The highlight of our week was a visit from author, John Coy. He talked to us about the process of writing a book. He emphasized that he writes OVER and OVER and OVER again until it is published. It was great to see samples of a rough draft, editor's copy, and the book in print. He read us several of his picture books and gave us a few parts to help read.
In reading we introduced plurals by adding an 's' or 'es'. See if your child remembers the rule! We talked about the signs of spring and read many non-fiction books. Hard to believe with all this snow that it is officially SPRING.
In math, we continued to practice teen numbers, addition and subtraction stories, and writing to 100. Mrs. Conzemius came to help us use the IPad minis and the app Educreations. Each student had their own Ipad to create (draw and tell) an addition or subtraction story. Check out a few below.
Grayson's subtraction story
Brinkley's addition story
Emelia's subtraction story
Aidan's addition story
Please help your child complete the family project with the USA map. Next week we will begin our study of Minnesota and its symbols. We will also briefly talk about maps.
This week we spent time learning about the colors of the rainbow. We learned about a little man named Roy G. Biv to help us. These color words are also our new star words. We wrote a color poem. Take a look at some samples.
Check out this video clip on Roy G. Biv!
We read two books about leprechauns and compared them. They were Clever Tom and the Leprechaun and Field of Buttercups. We practiced retelling the story elements using the 5-finger retell. Ask your child to tell you either story. We completed this literature study by using a Venn diagram to compare the two. Take a look.
In math, we began Unit 5. We are continuing to practice teen numbers, addition and subtraction stories, and partners of 10. There have been several notes about different ways to talk about and show teen numbers. We are not only recognizing them but using terms like 1 ten and 3 ones equals 13. We also practice saying 13 is 10+3.
This week our March family projects came back to school. They look great! Here are a few examples of what makes us LUCKY.
This week in reading we focused on the book Pete the Cat I Love my White Shoes. We made a class book using our favorite part, practiced inferring or predicting, and made a "Pete the Cat" color book.
In centers we have been working on writing CVC words, writing sentences in our journals, reading fluency and comprehension, sight words, switching sounds to make new words, beginning and ending sounds, and blending.
We had a special guest, Nirmala Rajasekar, on Tuesday. She is an IndianSaraswati veena player in the Carnatic music style. She is a world-renowned performer and a teacher of Carnatic Music as well. The press has often described her as a "Carnatic Ambassador" because she has introduced Carnatic Music to many other art forms of the world. She feels that "...music is the universal language of the world..." and that it must be shared.
Here is a youtube clip of some of her music.
In math we practiced partners of numbers, addition, vertical and horizontal graphs, and shapes. We will take the unit test next week.
Report cards came home on Friday. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding components and/or skills.
This week our focus was on dental health. We had a dental hygenist, Carmen, come to read us a few stories and show us how to brush and floss. We talked about the importance of our teeth-to help us smile, chew, and talk. We talked about healthy food choices for our teeth. Our dramatic play area turned into the dental health station. We read lots of books, both fiction and non-fiction.
We also talked about opposites. We read The Foot Book and completed an activity with a partner. We also played "Opposites Concentration".
In math, we practiced subtraction and one less. We talked about graphs and made a vertical graph. We analyzed the data by telling which had more and fewer.
