After two cancellations due to snow days, we finally had the Mayor's Book Club! The students were very excited to meet the mayor and have him read a book just to them. It was a fun surprise when the mayor asked Dr. Ben Dov and Mrs. Heitman to join him and be characters in the book. The students were also very excited when the mayor told them that if they read 1500 books, that he would throw them a pizza party. That certainly got many of the students motivated to get reading!
The Valentines Project was a huge hit in the classroom. It was a really heart-warming moment in the classroom when the students were reading all of the nice things that their classmates had written about them. Thank you for all your help and support with this project.
Last week, 1-Bu got to go in the Star Lab! They were very excited to hear that the giant silver bubble in the multi-purpose room had been set up just for them. After we got settled inside, Mr. Corcoran showed us many of the constellations that we see in our night sky.
Here's what else we've been working on in the classroom:
Reading : By now, the students have learned about three types of connections they may have with texts - text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world. The students are doing a great job coming up with connections as they read, which proves that they're really thinking about the texts that they're reading. In the classroom, the students are using post-its to track their thinking. You may see some post-its come home on the books that your child reads each night.
Writing : We finally launched our new writing unit, which is writing about opinions. As you could probably guess, the students have taken a keen interest in this unit and are happy to share their opinions on various matters.
Math : Over the past couple of weeks, we've been working on expanding the students' understanding of place value by using comparison number stories and adding and subtracting two-digit numbers. While they are many strategies and techniques one could use to add two-digit numbers, we have been focusing on using base-ten blocks and the number grid to help us solve these sorts of problems. If you have other techniques that you would like to show your child, by all means, please do so. But, as far as my expectations in the classroom, I only expect them to be proficient using base-ten blocks and the number grid to add and subtract two-digit numbers.
Computers : Last week in the computer lab, the students played a few games to practice their math facts and work on their basic mouse and keyboard skills. You can find links to the games the students played under the Resources tab on this website.
Here are some photos of the students and what they've been doing over the past couple of weeks: