Week in Review--Earth Week

Reading:

Our CAFE strategy this week was focused on Recognizing and Explaining Cause and Effect Relationships. Understanding cause and effect relationships is a basic thinking skill. It is a strategy used by readers to understand why things happen the way they do in the text. Students are taught to look for clue words that will assist them in determining the cause and effect of the events in the text. It is a strategy that is not only used in reading, but it is experienced in day to day life. Readers who recognize cause and effect relationships understand that in text events happen (effects), along with the reason why they happen (causes). When students recognize this relationship, comprehension is increased.

How can you help your child with this strategy at home?

1. Encourage your child to look for clue words when reading. These clue words include: because, if, then, since, so, therefore, & as a result of.

2. When reading with your child, show examples of cause and effect relationships in the text. This modeling is essential to understanding.

3. Sometimes we must infer the cause because it is not always stated in the text. Ask your child “Why do you think this happened?”

4. Spark conversation about the text by using the following questions:

• What happened and why did it happen?
• What were the clue words?
• Why would this have happened?
• Give examples of cause and effect relationships throughout your life. in your family, in sports, and in your friendships.

 

Word Family "-ane"

 



 

Poem of the Week

 

 

Our vocabulary words this week were:

• crop: a plant that is grown for food
• golden: deep yellow
• grind: to crush and scrape into small pieces
• patch: a small pieces of land
• sprout: to begin to grow
• sturdy: not easily bent or broken

For our Thursday review lesson, we took the word “sprout” which went right along with our plants theme this week and illustrated a plant sprouting out of the ground. We also drew n the sun, rain and soil which are three main factors to help the seed sprout into a plant! After creating the picture, we saved it to our photo album and sent it to Google Classroom to share with the class.

 

 

iPad Fun:

Reading

• We used the app Popplet this week to create a visual representation of various story elements found in a book of our choosing. We rolled a die and depening on the roll, we added a picture and sentence about the Title, Setting, Characters, Event(s) and our Favorite part!
• We used the app Pic Collage to take a picture of a favorite character in any of our books and added a speech bubble and our own sentence of something we think the character might say in that particular part of the story.
• We then had Reading Eggs, Raz-Kids, QR listening books and Epic! as the other choices when we completed our first tasks!

Math

• This week we continued our Math Journals with the vocabulary word “equation” and completing one entry of Number of the Day.
• We continued with the new iPad choice called “Math Fight”. This app pairs two students up to practice math facts against one another. They loved it so much last week, that we continued with it this week!
• We also have our choices from previous weeks to complete tens/ones using the Number Pieces app and scanning QR codes to reveal subtraction and ten frame problems and where we scan a QR code that gives an addition sentence to 10 with a missing addend. The students then open up the DoodleBuddy app and complete the problem practicing their ways to make ten!

Writing:

We continued working on Opinion Writing this week. We started the week off by discussing different ways we can start an opinion writing other than using the words “I like ____.” We came up with several ways and the students challenged themselves by using them in their writing this week! We focused in on writing book reviews. We created a chart with pictures of various books we have read throughout the school year. We then wrote a few class book reviews using those books. Students then continued to either write their own opinion writings about something they are passionate about and/or they wrote book reviews! On Friday, we read a story called Hey, Little Ant. In this story, the main characters are a little boy and an ant. The boy is deciding if he should squish the ant or let him go and the ant is trying to convince the boy to let him go. In the end, the boys shoe is over the ant and the reader gets to decide what the boy does. We finished the story by writing our own opinion on why we think the boy should either let the ant go or squish him! They had very good reasons for both sides!

 

Below are a few examples of published opinion writing books from Book Creator.

 

 

Math:

We continued to learn and practice ways to show how any  number 1-9 can be made in more than one way. We practiced showing this concept by using math tools, drawings and ten frames. We put our ways in number bonds.  

Our vocabulary word this week was the word “equation”. We learned that when numbers (addends) are added together and there is an answer (the sum) the entire problem is called an equation!

Content:

This week was all about our planet Earth and plants!

• Monday we completed another entry into our butterfly journals. All of our butterflies have emerged from their chrysalis and are flying around in our classroom butterfly garden. We will release them next week!
• Tuesday, we learned about tools that are found in a garden and why they are useful and how these tools help our Earth.
• Wednesday, we completed a page where we labeled the different parts of a plant.
• Thursday, we made our own greenhouses! We took a greenhouse out of paper, two bean seeds and two wet cotton balls and put them in a baggie. We hung them in the hallway and are excited to watch the beans sprout and begin to grow!
• Friday, we were so excited to celebrate Earth Day! We started off by sharing a paper where we drew four ways we can help keep the Earth healthy and clean. Then throughout the day we read books, ate Earth Day themed cookies...thank you to Drew’s mom for sending them in! We also wrote a sentence of something we will do for the Earth, colored a coffee filter with blue and green markers, sprayed water on it and it looked like a real Earth! At the end of the day we completed a new app called “Recap” where students listen to a video question posted by me and they respond with their own video answer. They answered the question “Tell me one thing you can do to help keep the Earth healthy and clean.” They turned out GREAT!

Our ABC Countdown to Summer started this week! Here is the fun we had:
 

• A Day-We brought a stuffed animal to school!
• B Day-We went outside and blew bubbles on the playground!
• C Day-We went outside and wrote word family words using chalk on the playground and ate yummy carrot cupcakes with a C on the icing!
• D Day-We disco danced various times throughout the day!
• E Day-We celebrated Earth Day today and wore blue and green to school and completed several fun activities!

 

PRACTICE AT HOME:

Talk about two ways to make a number with your child. Give them a number 1-9 and have them show you how they solve finding two different ways to make and show that number!

Next Week:

• In reading we will focus on Monitor and Clarify.
• In writing we will continue our third unit Opinion Writing.
• In math we will begin reviewing main concepts taught in the past quarter/semester.
• Our theme next week is continuing to learn all about PLANTS!

 

Important Dates/Information:

• ABC Countdown to Summer continues this week with F, G, H, I and J. Be sure to check your calendar each night to see what the next day’s letter and activity is!
• 4/29 Spring Carnival-if you are available to help run a station/game for at least 30 min, please send me a message. We are in need of volunteers!
• 5/5 Muffins for Mom
• 5/10 Field Trip to Indy Zoo-we have all of the chaperones we need, please send in your child’s field trip money by Friday 4/29
• 5/16 Kindergarten Graduation 10:00AM
• 5/17 Field Day 1:00PM
• 5/19 Talent Show
• 5/20 Last day of school!