**NO SCHOOL--March 5th in observance of Casimir Pulaski Day.
**Don't forget your "Weather Diary Project" is due Tuesday, March 6th. Can't wait!!
**Please read the letter enclosed by Nurse Jamie concerning the Children's Dental Clinic free clinic to all Irving students. The clinic will be held at Irving.
**Route to Reading Rotation 6 has concluded. All students received information on skill acquisition. Route to Reading Rotation 7 will begin on March 19th after upper grade ISAT testing.
**In Friendship Club this week, Ms. Bell-Bey did an activity on noticing/observing details in one another and being able to wait your turn to volunteer an answer.
**Mr. Packer concluded his unit on sequencing with an activity surrounding the story, "The Mitten." Using the LCD projector and mouse, the students sequenced events in the story.
**The Busy Reader Program is in full swing!! Keep reading and recording your books. Don't forget you must read to a grown up each night.
**Swap, Shop and Read information is located in the homework packet. It is a fun way to spend the evening and choose good books.
**Report cards go home on Friday, March 16th.
**Spring pictures will be taken on Tuesday, March 20th.
**Spring Break is 3/24-4/1. School will resume on Monday, April 2nd. Please let me know if your child needs a travel journal.
**I need 2 more volunteers for our Super Tuber Activity on Friday, March 16th from 1:30-2:30 pm. I have regular station day helpers H. Hamblin and M. Meagher, but would love 2 more to help facilitate a learning station. Email me if you can help.
**The All School Annual Spelling Bee is Wednesday, April 11th. More information will be coming soon. Each homeroom will choose 2 participants.
**Our All School PBIS Celebration is Friday, March 23rd from 1:30-2:30 pm. The students will participate in learning stations throughout the school. We will have our regular station day helpers that day to assist.
**We have concluded our science unit-Investigating Water. We will begin our new theme, "Space" and our new science unit,"Sunshine, Shadows and the Moon" this coming week.
**It is getting closer to collection of giant boxes and other cool things for our space station projects. Keep saving them! You can begin bringing them in after break!
This week: This week it was all about the weather. We began tracking the weather via Weather Underground each day as we relate it to our Treasures Unit 7. As you already know, we have a fascination about tracking weather in Room 110! Students are observing "fronts " moving in and the direction that weather patterns move. The students loved watching the color changes on the animated radar. They are becoming experts at locating areas of rain, snow, wind speeds, ice. We now know where to locate the moon phases as we begin our study of the moon. The students have also become interested in the chances or percentage of a storm occurring. The students have also looked at types of storms including-tornadoes, thunder/lightning and snow in our area. Perhaps we have some budding meteorologists in our midst! Station Day activities for this week included descriptive writing/sponge painting assignment about clouds, word wheel construction for word-this, and word family scramble. Students also chose stories to read to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss and did accompanying activities. The students took a look at the journey of Casimir Pulaski from his childhood in Poland to his eventual travel to the United States to assist George Washington in the Revolutionary War.
Reading/Social Studies: The students began Unit 7 Weather in our Treasures Reading Series. We began with a simple question--"What is the weather like today?" The students accessed prior knowledge about what they understood weather to be like not only in their own area, but in other parts of the United States. The students listened to the expository (information) text, "The Rainy Day." They thought about what the main idea of the story could be. They made connections about rain in their daily lives. Our sight words for this week are this and do. The students used them and all of our current sight vocabulary in playing "Hands Up, Hands Down" and creating sentences using words and pictures during their workstation time. The target sound for this week is Ee in its short form. The students used pictures as well as created a word web of short Ee pictures and words. The students began the study of adjectives or words that describe. They came up with word lists that could describe themselves, their pets, their home and the weather. Together the students created a word web of words that describe a rainy day. We reread the story again and this time the students looked for details and created a picture in their mind (visualized) of what it would look like after the rain. The students then reviewed the water cycle (go science!) and facts about rain. They examined 2 parts of a book--the glossary and index and what they are used for. The students then took turns retelling the story. Our puppet, Mr. Happy, help guide us in our blending exercises using short e words. The students read aloud from their decodable book, "Ed Can, Ted Can." They then answered comprehension questions orally about the story. The students reread their story to a partner to practice their fluency. Our Robust Vocabulary for this week included, BLUSTERY, DRIZZLE, CHILLY, CLOUD and WEATHER. The students listened to the tale of "How the Thunder and Lightning Came to Be." Ask your child to tell it to you. The students also had a chance to listen to 4 poems about weather. They made predictions about the each poems content by reading the title and viewing the illustrations. The students read their paper story, "I Can Do This," aloud as a group and then reread it to a partner. The students used their elkonin boxes to isolated where they heard a targeted letter sound--was it at the beginning, in the middle or at the end? The students listened to the Pueblo Native American legend, "The Frog and Locust." We discussed rain dances and songs sung in order to bring rain to a very dry place. We located on a map, where the Pueblo Native Americans lived and looked at a surface map to see how the land looked. What did the frog do to get rain? (sang) Why didn't his plan work? (It wasn't loud enough) What happened at the end of the story? (Frog and locust worked together to sing a loud song) What do you think is the story tellers message? See if your child can recall. The students did some comparing across texts. Our workstations this week included, creating a page for our class book on writing and illustrating about your favorite weather activity, word sort for short Ee and CVC word/picture spell, unscramble the sentence and record it on your paper, weather wear sort-creating a chart and labeling parts and practice reading-reading-recording on Story Kit and filling out a Reader's Response form and whole group Word Play activity.
Math: The students continued their small group on Tricky Teens with Ms. Applebey. They worked on creating 2 digit numbers and naming how many tens and ones were in each number. They learned to play the 2 digit game, "It Takes Two." They played this game with a partner.
We reviewed numbers 1-100 and played the game, "Top It Tally." We began a unit this week on coins. The students reviewed the penny and its value. The nickel was introduced. Students observed the front and back of the coin. We shared a story on the nickel. Who is on the front? (Thomas Jefferson, president #3) What is on the back? (His home in Monticello) How much is a nickel worth? The students also took a closer look at a dime. We also shared a story about the dime. Who is on the front? (Franklin Roosevelt, president #32) What is on the back? (olive branch, torch and oak branch) What does that mean? How much is it worth? The students worked a bit on money exchange. They played the game, "Penny Grab."
Writing: The students continue to work on lowercase letter formation. Lowercase letters a, c, e, g, i, j, k, l, o, p, s, t, u, v and w have been introduced thus far. The students continue to work on letter practice both on their mini boards as well as taking turns using the White Board app on the IPAD. With the introduction of the adjective this week in reading, students have been encouraged to try using one or two in their journal sentences this week. We continue to use the journal prompts from our Treasures series.
Science: We finished our Science Unit-Investigating Water this week. The students observed
"condensation" forming on the outside of a water glass that had been placed in the freezer. The students looked at the illustration of the water cycle. They noted it was a pattern that happens over and over again. We reviewed the 3 states of water--liquid, solid and gas. They reflected in their science journals about their feeling on the unit and what they thought was the most important about it. The students also wrote about their favorite experiment. On to Sunshine, Shadows and the Moon!
Technology: In the area of reading, the students continue to practice and record their reading of stories using the app Story Kit. The app Montessori Crossword continues to be used in student small group at various levels for study of word families, blends, digraphs. The app Sight Word Bug was used by student small groups to recite and review sight vocabulary. In the area of math, students continue to use Doodle Buddy for practice in illustrating Tricky Teens and other 2 digit numbers. Number Find app has been used in the whole group for number patterning and place value.
Literature: "Footprints in the Snow," "What Do They Do when It Rains?" "The Loose Tooth," "The Water Cycle," "Lola Loves Stories," "Little Cloud," "It Looks Like Spilt Milk," "Of Thee I Sing," "Barack Obama-Son of Promise, Child of Hope," "Five Notable Black Inventors," "Casimir Pulaski," "Nickels," "Dimes."
