Here's what we've been working on in the classroom :
Reading : We've started talking about retelling. This is the beginning of our work on reading comprehension that will carry us through for the rest of the year. While we focused a lot on reading strategies at the beginning of the year (and will continue to do so), being able to understand what you read is the true heart of reading.
Last week, we went over what retelling is and important things that you should include in a retell, like the characters, setting, problem/solution, and main events.
Writing : The students published their small moment writing pieces last week and we moved right on to our next unit, which is 'how to' writing. In this unit, the students will write nonfiction pieces that are aimed at teaching others how to do something. So far, we've learned a little bit about the genre and created lists of possible writing topics (or areas where we are experts).
Math : We learned a little bit more about careful measuring last week before we moved on to representing data with bar graphs and learning about doubles facts (i.e. 1+1, 3+3).
Science : Last week, we went over solar and lunar eclipses. I don't expect the students to have complete mastery of eclipses, but they were very interested in how everything can line up just right so that the moon blocks out the sun during the day, for a solar eclipse.
Technology : Last week was National Coding Week, so Mrs. Cardia came in and introduced the students to coding. The students had a lot of fun learning the basics of computer science by coding with blocks, learning the idea of an algorithm, and instructing the computer what to do.
Here are some pictures from last week: