Classroom Summary March 31 - April 4

Rebecca: Super proud of her quick solution to a geometry problem!

Here's what we did this week...

In Fundations we finished up our double vowel unit using the sound of /ē/. We know there are six ways to spell the sound but each way is used in certain parts of words: beginning, middle or end. When there are multiple spellings for the same sound in the same part of a word, we use the spelling option (previously talked about in this blog post ). Here are the six spellings we learned: ee, ea, ey, y, e-consonant-e, and open syllable ē.

Miss Varrell's reading group we focused on using important details in our nonfiction reading to create summaries. Summaries are written retells that condense, or 'sum up', the important details in much fewer words. At our Working With Words center we made tetrahedrons (an homage to our geometry math unit) with facts from our reading texts.

The facts we gathered also helped us write our nonfiction summaries. Writing a summary is a very difficult skill because you have to be able read, interpret, analyze and paraphrase all before you put anything down on paper.  Summaries are a great way to demonstrate and show off your critical reading skills!

In Writing Workshop we reviewed the writing process: brainstorming/prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. We learned how to use the Super Star revising and editing checklist so that we can begin to work on publishing pieces of work that we feel is the best representation of our writing. We will continue to use this checklist for the remainder of the year. We hope to fill our door with Super Stars many times over!

In science we continued to learn about amphibians. This week we focused on different types of amphibians and did some research. We learned that a toad is a type of frog and that a newt is a type of salamander. We looked at some different types of salamanders and frogs and realized that they are a lot more interesting than we thought! Vivaan mentioned that he has changed his mind about amphibians. Before he started learning about them he didn't think he liked them. Now, he loves them! Yay, Vivaan!

This week we also got some new amphibian visitors from the science center. We now have two green frogs as Room 211 residents! They are similar looking to Frodo the Toad but they have some different characteristics. Rebecca discovered that they're not afraid to hop around even when your hand is in the tank! We got to see the frogs eat live crickets on Wednesday and it was fascinating.  One of the facts we learned was that amphibians only like to eat live food so we knew when the crickets went in to the tank that they would be hopping around. Although we were a little tentative about the what was going to happen, we understood that it is all part of nature's process.

In math we completed our topic on geometry. We reviewed our understanding of plane and solid figures, vertices, angles, sides, and faces as well as fractions of a whole. The next few units will focus on money, time telling and measurement.

Weekend Challenge Activity:  Weather permitting, take a walk outside with your family. Look for solid and plane shapes as you go on your walk. Draw and label the items you saw and what shapes they were. Bring in your paper on Monday for a treat!

F.Y.I.

• Book orders for April have been placed. Thank you for making a purchase! Books should arrive in 2-3 weeks.
• Flyers for May's Scholastic book orders will go home after vacation. 
• Thank you once again to all who volunteered, donated to and attended last Saturday's carnival. We have the best families in the world right here in Burlington. It was a rousing success!
• Enjoy the weekend. :)