February News

Dates to Remember

School-to-Home Connection

This month

Be on the look-out for fractions (and decimals) in your life (especially while cooking, using money, or measuring) and point them out to your child.

Ask your child about the book he/she is reading.  What is the author doing to keep him/her interested? Can they describe the traits of the primary characters, and discuss how those characters are changing? Can they name the theme or life lesson?  

Ask your child what he/she has chosen to write about for their literary essay.  If your child is "persuading" you or a sibling to do something at home, encourage them to formulate evidence to support their opinion. 


Conferences

I am eager to meet with you in March, to share your child's progress and discuss goals for the spring.  You should have received an email with a Sign Up Genius link to chose a conference date and time.  As always, if you cannot find a time that works for you, please email me and we will find something more convenient!

Classroom Update

Math

We will wrap up our fractions unit, and begin our multiples & factors unit. I am already impressed with the children's ability to reason about the size of decimals & fractions.  They will be learning how to compose and decompose fractions, as well as how to create equivalent fractions. A bulk of our time will be spent solving word problems involving fractions.  They children will use what they know about whole numbers to help them solve the problems involving fractions.

Reading

We will continue our work with Social Awareness Book Clubs.  The children are doing a great job managing their clubs and reading assignments - coming to the "meeting" prepared with sticky notes and talking points.  Last month, we focused more on the characters. This month we will focus more on the theme of the novel.  Your child will not only identify the theme but find evidence to support it throughout the book.  They will do this first through talking with their group. Then they will move to a written response about theme.  The book clubs have been a fantastic addition to our reading workshop time so far! 

Writing

This month we will continue our work on our Literary Essays.  During the months of Jan-Feb the students will use the 5 paragraph essay format to write about the theme of a picture book (Fox by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks).  The final part of the unit is where the children will construct their own literary essay.  It is amazing to hear and read about their ideas.  It is a lot of work, but the essays are a great way to showcase that hard work and highlight their improved literacy skills.

Science

We are continuing our unit, "Dynamic Earth."  In this unit, students will learn about the slow and rapid processes that change the Earth's surface.  We will study the layers of the Earth, the water cycle, rocks and land formations, and more!