We had a great week! Here are some things we worked on in class:
Writing - This week, we kicked off our new unit on opinion writing! We began by learning how to form an opinion and support it with strong reasons. After reading the story Tops and Bottoms, students were challenged to develop their own opinions based on the events in the story. Once they had formed their opinions and gathered reasons to support their thinking, we put our ideas to the test with a fun, fishbowl-style debate! Students did a wonderful job sharing their opinions, supporting their ideas with evidence, and listening to the different perspectives of their classmates. We are off to a great start as opinion writers!
Reading - This week, we began exploring the different elements of a story, starting with characters! Students are learning how to describe characters by looking closely at their words, actions, and feelings and using evidence from the text to support their thinking. We began by modeling this important skill together using two of our favorite stories, Tops and Bottoms and The Leaf Thief. Students are learning that strong readers don't just describe a character; they can explain why they think that way using clues from the story. Ask your child to tell you about these books and the characters we explored!
Math - This week in math, we learned two new strategies to help us solve addition and subtraction equations: Think Addition and Counting Up and Counting Back. Students are learning how to use these strategies to approach problems in different ways, strengthen their number sense, and become more confident and flexible mathematicians. We practiced applying each strategy and explored how choosing an efficient strategy can make solving problems easier.
Social Studies - We continued our exciting study of landforms this week! Our focus was on islands, rivers, and plains. Students explored how these landforms are formed, where they can be found, and what makes each one unique. We also discovered some fascinating facts about rivers, including which river is the longest in the world and which is the widest! We are becoming quite the geography experts! Ask your child to share some of the fun and interesting facts they learned this week!
Science -
Reminders for Next Week
Our Writer's Celebration is Thursday Novemeber 19!
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