September 20, 2024

Week in Review

This week in math we continued our unit on addition and subtraction. We worked on representing word problems using pictures, numbers, or words. This proved to be challenging for students because they really wanted to just write their answers. Explaining and articulating their thinking is a skill they will need in math in every other grade, so it's really important to get in the habit of doing it now! 

In reading, we worked on activating background knowledge about a topic, genre, or author. This primes us for reading so we can more deeply comprehend what we are reading. It also sets the stage for when we learn more complex comprehension skills like summarizing and synthesizing later in the year. For example, if students are thinking about their background knowledge about butterflies before reading a nonfiction book on the topic, it will set them up to be able to synthesize their previous knowledge with new learning. We also worked on making predictions using our background knowledge. 

We are continuing to work on our narrative writing unit. This week we worked on adding dialogue into our narrative stories as well as showing how we felt instead of just telling how we felt. For example, instead of saying "I felt happy", students thought of what their bodies were doing that showed how they felt. They could write instead "I grinned from ear to ear and jumped up and down!"

In social studies, we presented our Citizenship Posters to the Kindergarten classes! They will be posted on Seesaw for you to see. I was so impressed with how they projected their voices and looked at the audience. They did a great job! 

Our science unit on objects and materials continues through early October. We will learn about classifying objects, sorting by characteristics, weight, systems and how things can be changed by heating and cooling.

Upcoming Curriculum 

Language Arts: I can ask questions as I read. I can write narrative stories about my own life. 

Math: I can represent addition or subtraction word problems by using appropriate strategies such as concrete objects, pictorial models, and number sentences.

Science: I can describe an object's properties. 

Social Studies: I can explain that a community is a group of people who live and learn in the same place.