10-Nov. 15-19, 2021

Last Week's election results: We learned a lot about voting and the election process by running a campaign and elections for lead classroom helpers. Students did a great job asking questions at our “town hall” style meeting for our candidates and their running mates. Cookie Monster (Emery/Asher), Big Bird (Evette/Caleb, George), and The Count (Calvin/Rose). The Count and his Running Mate was elected by the class as the Overall Lead Classroom Helpers, but all candidates will be the leaders of our teams during our Reading/Language Arts rotations.

This Week-Science: We continue to learn about geology and Earth materials and how we use the different kinds and sizes of rocks. We had a chance to walk around our school and school grounds to search for ways people use rocks. We’ll also discuss the difference between the many rock sizes and humus and what Earth material ingredients make up soil. We investigated different soil types from sand rich, to clay rich to humus rich soil. When it get's above freezing, we'll go outside and investigate soil from the stream, the woods, and the garden beds for them to identify what kinds of soil they found. This will help them determined what is needed and the best soil to grow living things. The class suggested we do a science experiment to see what would happen if we planted the same seeds into each. Science Vocabulary (oral): soil, humus, rock uses, geologist

Social Studies: In honor of our Veterans and Veteran’s Day, we learned about the branches of the military and what they do as well as why it is important to honor and recognize our Veteran’s for their service. We also made wonderful heartfelt thank you cards for Veterans. We 're hoping to have guests from one or more branches of the military to share more and allow us to ask questions. I also shared about the military since I grew up on an Air Force Base and my husband served in the Army for a number of years, including an 8 month tour in Bosnia/Kosovo. Social Studies Vocabulary (oral): citizen, veteran, honor, duty, military branches(Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard)

This Week: Reading: We are finding text evidence, describe characters, settings and event details in fiction text. In Non-fiction, we're looking for main idea and key details. We’re also comparing related texts and searching for good robust vocabulary words. Reading Vocabulary(oral): leadership, admire, enjoy, rely, connections. This week’s theme is about communities and how people help one another in different ways in our community ( a perfect tie in with Veteran's Day). We’re reading different genres of text from fiction to non-fiction and beginning to compare texts.

Writing: We are doing narrative writing as we write about our own ending to stories read. We are making sure to include characters, setting and events. Encourage your child to underline words they are unsure how to spell. Students are also learning about nouns(naming words), both common and proper.

Phonics/Sight Words/Spelling: Blends “ng, th, sh:” sing, thing, think, with, shop, wish, most, must, call, want Challenge Words: veteran, honor, duty, soil, humus Sight Words: call, want, day, most, must, little, was, ran, by, so

Mathematics: Students began Unit 3. This begins a more indepth study of how to approach solving story problems and writing our own. We will focus on identifying the unkown using numbers 1-10 while showing proof, equation, answer and labels.

Other: SNACKS. Please remember to pack the snack in the backpack pouch and not their lunch box. Snacks are to go in their mailbox in the am.