Week in Review--Earth Day!

Poem of the Week

Writing:

-We continued to talk about what writing an opinion/persuasive piece means. I modeled how to write an opinion piece about something I really wanted. I chose to write about really wanting ice cream. I started off by stating my opinion, giving three reasons why I needed the ice cream and finishing the piece by restating the opinion. A second option for writing an opinion piece was to write a book or movie review. I modeled this by having the class help me write a book review for the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. We talked about how whether you like or dislike a book or movie, you can write a review on it as long as you have your reason why to support your opinion. The class started practicing writing their first opinion pieces this week as well. We are excited to continue to learn about this new type of writing!

Math:

-We focused in on showing the numbers 11-19 by using tens and one’s number pieces this week. We began by using an app on my iPad that had the class practice by first writing a number and then showing the tens and ones to go with the number and then it switched and the tens and ones were placed on the board and the student was to write the number that went with the pieces. We then transferred that practice into a “math with someone” activity where they completed the same sequence using a marker, dry erase board and cubes for the number pieces.

Reading:

-We had TWO sight words this week-- “up, would”.

-The CAFÉ strategy we worked on this week was the strategy.

“Recognize 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. If this is the case, ask your child, “Why do you think this happened?”

Content:

-This week we began our learning about the planet Earth, ways to keep it healthy and clean and celebrated Earth Day! We read several books, cleaned up trash outside of our school and completed a painting after writing about one way even as kids we can help protect the Earth from harm. We created a popplet listing ideas on how kids and adults can help keep the Earth a healthy and happy place to live!

-We got our toes wet into talking about plants and the process of how a plant grows. We will continue our learning about this into next week and focus on the parts of a plant, different types of plants and how a plant grows! We might even get a chance to watch a seed sprout and begin growing!



























Other:

We were very fortunate to have members of the Tippecanoe Chamber Music Society come and play a special concert for students kindergarten through second grade this week. We learned all about string instruments!

We also participated in a walk to benefit the March of Dimes called a Wonder Walk. The students in the school raised over $3,000 to donate to the March of Dimes! Way to go Mayflower students! We finished the fun afternoon off by "kicking" off ISTEPS for next week by playing in our annual "Teachers vs 5th Grade" kickball game. The teachers came out with the WIN this year!

Week in Review--Eric Carle

Poem of the Week

Reading:

-We had TWO sight words this week-- “was, by”.

-The CAFÉ strategy we worked on this week was the strategy.

“Skip the Word and then Come Back”

When children come to words they don’t know, some stall on the unknown word and are unable to move on. These children must learn strategies to help them move forward. This strategy teaches a reader to skip over a word until the end of the sentence or passage. Then, the reader should back up and read the sentence again, using the first letter or letters of the skipped word and their context clues to decode the unknown word.

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

1.   When listening to your child read, help him/her realize it is okay to skip over a word and then come back to it. If, when reading, your child gets stuck on a word encourage them to skip it and come back.

2.   Model this strategy for your child. Read aloud and stop at a word they might find difficult. Think out loud and say “I am going to skip this word because I am not sure what it says. I will read the rest of the sentence and then come back to see if I can figure it out.” Hearing someone else think through the new strategy helps the student have more confidence to try the strategy on their own.

3.   Play a game of “guess my word”. Have a sentence written and have one word covered up. Have your child read the sentence and guess what the word might be. Then, uncover the letters one at a time until your child is able to decode the word!

 

Writing:

-We began our fourth unit on writing an opinion/persuasive piece! We started the week off by talking about what the word opinion means and how it can be used to write a persuasive piece giving reasons why that is your opinion and those reasons can also persuade someone to believe that same idea or even help solve a problem! We discussed a problem in our classroom and ways that we could positively solve it. We wrote about it this week during our writing mini-lessons. The problem we decided on was that when Mrs. Brown is not here, some of the class has a hard time behaving. We came up with three reasons to help the problem! We hope that if someone were to read our writing, they too would agree those reasons would help the problem and they would do their best to solve it!

Math:

-We are continuing to review previously learned skills from the year these last weeks of school. Our focus this week was on tens/ones, counting and clocks. Every student should be able to count to 100 on his/her own by the end of the year. Believe it or not report card testing will be here before we know it! During our lessons about clocks, we focused on describing the different hands, how time works, what we do at different times of the day and telling time to the “o’clock” and the “thirty”. Next week we will focus more on telling time.

Content:

• This week was all about the author and illustrator Eric Carle. We watched several videos, read books, created crafts and even completed an illustration of the caterpillar from his famous book The Very Hungry Caterpillar just like Eric Carle does himself using tissue paper! We finished the week off by going on a 5 room rotation throughout the kindergarten classrooms. Each classroom had a different focus book that then created a craft to go along with it. By the end of the morning each student had a folder filled with their very own Eric Carle crafts!
• We also continued this week with our caterpillar/butterfly observation journals. Our caterpillars have definitely grown a lot since they first arrived in our classroom. By the end of the week, one of our caterpillars was hanging upside down at the top of our jar in its “J-hang” ready to form its chrysalis and continue the process of transforming into a beautiful butterfly!

Week in Review--Insects! (Week Two)

Poem of the Week

Writing:

-We finished up our third unit on writing informational writing/how to pieces. We reviewed all of the parts needed to write these books, learned how to add a cover to our books like a real author, posted our favorite one we wrote on our Great Writing wall and celebrated all of our success with our 5^th grade big buddies! We finished the week by writing an informational piece in one sitting for our post-test and then wrote our pre-test for our next unit! Our next unit is learning how to write a persuasive or opinion piece!

Math:

-We used this week as a review week for previously learned skills. We focused on 3D shapes, drawing shapes (especially that tricky hexagon), addition and subtraction problems and breaking numbers 11-19 into tens and ones. We put a practice drawing shapes option back into our math choices for students to practice all of their shapes, but mostly the hexagon. When we draw the hexagon it is sometimes easy for students to first draw a square, add a triangle on either end and erase the lines of the square on the inside. Once they get this process down, they should be able to transition into drawing a hexagon on their own!

Reading:

-We had TWO sight words this week-- “take, off”.

-The CAFÉ strategy we worked on this week was the strategy.

“Cross Checking”

When reading a book for pleasure or for information, chances are you will come to a word or two you are unsure of. You probably will use the accuracy strategy of cross checking without even thinking about it, because it is second nature to you as a reader to read accurately. Accuracy is not second nature to children learning to read. It is something that needs to be taught using a variety of strategies.

 

Your child has been introduced to the accuracy strategy of cross checking. It is important to slow readers down when they come to a word they don’t know and teach them to apply the strategy of cross checking so they are able to fix the meaning and not just skip the word. Cross checking requires a person to constantly think and monitor meaning. It is a strategy for ensuring the words and pictures read make sense and match the letters on a page.

 

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

Listen to your child read. When he comes to a word he is unsure of, remind him to cross check. Ask:

• Does the word you are reading match the picture or letters written?

(they cross their right arm over their body)

• Does it sound right?

(their left arm crosses over their body making an X)

• Does it make sense?

(both arms come down with hands pointing to the ground)

Content:

We finished our two week study on bugs and insects this week. We mainly focused on caterpillars and butterflies this week. We talked about the process a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. We started the week off by looking at various types of caterpillars and listing words to describe them. A few of my favorite words were furry, spikey, pokey and smooth! We completed a predictable chart sentence by filling in the last part “Caterpillars are ______.” We used the describing words we came up with to finish the sentences. Towards the end of the week, we had our special visitors arrive in our classroom! Five, furry caterpillar friends are staying with us for the next couple of weeks so we can observe how they grow, change and turn into butterflies. At the end of the metamorphosis process we should have five beautiful butterflies to release into the wild outside of our school! Once our caterpillars arrived, we completed our first “Butterfly Journal” entry by illustrating our observation of the caterpillars when we first received them!
















































Other:

We celebrated the end of our year long Book-It reading program! The students who completed the task of reading 10 books every month since the beginning of school were rewarded with a pizza party at school during lunch! Way to go!