Week 15

 

The weeks seem to be flying by these days!  This week was no exception!  As the first official day of winter draws near,  Lake Elmore transformed this week from a frigid surface of water to a smooth blanket of ice and snow.  Though we are still awaiting our first significant snow storm, the students have been enjoying the small amount of snow we had on the playground this week.  Students should come to school with snow pants and boots, hats and mittens or gloves.

This week we took a break from our regular Writer's Workshop as we worked on plans for the annual Secret Pals project.  As a new teachers at The Elmore School, it is important for me to continue some of the traditions that the school has, and Secret Pals projects are something the students look forward to every year.  This week students selected their "Secret Pal" by random draw.  They applied their non-fiction reading and writing skills to develop a written plan for their projects. Students were asked to consider their Secret Pal's likes and interests in choosing a project to make.  We will spend the next week creating our projects which we will give to our Secret Pal's prior to vacation.

In Math first graders continue using counting on strategies to solve for the missing addend.  Second graders concluded their second module in Eureka Math.  This week they worked to solve word problems involving measurement and used tape diagrams to model their mathematical thinking.  Third graders used arrays and tape diagrams to solve multiplication problems involving multiples of 4.  On Friday students learned how to play The Dreidel Game.

In science students learned how animals that live in groups communicate and work together to survive.  They used scientific field journals to record their observations and constructed explanations for the behaviors they observed after watching videos of animals who live in groups.

We continued learning about Colonial America as we began reading about what life was like in Colonial Williamsburg, VA.  

On Friday, we also finished reading Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.  This is such a beloved story, rich with language and imagery. The students looked forward to hearing a new chapter each day for the past few week.  I'm hoping we can watch the original movie in the next couple of weeks as students are close to earning their reading reward!  The students previous voted to watch a movie as a reward, so this will be a great connection.

Students explore resources to identify nonfiction text features.

Announcements:

You are now able to complete the Health Screening questionnaire on your own device!  Please bookmark the link Health Screening Form. You will need to sign into the public wifi @  TESPublic password 4Learning!   We will continue to take your child's temperature which you will need to enter into the form before you submit it.  If you do not have a device we will continue to do the screening for you and submit the form. 

It is helpful if students remove their hats prior to arrival as we have noticed some elevated temperatures as a result of being so bundled up in the warm car. 

Library is Monday.  Don't forget books and activity bags!

Be on time for PE on Tuesday and Thursday.  Students need sneakers!

We could use some tin cans for a few Secret Pal Projects.  If you have any cans in your recycling please send them on Monday.  We need a variety of sizes.

Vacation: December 24 - Jan. 1 (return to school Jan. 4th).  Dec. 23rd is a remote school day.  We will still have a morning meeting.

Last week third graders received dictionaries from the Rotary Club.