March 5, 2015

Important Dates and Reminders:

-3/9-3/13 Book Fair
-3/12 and 3/13 Student Led Conferences - Please remember to bring your child to your scheduled conference time.  They will have prepared to lead most of the conference.  Please also read their report prior to arriving so you can ask questions.
-3/16 - Scholastic Book Orders Due
-3/20 - Go Green With Graland
-3/24 - 8:15-9:15 Kindergarten Parent Discussion in the Board Room
-3/25 - Suessville Kindergarten Presentation to Preschool in Fries at 2:30
-3/26 - Dress Up like your favorite Dr. Seuss character
-3/27 - Spirit Day
-3/30-4/6 - SPRING BREAK!

Content and Curriculum:

During Writing Workshop this week we began the process of writing All About Books.  Students learned that they are going to write books about things they are experts on!  All About Books flow right from our How To writing unit because each All About Book will have a How To chapter.  Next week your children will continue working on the All About Book they have chosen to write.  They will choose different chapters to write based on the Table of Contents they have written.  This unit takes a lot of student organization - practice, practice, practice!  Each day we will meet before and after writing to organize our chapters based on our Table of Contents and evaluate where we are in the process of writing each chapter.  Just wait until you see these books!  This unit will take us up to and possibly until after Spring Break.

Next week during our usual reading time we will be doing various activities and preparing for our student led conferences!  

During Math we will begin a new chapter in our curriculum.  This is a shorter chapter focusing on length and height.  Vocabulary you can support at home includes long, longer, longest, short, shorter and shortest.  We will be using nonstandard ways to show length (paperclips, unifix cubes etc.).

Exploring and noticing things that All About Books have

They have a Title, Table of Contents,

Headings, How To Chapters,

Chapters, Glossaries, Read More,

Highlighted Words, Photographs, and much more!

Look at the pre-algebra going on during calendar!  Each day students focus on one number and come up with various ways to show that number.  At the beginning of the year I introduced C is the 3rd letter of the alphabet etc.  Look at how your kiddos have taken that and have now come up with equations with letters!

A game with fives frames and tens frames

Visiting the Gates Inventions