Reading:
In reading this week, we focused on the “Problem and Solution” in stories we read. The authors of most books we read have a character or characters that come across a problem and work throughout the story on ways to solve this problem. Sometimes we predict before reading the story as to what we might think could be a problem. Other times we might talk about the problem as it arises during reading and occasionally we will wait until the very end of the book to reflect back and talk about the problem and solution. We also discuss how we encounter problems in our everyday lives and we have to be problem solvers to find solutions, just like characters do in stories.
To kick off our learning of this week’s word families we watched a video that had us reading and learning new words that end with the vowel pairs -ee and -ea. We built words in both families and to review both word families we watched a Google Slide that showed the word, students had to read the word and then we checked our answer by clicking to the next slide that showed the picture. It was so much fun! We love doing this activity!
Our vocabulary words this week went with the book Nikky and the Rainy Day. We loved learning all about the words cliffs, meadow, jungle, blizzards, impossible and boring. To review our words later in the week, we split up into groups and discussed the definition and example with our group before bringing it back to the class to share.
Our new sight words: make, be
**Be sure to keep the white sight word cards from week to week and continue to practice all of them as new ones are sent home every week.
Our Poem of the Week:
iPad Fun:
Reading
- Pebble Go: We took the time during our first rotation to just explore as many sections of the weather section on Pebble Go as possible. We looked through different types of weather, extreme weather, types of clouds, the seasons and more. We tried to soak up as much information using this website as possible.
- Draw and Tell:: After learning as much new and maybe even old information as possible from Pebble Go weather, we took one or two facts and illustrated using Draw and Tell. We then recorded our voice sharing a few facts about that type of weather that we learned, saved it and uploaded to Google Classroom.
- Reading Eggs/QR Books: Third round all students completed lessons in Reading Eggs and/or listened to stories on “tape” using QR codes inside picture books.
Math
- Book Creator: This week students used the app Book Creator on their own by adding a journal entry of the activity number of the day! We have been doing number of the day as a whole class since the first week of school and they are now experts and are able to do this on their own! They rolled a dice to find their number, wrote the number, the number word, drew the dice, tally marks, number of shapes and number line! They finished the activity by recording their voice explaining their thinking and what they did with the number of the day.
- QR Codes/Doodle Buddy: What fun we had this week scanning QR codes that revealed an addition sentence with a missing addend that resulted in the sum of 10. Students could either use the stamper tool or draw their own shapes in Doodle Buddy to solve the missing addend!
Writing:
Writer’s Workshop this week, we continued learning about our new writing unit Opinion Writing. We started the week off by learning about “pronouns” and why they are helpful, useful and needed in our writing. We then worked on previous opinion writings and/or started a new one. Later in the week, we learned how we could write a specific opinion book on a movie review. We watched the movie trailer for Despicable Me 3, which comes out this summer. After watching the short clip, we discussed our different opinions about the movie. I modeled how to fill in the planning page based on my opinion of the movie and students could either finish a previous opinion writing and/or begin a new one and try a movie review! We finished the week off by taking our review from the planning page to the final opinion page and adding it to Book Creator. It was fun and exciting to see students pick and choose different movies to review, some they liked and others they didn’t!
Watch a few completed Opinion Writings that have been published in Book Creator!
Math:
Math this week we learned all about the vocabulary term number bond. We learned that a number bond is a picture that shows an addition fact. We took our ways to make ten and put them into number bonds. We practiced using math tools, writing and more with number bonds. We will continue to work with number bonds with numbers 1-9 after spring break. Students practiced ways to make then with ten frames and graphing and “bears in a cave” a way to make ten practice game as a new math with someone choices.
Content:
This week was all about Weather!
- Monday--We read the story Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Each student then shared if the weather really rained food, what food they would want to come down from the sky.
- Tuesday--We illustrated the food we chose from the previous day in the app Doodle Buddy.
- Wednesday--We.completed a Google Slide where we wrote the food and our name, as well as added the shapes sun and clouds from the slide options. We then finished by adding our photo/illustration of the food from the previous day and a picture of us pretending to eat the food coming down from the sky!
- Thursday--We continued to work on our Google Slide project.
- Friday--We have been waiting for 2 weeks to be able to have nice enough "spring" weather to go outside on a walk. Friday was our day! We enjoyed a windy, but warm 74 degrees walk together and talked about the clouds, the wind and more!
Watch the slide show below to see all of our Google Slides!
Social Emotional Learning (SEL):
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.
This week’s SEL focus was learning about HUMOR. We started off by discussing what is appropriate to laugh at during the school day and what is not appropriate. We talked about when we read a funny book or read the poem in silly voices we absolutely can laugh, but we also said that if someone trips and falls or if someone loses a point in class or scribbles their picture would not be times we should laugh. We watched a video where we learned that too much of a good thing could be bad and that is why it is important to have a balance of silly, laughing times and other times where we need to be calm and focused. If we were one way all of the time it would not be a good thing. Students also brought an item from home that makes them laugh. It was so much fun to just enjoy being silly and laughing together! We finished the week by reading a really funny book and watching two funny videos, just to laugh!
A few discussion questions to talk with your child at home about this topic:
-What is something appropriate to laugh at when you are at home?
-If you are at a restaurant and you see someone who is different than you, is that something you should laugh at? Why or why not?
-What can you do if someone finds something to be funny that you don’t?
PRACTICE AT HOME:
While on spring break, have your child practice reading and sounding out words in books, on commercials, in the menu at a restaurant...wherever you are. Encourage them to use their skills to sound out words and read them in the world around us!
Next Week:
- In reading we will focus on “Visualize”
- In writing we will continue working on Opinion Writing
- In math we will learn how to decompose numbers 1-9 in two different ways.
- Our theme next week is all about INSECTS!
Important Dates/Information:
**Go to our classroom webpage if you want to see important dates on a calendar! I will update this classroom calendar as dates and events come about.
- 3/27-3/31--Spring Break NO SCHOOL
- 4/7--Spirit Day Wear MME Gear
- 4/12-Do you know of any incoming kindergarteners for next school year? Round-up is scheduled for April 12th from 6-7PM! Help us spread the word!
- 4/13--Author Visit--Laurie Keller
- 4/14--Spring Pictures
- 4/24--Mid-Spring Break NO SCHOOL for no missed days of school through 4/7
- 5/5--MME School Carnival 6-8PM
- 5/9--Field Trip to the Indianapolis Zoo (more info to come after spring break)
- 5/11 & 5/12--Muffins with Mom
- 5/22--Kindergarten Graduation 10 AM
- 5/24--LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
