Coming Up This Week....

We are updating the format of our blog based on parent feedback at our Plus/Delta last week. We are continuing with the blog format because of the amount of people that have subscribed to it and have expressed in the past that they like being able to subscribe. In an effort to streamline our blog, we have put all of the homework assignments from all three teachers on one homework section. You still do need to know which teacher your child has for reading and math. We understand that it can be difficult to remember and to find the right homework. However, because of the amount of differentiation we do for your students, they will have more than one teacher and there is really no way around this in a school with a philosophy like ours.

We will be putting all updates of what we are doing during the week on the main, home section. Hopefully this helps you all out!


This Week...

Writer's Workshop:
This week we will be learning how to do research. We will take the habitat the kids learned about last week and will do some whole group research, organization of ideas, and then each student will write a non-fiction piece about the habitat.

Project Group:
Each class is learning about a different habitat this week, taught by one of our teacher candidates.

Reading:
Mrs. Johns' Reading: We are reviewing all word wall words and working in small reading groups.

Mrs. Aguilar's Reading:
Story of the Week: Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin
Comprehension Skill: Story elements (beginning, middle, end, characters, setting, problem solution)
Word Wall Words: use, tell, mail, thank, caught, little
Reading Learning Stations (Students have a literacy menu they will need to complete by the end of the two week cycle. The will do two stations on Tues/Thurs.):
1. Buddy Reading: Students will read a book with a buddy in their group. Then they will tell about it using a comprehension wheel.
2. Research Station: Students will read an animal book and tell about the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
3.Computer Station: Students will read a book at their level on raz-kids.com. Then they will take a short quiz online to check their comprehension.
4. Word Work: On the smartboard students will practice writing their word wall words.
5. Writing: Students will write a winter story.
6. Reader's Theater: Students will read Click Clack Moo to practice fluency and retell the story by acting it out

Mrs. Sullivan's Reading:
We are starting a two week unit on reading nonfiction books. We have centers that work on reading fluency, nonfiction vocabulary, using a website to find research and information, filling out a fact sheet on an animal, recording the main idea and supporting details of a nonfiction book.

Math:
Mrs. Johns' Math: Today we worked on Tile Math at students individual levels. We also did a fast fact pre-assessment to see what facts each student still needs to work on. On Tuesday, we will be working on building different shaped arrays to show different ways to make a number by multiplying. We will be working in small groups in centers on Thursday and Friday to meet individual needs of students.

Mrs. Aguilar's Math: In math this week we are reviewing the strategy of counting on and counting back. We will continue to practice telling time.
Monday: No school
Tuesday: Math stations
Wednesday: Time lesson with Ms. Kelly
Thursday: Continue math stations. Or Galileo
Friday: Math stations continued or Galileo

Mrs. Sullivan's Math: In math this week our 3 focus skills are adding double digit numbers, subtracting double digit numbers with and without regrouping using manipulatives, and using different ways to represent a number with place value (342 means 300 + 40 + 2 or 3 hundreds, 4 tens and 2 ones or students will draw the number using flats, skinnies and bits).