Math:

This week in math, we will be graphing candy hearts for Valentine's Day!  Students will practice making groups of 10 (building to place value!), estimating amounts, counting, and graphing candy hearts.  Best of all, they can snack on the hearts when they are finished!  What a great reward! 

We will continue to work with 2-D and 3-D shapes.  We are also learning about symmetry!  Last week, we made symmetric snowflakes which are displayed in our room!  The snowflakes look great!

We will be working on addition and subtraction facts daily.  Students are learning the terms "zero less than,"one less than", and "two less than."  Students will continue practicing adding and subtracting, shapes, and number words.  

Please take the time to study the addition and subtraction flashcards sent home January 25th.  These are a great tool to improve the memorization of addition and subtraction facts.  Make learning a game by seeing how many facts your child can answer in 1 minute!

During math centers, students will use various other math skills such as number word recognition, building and identifying 3D shapes, using pictures and tally marks to represent data, etc.

**Each night students should be working on how to spell number words through 50.  Number word flashcards will be sent home within the week. 

 Writing:

This week in writing, we will be reviewing parts of a letter.  We will use our skills to write Valentine's Day letters and cards to our Third Grade Reading Buddies!

We have incorporated a daily handwriting time in our classroom.  Each day, students will practice correctly forming capital and lowercase letters.  Students have their very own handwriting book to use during writing time.  I am seeing some wonderful improvements from all students!!

During writer's workshop, we are practicing our revising skills.  We are focusing on taking our writing to the next level!  Students are encouraged to revise a "finished" piece using a colorful pen to add description words and detail to their picture and text.

We are continuing to "talking across our fingers" by saying a topic for our palm and a sentence for each finger.  We will be focusing on Small Moments during Writer's Workshop.  Ask your child about the great writing creations they have been working so hard on!

Reading:

This week we have started B.E.A.R time.  B.E.A.R stands for "Be Excited About Reading!"  During this time, students choose a book to read independently.  Reading is so important for students to develop a love for at a young age.  Students will be reading a self selected book in order to build their excitement about reading!

We will continue to review our letters and high frequency words from kindergarten and adding new words each week!  We are also practicing reading and sounding out words with short vowel sounds.  Continue to work with your child on these words each night.

Science/Social Studies:

Our theme this week will be Me on the Map.  During this theme, students will learn vocabulary such as world, country, state, town, city, and neighborhood.

We will also continue to learn about owls for our IMPACT project.  Students will visit the computer lab two more times this week to work on typing sentences and making KeyNote presentations for our IMPACT project!