September 28, 2014

Reading
This week in reading, the students focused on the comprehension strategies asking questions and making connections.  Mrs. Como modeled how to ask questions and make connections with picture books, and then the students helped Mrs. Como.  In the end, the students were able to ask their own questions and make their own connections with their independent reading books for Readers' Workshop.  The class also learned about keeping a reading log and about tracking the genres they're reading by making a genre bar graph each month.  The teachers are wrapping up Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Testing, and so our guided reading groups will start very soon.  

Math
In Math this week, the students completed Unit 1, did a review, and took the Unit 1 test.  Mrs. Como also gave the students a Unit 2 pretest and will use that information to form guided math groups next week.  Lesson 2.1 was about reviewing the inverse relationship between addition and subtraction and about fact families/number families.  The students were able to cut out their own fact triangles and practice their addition/subtraction facts with a partner.

Language Arts
The students are focusing on a new skill in WEX:  showing.   Showing is when you add specific details to your writing to make it more interesting for the reader.  For example, instead of saying "Mrs. Como is excited," one might write, "Mrs. Como was smiling as she jumped up and down and pumped her fists into the air."  The class also learned about Revision Assignments and was able to make revisions to their own writing.  They worked on adding more details in order to change a telling sentence into a showing sentence.

The class started to organize their Wonder Books on Friday.  They added a Table of Contents page, glued in the Requirements page, brainstormed research topics of interest, chose their first topic and listed research questions centered around that topic.  Next week, the class will begin researching.

In grammar this week, the students wrapped up a unit on exclamations and commands, took a test, and began a unit on subjects/predicates.

Science
In science, the students worked in groups to formulate a written explanation for their models of "what makes day and night?"  Then, they presented their models to the class.  After this activity, the students were able to see two models that scientists created to explain day and night.  At the end of the week, the students began to track the sunrise and sunset and recorded this data.  They also made predictions about the shortest/longest day of the week.

Important Information
The Fiction Genre Project is due Tuesday, September 30.

The September Reading Calendar is Due, Wednesday, October 1.

Please turn in your Room Rep. money if you haven't already.

Our friend, Kritin, is moving.  This week will be his last few days with us.  We will miss you, Kritin!  Good luck at your new school!