Week 20

Hi Parents,

Reminders:

• We will not have school on Monday, January 19th in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day

• Library day is Tuesday, please remember to send your students book with them Tuesday morning. Last week we had a large number of students who forgot their books and were unable to check a new book out. If you have lost the book, you may submit payment to the library.
• I am finishing DRA reading assessments this week. Towards the end of the week I will begin meeting with reading groups again and you should begin to see new books in their home reader bags. Assessing has taken me longer than usual because your students have grown so much in reading that I have to read 2-5 books with them to find their "just right" level. A lot of work for me, but great news for your kiddos!
• The 100th day of school is quickly approaching on February 3rd! If you noticed in the January homework calendar there is mention of a 100th day collection project. Please see the handout in this week's Tuesday folder for more details.  

 

 
Reading/Language Arts

Spelling pattern -unch

Guiding question: What sound does c make when it next to h? Does the c or the h get to keep it’s normal sound?

We will read and sing “A Munching Bunch”

A Munching Bunch

(To The Old Gray Mare)

 

A bunch of monkeys

had a yummy Sunday brunch:

banana pancakes—

munch, munch, munch,

topped off with walnuts —

crunch, crunch, crunch,

They washed it down with

lemonade and orange punch,

and now it’s time for lunch.

 

• Listen and sing along to “A Munching Bunch”
• Circle the -unch words
• Talk about the meaning of the –unch words in the song. Discuss sound words such as munch and crunch.
• Search for words that begin and end with ch in our I-Pick books
• Make a list of ch words
• Discuss the difference between ch and sh.
• Complete word sort with ch and sh.

 

Writing

This week in writing we will focus on writing about "small moments".  Small moments are all about writing with lots of details. We will practice adding feelings, places, and people to our writing to tell our readers more about what happened. We will plan and publish a small moments piece of writing.


Math

To introduce subtraction terminology and symbols using numbers stories and counters.  What does this symbol mean (-)? To provide practice with number writing and other numeration skills. Why is it important to write numbers correctly? To introduce attribute blocks. What are attributes? How do they help us tell things apart?

IB

We are beginning our new unit of inquiry into how the world works. Our central idea is "Climate affects our lives." Please see the letter in this week's Tuesday folder. It has a homework assignment on the back as well.


Science

This week we will learn about Thermometers and how they work.

• •   What causes the mercury to go up?  Go down?
• •  Do you think we could find something that could make the mercury move more quickly?
  •   List some things that are cold.
  •   List some things that are hott

We will also learn that heat is energy you can feel by participating in 4 different experiments: putting hand in warm water, touching a warm heating pad, rubbing our hands together, and rubbing sand paper on a wood block

We will learn that heat can cause things to move or change by observing and comparing a tea bag in cold water to a tea bag in warm warm water.

Social Studies

We will learn about Martin Luther King Jr. and understand why we celebrate MLK jr. day. We will discuss ways we can make the world a better place.