January 3rd-6th

The pictures below were taken when the kiddos were working during writing before break. 

Happy new year!

This week you should have received your child's play lines for the upcoming play. We need your help with this. We need you to add play practice to your weekly homework routine. We cannot have a successful play without you! Please print off the play lines at home. If your printer is not working or you are not able to print at home, let me know and I will gladly print them off here at school.

Thematic Centers:

This week we studied Neil Armstrong. The kids are now all super interested in space. He went to the moon in 1969 and was the first to explore. His footprints might still be on the moon today since there is no rain, wind or snow. We've read several books and learned a lot about what life was like on the moon. We rotated through 4 centers:

1. Make your astronaut helmet that will be used in the play.
2. Fill out the astronaut application and pretend to interview each other for a position at NASA. Someone should be the interviewer and someone should be the applicant and then switch.
3. Learn the phases of the moon using an oreo cookie and demonstrate the different phases using the icing.
4. Learn and practice your new play lines for the first time!

We also plan to play with moon sand tomorrow and illustrate the Neil Armstrong fact book!

Math Workshop:

This week we learned a new math game:

Addition BINGO: Roll two number cubes (numbered 5-10) and add them together. Place a BINGO marker on the sum. The first player to 5 in a row wins the game.

We also worked on space themed addition and subtraction story problems. Some of you have already seen these come home in red folders. We will finish everyone up next week. We are working with 2-4 students at a time so it is taking a while.

Reader's Workshop: Everyone received a leveled reader this week and spent time in their reading group. We also spent extra time practicing word study words because there were 5 extra words for the first time. We may do the same words next week depending on how the spell checks go tomorrow. Please do not worry if your child has not done well practicing these words. It was a big jump. We all worked out of our handwriting books but ran out of time for word sorts.

Writer's Workshop:

This month's theme is opinion writing. This week we focused on the difference between facts and opinions. Many of the kids talked about how you have to respect each other even if your opinion is different. A good reminder for all.

Have a great weekend,
Mrs. Schultz