May 11, 2009

Wow!  Thank you for all the wonderful appreciation gifts!  I can't wait to use the spa certificate and the flowers look beautiful on my porch.   Thank you for a wonderful week.

What's new this week:

ILA:  This week we will read the story, Ruth Law Thrills a Nation.  We will discuss the elements of a biography as we study The Wright Brothers and other famous people from the past.  We will identify vocabulary strategies to use both before and during reading, create a timeline to help us organize the events and summarize our biographies, and work to complete BCRs for the books we are reading.

Writing:  This week we will begin creating our nonfiction books.  We will identify important information and text features we feel are important to include, do research to gather more information where needed and be creative in organizing the pages in our books to make them interesting for our readers. 

Spelling:  Our spelling pattern this week will be the ‘oo’ as in took and ‘ou’ as in should.  Please be sure that your child glues in the spelling menu choice for Monday nights into his/her spelling journal. 

Math:  We will continue with our Whole Number Operations Unit this week as we dive into division by creating equal groups, begin to identify and immediately recognize our x / ÷  facts for 2, 5, and 10, discover patterns in our 0 and 1 facts, and generate and practice our x and ÷ fact families.  We will continue to practice 2 and 3-digit addition and subtraction strategies daily. 

It is important to practice 2-digit addition and subtraction as well as become efficient with basic addition and subtraction facts.   

Science:  We will begin our Growth and Change Unit this week!  Our butterfly larva are in and are already beginning to change!  We will determine what an animal needs in its habitat to survive, determine why scientists collect and record data, examine in what ways do animals grow and change, and understand what a limited food suppy means to the survival of a caterpillar.  We will daily observe our caterpillars as they grow and change into beautiful butterflies. 

Other News:

BOX TOPS CONTEST is in full swing.  Send them in by May 15^th!

Please check with your child as to any school supplies they may be running out of in class.  (Dry erase markers, pencils, crayons, erasers, glue sticks)

Upcoming Dates:

5-15-09:  1pm Dismissal

5-16-09:  Spring Bazaar! (10am – 2pm)

5-20-09:  Field Day

5-25-09:  School Closed

6-5-09:  2^nd Grade Picnic  11am – 1pm

6-12-09:  Last Day of School for Students!!!

I hope you have a wonderful week, I know we will in our learning cottage.