This week our strategy was "Recognize and Explain 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?
- Encourage your child to look for clue words when reading. These clue words include: because, if, then, since, so, therefore, & as a result of.
- When reading with your child, show examples of cause.and.effect relationships in the text. This modeling is essential to understanding.
- 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
During Daily 5 iPad choices this week students created a picture/video using ChatterKid where they used a picture of the Big Bad Wolf and created a sentence where if they were the Big Bad Wolf what they would "huff and puff and blow down".
Writing:
This week in writing we continued to work on writing informational writing pieces. To change things up this week, we used a website/app on our iPads called Pebble Go. The students worked with their iPad partner and navigated through the website to choose an animal to listen, read and learn more about. They completed the informational writing page with their partner by adding the topic and three facts they learned about the animal. After the planning page, they turned their ideas into a book and then published their finished book using Book Creator. A few students are continuing to work on their writing piece into this next week. A few completed books from previous weeks are below.
Math:
This week in math we focused on the concepts "Greater Than >, Less Than < and Equal To =". We mainly focused on comparing sets and using these words as vocabulary to describe the relation between the different sets of objects. Due to our shortened week, we will continue to work on this into next week.
During our iPad choices, we practiced scanning QR codes that told us a number 1-20 and then created that number using the Number Pieces app. We showed the number using the number pieces and then wrote the number next to the pieces. The main focus is using the tens and ones to show the number.
Content:
This week was all about Fairy Tales! We read and listened to so many stories! A few of them were The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Beauty and the Beast, Jack and the Beanstalk and more! We enjoyed hearing these stories and finding all the parts that make a fairy tale in each of them. We even had the chance to write our own fairy tale by the end of the week. We used a planning page to help us plan out the parts of a fairy tale, chose our favorite parts and put together a story. We put the final product together in Book Creator. We even drew and painted our very own castle this week too!
Our very own Fairy Tale...
The Lost iPad Partners!
We finished our week off by dressing up and having our very own Fairy Tale Ball! We learned how to bow and curtsy, how to box step, do the grapevine and even ride on a magic carpet ride. After the Ball we went on a parade around the school and waved to our royal subjects, all of the teachers and students 1st through 5th grade!
PRACTICE AT HOME:
Talk with your child about your favorite childhood fairy tales and what their favorites are now. Compare and contrast your favorites and see if they have all of the elements of a true fairy tale. Look at the picture posted above to see all of those elements!
Next Week:
- In reading we will focus on Author's Purpose and Main Idea and Key Details.
- In writing we will continue our unit on informational writing pieces.
- In math we will continue to focus on Greater Than, Less Than, Subtraction and Tens/One.
- Our theme next week is all about Dr Seuss. Be sure to read the YELLOW paper that was sent home on Friday. for our Dr. Seuss week spirit days!
Important Dates/Information:
- 2/29 ABC's of Ag Field Trip to McCutcheon High School (AM only)
- This date was moved due to our snow day last week
- 3/15 and 3/17 Parent/Teacher Conferences--please return the day/time green paper I sent home confirming your conference
- 3/ 21-3/25 NO SCHOOL SPRING BREAK
