Homework Update

This week's homework is a reading log only.  Enjoy the Thanksgiving break!

What we have been learning...

In Reader’s Workshop this week we have been reading and learning about animals living in our environment and what they do.  This week we read three main texts; Animals in the City, Squirrels Leap, Squirrels Sleep and Tide Pools. We continued to focus on using key details from the text (illustrations, words, and text features) to understand how animals adapt to their environment and how they use their structures to survive and thrive.  This coming week, we will use the text What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? to begin to answer the weekly question “How do animals survive in their habitats?”

In Word Study, we have been working on reading and writing words with short a word patterns (ap, ag, at).  This coming week we will continue to work on this short a word families with glued sounds (and, am, ank, an). 

Last week’s Weekly Words: scavenger, adapt, surroundings, wild, thrive, urban

Next week’s Weekly Words: predator, burrow, basic need, survive, shelter, prey

In Writer’s workshop we have been working on writing friendly letters. Students wrote letters to their K2 teacher and are now writing letters to their 6^th grade buddies.  We are continuing to work on including all the parts of a letter as well as expanding our message with information and details. 

In math, students have been working on solving addition problems with 2 unknown addends, “how many of each” problems.  They are working to use strategies to find all the possible combinations to equal a number.  Students have also been playing dot addition during which they use dot cards (showing 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 dots) to make a number in different ways.  We will begin to work on solving addition story problems with 3 addends next week. 

In Science, students had a chance to observe animals in our schoolyard using their senses.  They are also beginning to learn about terrariums. Each classroom will be making a terrarium that will become a habitat for plants and other living things.

In studios, students have been writing animal riddles, building animals with clay, and sketching animals in their sketchbooks!  Students have also been building animal habitats with Legos, Kapla Blocks, and Beautiful Stuff.  Lastly, students have been making animal costumes and acting out scenes from texts.

Questions to ask your student!

- What animals did you learn about this week? What is their habitat? How do they survive and thrive in their habitat?

- How can you make the number 10?

- What is a terrarium?  How do you make one? What do you need to do to take care of your terrarium?

Book Access Projects

Our culminating project for our first unit Building Strong Communities asked students to think about how they could increase book access to all children and families in Boston's neighborhood .  Check out the projects below!

 
 

 

 

What we have been learning...

In Reader's Workshop, we wrapped up our Building Strong Communities unit.  We finished the unit by synthesizing our ideas from each weekly question to answer the question "What is a community?"  Each student also wrote and drew about a community they belong to and explained what makes it a strong community.  This coming week, we will start our new unit!  Our new unit is Animals Surviving and Thriving.  Next week we will be reading two nonfiction texts;  A Bird Can Fly and Slither, Slide, Hop, and Run.  We will use these texts to answer the weekly question "What do animals do?"

In Word Study, we have been continuing to work on identifying and reading words with the digraphs sh, ch, and th.  This coming week, we will focus on words that end with these digraphs.

Last week we did not have any new weekly words.
Next week's weekly words: habitat, behavior, structure, function, travel, grassland .

In Writer's Workshop, we started our Friendly Letters unit.  We have been identifying parts of a friendly letter and students started writing letters to their teachers from last year.  Students have been working hard to include an opening in their letter as well as write the message/body of their letter in an organized way.  Next week we will work on wrapping up our first letters and will start writing letters to our buddies.

In math, we completed our geometry unit and started our next unit How many of each? How many in all?  Students are working on solidifying using counting on and counting back strategies to solve equations.  They are also working on building an understanding of place value specifically with teen numbers (18=10 + 8). 

In Science, students are continuing to record the weather and think about how it is changing as the seasons start to change.  We will be starting our new science unit next week and will begin to explore living things and habitats.

In Studios, students completed their Book Access Projects.  Next week we will begin exploring new materials and ideas in each studio.  Students will be working with clay in Art Studio and Legos in Building Studio to create animals.  They will also be exploring Field Guides in Science Studio.


Questions to ask your student!
- What animals did you learn about this week?  What structures help them move?
- How do you count on?  How do you count back?
- How is the weather changing?  How do these changes impact your plans?