Although we technically started Computers two weeks ago (we'll be going every Tuesday for the rest of the year), last week was the first time the students actually got to log on to the computers and do a spring project using Kid Pix.
Other than all of those exciting experiences, here's what we've been working on in the classroom:
Reading : Last week we talked all about 'wonderings.' Wonderings are questions that readers have about something they are reading about. Since we're still in our nonfiction reading unit, we're wondering about nonfiction topics. For example, we were reading a class book about octopuses. One of the wonderings we had was 'I wonder how many babies an octopus has at one time.' We had a feeling that we might find the answer in the section about octopus babies, so we used the table of contents to find the page number of that section, and looked there first. Sure enough, we found the answer. (Some octopuses can have up to 200,000 babies at a time, if you're wondering yourselves.)
Throughout the week, all of the students developed wonderings (i.e. research questions) and looked for their answers. Sometimes they found the answers and sometimes they didn't. We spoke about how we may need to look at other sources to find the answers to our un-answered wonderings. Each student has chosen one of his/her wonderings to use to create a project to share his/her research with others.
Writing : We published our writing pieces last week! The students all did a really great job making their writing easy-to-read during this unit. Next week, we'll start our next unit, which focuses on nonfiction, 'all about' writing. The students will be creating nonfiction books all about topics they know a lot about.
Math : We finished up unit 7 last week, which focused a lot on math facts. While we are going to move on to unit 8, which is a geometry-based unit, in the classroom, please continue to practice math facts with your child at home. (Of course, we will continue to practice math facts on school, but it will not be our primary focus.)
Word Study : Last week we investigated -ed and -s/-es endings. While doing so, we spoke about past tense and plurals. Ask your child what a plural word is!
Odds and Ends : It was great seeing so many of you at Tricky Tray on Saturday. I'm sure the students weren't surprised when I won a basket for Mr. Cupcakes. I hope you were as lucky, too!
Here are a few pictures of 1-Bu in the classroom last week: