May 11 - 15

This week students performed their Reader's Theater plays for the rest of the class! This was intended to practice fluency: reading smoothly and with emotions.  I tried to videotape each student but my little camera's battery couldn't keep up with all of them.  Ask your child to perform it at home with the finger puppets they made.

In math we worked on counting by 10s on a number grid (6, 16, 26, 36...) and then solving two-digit addition and subtraction problems by breaking up a number into tens and ones (56 + 23 is the same as 50 + 20 and 6+3).  We mainly practiced this strategy using a number grid (10x10 table with numbers 1-100).  We also worked on fractions by labeling and coloring in different shapes divided into parts.  Some students struggled with the difference between 1/6 vs 2/6, so I've been referring to fractions as "two sixths" and "two of six parts."

In writing we finished our "Who am I?" riddles which are displayed in the hall.   Next week we will begin writing instructions or directions.  This will help students think about putting their ideas into a specific sequence (what to do first, next, etc.) and including descriptive details.  I am really pushing students to develop sustained writing stamina for 15 minutes straight.  

In reading we reviewed how to pick a book that is not too hard, not too easy, but just right.  We said books that are too hard will make you feel frustrated, but that we know we will be able to read them sometime in the future.  We said books that are too easy are boring and that we like to be challenged.  We decided that a just right book will make you think about something (the characters, the vocabulary, the setting, the moral, the information, etc) and that when you read a book for the second or third time you might think about different parts of it.  We learned a general rule of thumb that if there are more than 5 words on a page that you can't figure out, the book is too hard.  We also talked about how you can't always tell how hard a book will be based on the size, thickness, or cover of a book.  

Our new words of the week are: boy, girl, made, pretty, teacher

Please remember to email Karen, Serenity, or Connie, about volunteering your time (30 min between 5:30-8:30) and/or donating some strawberry or lemon treats for the Spring Fair on June 5th!