Classroom Summary for February 22 - 26

Ashlee H.

Here's what we did this week...

In math we began working in a new unit called "Place Value to 1,000." We applied our knowledge of place value with double digit numbers to work with numbers that have triple digits! We are very excited to work with larger numbers. We identified a pattern in our place value system when we drew it on the board: every time we made a group of ten, we made one group of the next value. For example:

• ones
• tens
• hundreds

• one thousand
• ten thousands
• hundred thousands

• one million
• ten millions
• hundred millions

• one billion
• ten billion
• hundred billion, etc.

In Science/Reading/Writing Workshop we used our reading and science time to research information about the moon so that we could collect facts. We then used the facts we collected to write informative paragraphs about the moon during writing workshop. We researched using different sources: books, videos and the internet. We then wrote our facts down on index cards and sticky notes to help us organize and sort through what we learned. Afterwards we combined all our information and divided it into different topics about the moon. We will draft our moon paragraphs, using the writing process, until we have a published copy to share with our classmates, families and the school community.

In Fundations we began working on double vowel syllables. We focused our learning on the double vowels ai and ay. We practiced using all the variations of the long /a/ sound so that we could spell long /a/ words we want/need to write. For example, look at the word that is spelled below:

                         craye on    (using v-c-e syllable a-consonant-e)       crayeon

                           cra on       (using open syllable a)                              craon

                           crai on      (using double vowel syllable ai)              craion

                           cray on     (using double vowel syllable ay)             crayon

Each of these words uses a different variation of how to spell the long /a/ sound, but only one of the words is demonstrating the correct spelling rule. Can you tell which one is spelled correctly? Can you explain why it needs to be spelled that way?

On Friday we got together with Mrs. Hoyt's Kindergarten class to celebrate Dr. Seuss Day (a few days early). We read Dr. Seuss books to each other and then we taught our younger classmates how to play a reading game called Spin and Spell. Here are some photos of our time spent with our kindergarten friends:

This week we were also the happy recipients of some keyboard attachments for the iPad-- a donation from Mrs. Floyd at the middle school. We were very excited to be able to fit some keyboarding skill work in while practicing our math facts this week. Thank you so much, Mrs. Floyd!

Weekend Challenge Activity: Create your own board game that could teach a reading skill to your classmates. Bring in your game to play on Monday! Be sure to include a list of supplies and directions for how to play your game.

Parent F.Y.I. 

• There is no school on Tuesday, March 1 (Presidential Primary Elections). Please see blog sidebar for more calendar information.
• Chaperone names will be drawn for our next field trip to the Natural History Museum in Cambridge on March 18.  Parents randomly selected will be notified on Friday, March 4 by the end of the school day. 
• The Pine Glen School Carnival is scheduled for Saturday, March 19. Please consider being a volunteer! Volunteers are needed for all stages of this fabulous annual event: set-up, break-down, running games, supervising raffles, etc. The children and I thank you in advance for your support of this fun-filled,  Pine Glen community event!
• Our room parents, Mrs. Capparelli and Mrs. Russo, may be contacting you for donations to add to our classroom 'basket' for the Carnival raffle. Again, I thank you in advance for your support of this worthy cause.