Quick notes to know:
- 12/7 Tuesday, 3:45 -5:30 p.m. (one time club) Winter Craft Club
- 12/17 Virtual Assembly, Winter Party, Early Release (snunch)
- 12/20/21-1/2/22 Winter Break
- 1/3/22 School resumes
- Thank you to everyone for your time during parent teacher conferences.
- I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving break. Welcome back!
- When the weather is inclement, we will be having indoor lunch and snack.
- During indoor snack we are viewing safety videos for technology use. These videos are created for children by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and are aimed at teaching children basic internet safety and etiquette.
- Our winter party will be held on 12/17 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Any snacks provided will need to be single serve items. Please look for more details to come regarding party needs/planning from our room parent. Thank you!
Reading and Writing,
This week we will resume our normal spelling groups. Students should follow the normal homework schedule.
We are writing on prompts that will help students think about sustainability and earth friendly practices. This will help us practice December’s green challenge, Respect, by exploring how to respect the earth. Following this, we will start an informational essay on ways to help the earth. This will be an essay with an introduction, conclusion and 3 body paragraphs. Students will work on the phases of writing, including research, brainstorming, graphic organizing, writing a rough draft, editing and a final draft. We will be working on this until winter break, and possibly continue following the break.
In reading, we are completing a final project on Underworlds, The Battle Begins. This project concludes our novel study. Next, we will be working on a unit on informational text. We will be learning about main ideas, details, summarizing and overall characteristics of informational texts. While we learn about these aspects of informational text, we will also be having small group reading groups. These reading groups will work together to apply what we have learned to informational texts. We will be working on these lessons and texts from now until winter break.
We will be listening to stories that emphasize respect to help embrace and convey our December Green Challenge. We will also continue to work on cursive.
3rd grade Math,
We are continuing Unit 3, a unit on adding and subtracting multi digit numbers. Our unit 3 assessment is planned for the last day before winter break, 12/17/21.
Over the next three weeks, we will work on several addition and subtraction skills. Students will use problem strings, investigations, and forums to explore and analyze different subtraction strategies, focusing on finding the difference and removal. As they develop a repertoire,students find they can apply much of what they learned about addition number line strategies to subtraction on the number line. Emphasis is on
the constant difference strategy, which fosters flexibility and efficiency. Students will also focus on rounding and computational estimation. Students use estimating skills to approximate solutions to problems and determine the reasonableness of their answers. Students will also review 3- and 4-digit place values, in preparation for work in the sessions that follow. The teacher introduces the standard algorithms (also known as the regrouping method) for addition and subtraction. Students compare the standard algorithms with other methods and strategies they have developed and learned, and consider when they are best deployed.
We will continue working on area for our November Number Corner and then have a brief December Number Corner which focuses on fractions.
4th grade math, We will be moving into Module 2 of Unit 3. In this module, the geoboard is assigned a value of 1. Students name fractional parts of the geoboard and describe the parts’ relationships to one another. Their observations are then extended into comparing fractions with unlike numerators and denominators, and adding fractions with like denominators. The last three sessions feature an extended problem-solving opportunity followed by a math forum, as well as two new Work Places that provide practice with composing and decomposing fractions.
Students will be working on a science unit on light. Students will learn about how the colors of light are perceived. Students will also learn about the parts of an eye and a basic understanding of how they see. This week, we will complete a project on creating a light maze with a small group. Last, we will have a light quiz to end our unit.
Following light, we will begin a unit on sound. We will work on sound until winter break.
We are continuing phenology and solo spots, alternating each week. Please make sure your student is prepared to be outside on a regular basis with warm outdoor clothing.
I hope you have a wonderful week!