Reading Focus: Summarizing
The students have done a great job of summarizing this month! I have picked out many books with easy to identify plots and we even summarized each chapter of the book, Tornado. The key words of: Somebody, Wanted, But, So, and Then have helped the students key in on the plot and how it changed. We are also looking at the theme and what the author is trying to teach us from reading each story. The themes in some books are easy to identify while the themes in other stories may include more than one theme or lesson. Next month we will continue to summarize books but will focus on non-fiction text. We will teach new strategies to identify the key points of text. Grammar: This week we focused on possessive nouns. We completed a flip-book, interactive white board lesson and a scoot game to identify the correct way to write a possessive noun. We looked at the differences between singular and plural nouns and how they show possession and nouns that end in the letter s. Writing Focus: We are working on Response to Literature. We started our dinosaur unit and are writing about all of the interesting facts that we are learning. We are given the topic sentence and we write the supporting details. We are working on starting each sentence in a different way and using vivid verbs. We have learned about the Apatosaurus, Tyrannosaurus., Stegosaurus, Triceratops and Pachycephlosaurus. We are looking at the ways a writer uses his craft to compare items and make it interesting for readers to read. We are also looking at hooks a writer uses to engage readers to want to continue to read. Math: We have been working hard learning how to ungroup a number when we are unable to subtract because the ones or tens are greater than the number we have. We have learned this rhyme to help us: Greater on top no need to stop, greater on the floor, go next door. I thought it was a catchy little rhyme that I hope will remind the students of what to do. We are also working hard on our fact fluency. We are trying to increase our speed and accuracy. Science: We have finished the weather Mysteries and will take an assessment early next week. We have started the Dinosaur Mysteries and are learning how scientists have made a hypothesis about what they think dinosaurs may have looked like. Ask your child about the skull and teeth. Do you tweet? Would you like to see more pictures of what we are working on in class? Follow us on Twitter! Our class name is mrspanockd70 and see what we are tweeting! Our student of the week is Madison Reichard. Madison loves spending time with her family and her hero is her brother Matthew. She likes strawberries and wants to be a vet when she grows up. She enjoys art and P.E. at school and loves watching American Idol at home. Madison is also a girl scout and sold many boxes of cookies this season Please check out our pictures of our dinosaur that we built together.
January 19-22
Reading Focus: Summarizing This week we continued the comprehension strategy, narrative summarizing. We learned a song to help us summarize that is sung to the tune of the “Hokey Pokey.“ We also learned to focus on the key words of: Somebody, Wanted, But, So, and Then. The key words help to tell the main character, what the character wanted, the problem, how it was resolved and what happened. We shared that when we summarize we do not include every detail. The author uses the details to paint a picture in our head but we are just sharing the main idea of the story in a summary. This week we finished summarizing the book, Tornado. We will continue to practice this skill next week as we read fiction. Grammar: using a and as, checking to see that subjects and verbs agree, abbreviations. Writing Focus: We are working on Response to Literature. We started our dinosaur unit and are writing about all of the interesting facts that we are learning. We are given the topic sentence and we write the supporting details. We are working on starting each sentence in a different way and using vivid verbs. We have learned about the Apatosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus. We are also learning about the characteristics that make a dinosaur a dinosaur and what word parts of their names mean. Math: I sent unit 3 assessments home earlier this week. We have started unit 4 in math. The unit started with a review of money and now we are learning strategies to complete double-digit subtraction problems. We have learned the “ungroup” strategy, which many of us have learned as borrowing, and we also learned the “expanded form” strategy. We want the students to have more than one strategy that they can use when completing double -digit subtraction. Science: We are finishing our Weather Mysteries. We have learned how to spot different types of clouds and what they may bring. We also learned how the wind can have an impact on if we will have storms. We are going to finish up with extreme weather patterns. I sent home the invitations for our Dino-Mite breakfast on February 5th. I wanted to give you a few weeks to try to plan to be with us. Please let me know as soon as possible if you will be unable to make it. Our student of the week is Zack Porcelius. Zack loves sports and is a big Packer and White Sox fan! He would like to be a pro football player when he grows up. His favorite subject in school is math and he loves pizza. Kennah, Zack’s sister is his hero because she stands up for him and helps him. Week Of January 11-15
Reading Focus: Summarizing This week we continued the comprehension strategy, narrative summarizing. We learned a song to help us summarize that is sung to the tune of the “Hokey Pokey.“ We also learned to focus on the key words of: Somebody, Wanted, But, So, and Then. The key words help to tell the main character, what the character wanted, the problem, how it was resolved and what happened. We shared that when we summarize we do not include every detail. The author uses the details to paint a picture in our head but we are just sharing the main idea of the story in a summary. This week we worked on summarizing chapters one through four in the book, Tornado. We are also working on answering the questions in complete sentences. Grammar: Adjectives Sight Words of the Week: again, right, which Writing Focus: This week we started Response to Literature. On Monday we learned about Natural Resources from a variety of sources and wrote about if we could only keep one resource, which one would it be. We also are learning about Ruby Bridges and Martin Luther King and are sharing how we can show character traits in our own lives. We will continue to write next week as we respond to a varity of genres. Math: We finished unit three and I will be sending home the assessments next week. We also took the pre-test for unit four so we will know which students will receive enrichment with Mrs. Rech. The students enjoyed a math flip chart as we are starting to review money and making change. It is set up like a video game and they love advancing through the levels. Science: We started the week by talking about Natural Resources and have continued in our Earth Science unit. We are also learning about weather. The students loved watching it rain in a cup and learning about the water cycle. Next week we will look at clouds to predict weather patterns. I sent home the invitations for our Dino-Mite breakfast on February 5th. I wanted to give you a few weeks to try to plan to be with us. Please let me know as soon as possible if you will be unable to make it. Our student of the week is Maddie Pierce. Maddie has a twin sister in Mrs. Knoll’s class. Maddie is new to Butterfield this year. Maddie would like to be a teacher or a vet when she grows up. Her hero is her sister Chloe because she makes her laugh when she is sad and plays with her. Maddie enjoys gymnastics and her favorite subject is science. Welcome 2016!!!! Here's what we've been up to this month...
January 4-8 Reading Focus: Summarizing This week we started the comprehension strategy, narrative summarizing. We learned a song to help us summarize that is sung to the tune of the “Hokey Pokey.“ We also learned to focus on the key words of: Somebody, Wanted, But, So, and Then. The key words help to tell the main character, what the character wanted, the problem, how it was resolved and what happened. We shared that when we summarize we do not include every detail. The author uses the details to paint a picture in our head but we are just sharing the main idea of the story in a summary. We enjoyed the books, Big Al, Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday and Tornado. We were able to summarize an entire book in one paragraph. Writing Focus: We are continuing to practice How To stories. The children are working on incorporating temporal words and are finishing up pieces. Next week we will begin response to literature papers. We will begin by making connections to our new science mini-unit on natural resources and what they can do to conserve and what they can feel they would be able to live without. We will also respond to literature I read in January about Martin Luther king, Ruby Bridges and Rosa Parks. Math: We are finishing unit 3 in math and will take the assessment early next week. We will also pre-test for unit 4. This week students also participated in the Continental Math League Challenge. It is given throughout the United States and students take three tests over the year. Scores are calculated and some students from the district may qualify to earn awards for their problem solving skills. Social Studies: We started the week with letters from Flat Stanley. We learned about his adventures in England, New Zealand, Guam, California and Maryland. We also looked at different types of maps and finished our landforms book. We ended the week with an assessment on landforms and making a map. We will begin Natural Resources and Weather in Science next week. I sent home the invitations for our Dino-Mite breakfast on February 5th. I wanted to give you a few weeks to try to plan to be with us. Please let me know as soon as possible if you will be unable to make it. Our student of the week is Elaine Palmer. Elaine’s favorite food is pasta and she enjoyes playing soccer. At school she loves to write and her favorite book is, The Day the Crayons Quit. When she grows up she would like to be a teacher. Her hero is her brother John because he makes her smile and stands up for her. |
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