 - Last day before winter break and Holiday party at 10:30 a.m.-12:00.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Scheck