January 9th-13th

HUGE apologies!

I'm am so sorry I haven't had the chance to update the blog recently.  My schedule with physical therapy has been so chaotic lately.  Hopefully my knee will be strong enough soon and then I can get back into a more regular routine.  The last update on my knee was positive so fingers crossed that it will be fully healed in the very near future!

Announcements:

As mentioned before, Team Blowey filled their marble jar and their reward was to make team jerseys!  Every student will need a plain white t-shirt.  You may send one in for you child at any time.  If you would like to send in supplies (puff paints in navy blue and red or fabric markers in any color)  it would be greatly appreciated!  Once we have the majority of the supplies, I'll send out a note with the exact day that we will be doing the project.  We are definitely very eager beavers for this activity!

The chilly weather has definitely arrived!  Please be sure to send your child in with their winter coat, hat, and mittens everyday!  Winter is much kinder when you are dressed appropriately.  I know from experience.  I grew up in California and then moved to Maine a few years ago.  Winter really isn't that bad... as long as you have the right amount of layers!

Reminders:

Send in pictures of your child doing some of their favorite wintertime activities!  We love adding pictures to our Team Blowey News bulletin board.  It's always fun to see what our teammates are up to outside of room 10.  

If you have not done so already, please send in an old (but CLEAN!) sock and a dry erase marker.  

Next week there will be NO SCHOOL on Monday, January 16th (MLK day!) or on Friday, January 20th (records day).

THIS WEEK IN...

Reading:  

We will be continuing our work with finding the main idea of a story and supporting it with main ideas.  We will also focus on the skill of summarizing something that we have read.  Something new that we will be introducing is the idea of a reading rate.  Basically, Team Blowey and I will be talking about when it is really important to slow down our reading rate to really make sure that we are comprehending what we are reading.  We will practice this with a few pieces of writing that really jam pack a lot of details into a short space. 

Phonics:  

We will be talking about the consonant digraphs /th/, /ch/, /sh/,  and /wh/.  We will be practicing how to build and blend words with these digraphs but also how to read and spell words with these digraphs. 

Vocabulary:  

Our vocabulary words this week are:  ancient, hopeful, unable, confirm, valid.  With our elbow buddies we'll be talking about what these words mean and also how to use them in a sentence.  We'll be searching for these words in A Very Old Fish and Boy Finds Fossils! 

Grammar:  

We will be reviewing past tense verbs.  Together we will review the rules for adding endings onto words that end with one consonant or words that end with -e. 

Writing:  

We recently reviewed our routine for how to practice our writing goals.  We talked about why we practice our writing, what materials we need, where we can practice, and we also brainstormed ideas that we could write about.  We will continue to practice the routine so that it is truly fresh in all our minds!

Math:  

We have unpacked our money and time standards.

Time:  Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes using a.m. and p.m.  

Money:  Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies.  Use $ and ¢ appropriately.

Together, we put on our investigator faces and solved the mysterious words hiding within these standards!  Now we know exactly what is expected to be able to pass the standard.  

We have had some time to go over some of our menu options for when we have goal time.  Once we have had the chance to practice all of these menu options, the students will be able to choose which activity they want to practice during their goal time.  This allows for goal time to be differentiated and for students to move at their own pace.

Science:  

Last Friday, we were able to plant all of our brassica seeds (thank you, Mrs. Lefebvre!) and begin our observations.  For the next six weeks, we will observe these plants through their entire life cycle and make observations twice a week.  Students will draw and write exactly what they see happening to their plant.  It will definitely be a challenge but we are so excited for it!

I hope you all have a truly wonderful week!

P.S.  I have no idea why some lines are highlighted in white and I can't figure out how to change it!  Just a heads up, the highlighted words are not highlighted for importance.