Hello families,
Mid-term report cards have come out and I am so proud of the growth the students have shown, and I know you are, too! I am excited for the next few months! If you have any questions or concerns, always feel free to email or call me.
Over the last two weeks, students completed rough drafts, learned how to self edit and peer-edit, and completed their final copies of their letters to send to our pen pals! We use a “Good Writer’s Checklist” in our classroom which helps to remind students of what they need to have in their writing, as well as allows students to make and work towards their own personal writing goals. Students need to remember capital letters, finger spaces, correct punctuation, neat printing, labeling necessary pictures, correctly spelling popcorn/sight words, and add details to their writing to make it interesting (which we will collectively work towards as the year progresses). The students learned about the long-vowel sounds and that Magic E helps the other vowel in a word to “Say It’s Name!” When reading, students have been using our final reading strategies to help navigate sentences with tricky words: Skippy Frog (skip over the tricky word, finish the sentence, and go back to see if you can figure out the word,) Tryin’ Lion (re-read a sentence if, after reading it, it doesn’t make sense. You might have to try a different word!) and Flippy Dolphin (when sounding out a word, if it sounds funny, try using the long-vowel sound instead of the short-vowel sound.) Ms. Perkins’ class and our class have also been switching classes for more specific guided reading instruction and it has been going very well!
In numeracy we have been working on estimating, making equal and unequal groups to build numbers (ex/ 8 is 6 and 4 (unequal groups) and 8 is 4 and 4 OR 2, 2, 2, and 2 (equal groups.)) We have also been working together to solve our “problem of the day” which will help as we start our adding and subtracting unit.
As it was just Chinese New Year on January 28, our class learned more about the Chinese Zodiac, the traditions and customs surrounding the holiday, and learned a few dance moves from one of our classmates who celebrates Chinese New Year! We made dragon masks and watched a short video of a traditional Dragon Dance.
In health we have wrapped up our unit on emotions and appropriately expressing those emotions. We learned how to play the “Moods Charade Game” which challenged students to role play and demonstrate various emotions like jealous, shocked, frustrated, etc. The students had a lot of fun! We will now learn about the function and importance of internal organs such as the heart, lungs, and brain!
In inquiry we have continued with our Bat research. We have learned so much, like what exactly bats ARE (animals, mammals, insectivores, etc.), where they LIVE (in roosts in trees, caves, under bridges, etc.), and that there are two main types of bats (megabats and microbats). We are working in our special “bat journals” where we are recording our findings and writing down our new terminology. It is incredibly exciting to watch how engaged and invested the whole class is during our work periods! We also had Elder Betty in to tell us traditional stories about animals and the importance of certain of animals to the First Nations peoples.
It was lovely to see some of you at our SCC Movie Night! What a wonderful end to a busy week. 🙂
I hope you have all had a restful weekend! Have a great week,
Ms. Holmes