Spelling - This week we will not have a spelling list since we had s snow day on Monday.

Reading - We are working on contractions in word work.  We have a lot of choices for centers, but the contraction caterpillars are a hit! :)  We are combining two reading groups to read a story that we are making into a puppet show.  It's turning out pretty awesome!  We're always working on reading skills, sight words, comprehension, and phonics skills in our reading groups!  Daily 5 is one of our favorite times of the day!

Phonics - In phonics we are learning about the difference between closed syllables and open syllables.  (Closed syllables are one syllable with one short vowel and they are closed in at the end.  Open syllables are one syllable with a long vowel sound and they are not closed in.  Ex - closed syllable word - got, open syllable word - go)  We are also learning how to mark closed syllable words that have a suffix s.

Math- In math we worked on adding by 2, figuring out that if you start with an odd number and add 2 you still have an odd number and if you start with an even number and add 2 you still have an even number.  We worked on counting money with dimes and pennies and we worked on figuring out what coins to use if we had to buy something that costs a certain amount.  We have been working on the fractions 1/2 and 1/4.

Religion - Last week we finished up our chapter and had a short quiz.  We'll start a new chapter this week.  Our new virtue card word is trustworthiness.  We are loving learning the virtue words and the prayers that go with them.  On Friday we worked on our Gospel story in our Promise Paper.  And this week - we celebrate Catholic Schools Week!  :)  We'll have fun activities all week!  On Wednesday we have our open house - with a spaghetti dinner!  Mrs. Gast asked the classes to make place mats for the spaghetti dinner.  The place  mats could have the theme of our school, our parish, our community, etc.  We brainstormed ideas of what we could draw.  We put pictures up on the Smart Board.  Luke had a great idea - he just looked out the window to draw the church.  He ended up drawing exactly what he saw out our classroom window!

Science - We tested which solids were magnetic.  First we had to predict which solids would be magnetic and which would not be.  We had one surprise  - one of our metal objects wasn't magnetic.  We found out that our washer was not magnetic.  It is made of brass and brass is not magnetic.  We also found out that magnets have poles.  If you put north and north or south and south together they actually repel each other.  We also put our magnets on clipboards and found out we could move another magnet by placing it underneath the clipboard.

100th Day of School - Our 100th day of school is coming up!  Yay!  We have had two projects come in this week!

Wake Up Work - When the students have finished their wake up work, they have been doing morning tubs - building with different types of blocks.  They are so very creative!

These are coffee mugs  :)

 

We had a lot of snow and cold!  The EC class let us borrow their "Snowballs" and we have been having snowball fights in the gym during our inside recess time and Friday fun time.  It was so much fun!  We played with second grade, third grade, and our own class.  Mrs. Gast even joined in the fun!   

We did get to go outside and play in the snow before the cold set it.

Have a great week!  Stay warm!  :)

Spelling Lists -

Phonetic List - Vowel Teams -ai, ay, ee, ea, ey, oi, oy
main
say
paid
tree
seat
key
green
join
toy
foil

High-Frequency List - Trick Words - Words 101-110
get
through
back
much
go
good
new
write
our
me

Math - This week we worked on identifying pairs, using pattern blocks to cover a shape and then graphing the shapes used, and math facts (+2, -2, doubles).  We had an assessment. We worked in centers and on the website Math Playground.  I did an individual check up with everyone on being able to recognize time on the clock and the ability to make the time on an analog clock.  (Everyone was checked on :00 and :30 - some kids were checked on :15 and :45)

Reading - We continue to work in small guided reading groups and work in daily five centers.  Last week we finished up compound word centers.  This week we will be starting contraction word centers.  The students will have many choices for word work - plastic eggs, matching games, contraction caterpillars, and contraction puzzles to name a few.  Last week work on writing during daily 5 was a huge hit - they are loving the writer's workshop model!

Phonics - In phonics we learned about closed syllables.  A closed syllable is one syllable with one vowel, a short vowel sound, and it is closed off at the end by a consonant, a blend, a digraph, or a digraph blend.  We learned how to mark closed syllables by scooping the syllable, putting a breve above the vowel, and putting the letter c underneath the scoop.  Examples of closed syllable words are cat, shrub, kick, bed, mop, and lunch.  We are also learning about vowel teams.  The vowel teams we are currently working on are ai, ay, ee, ea, ey, oi, and oy.  The letter-keyword-sounds are:

ai - bait

ay - play

ee - jeep

ea - eat

ey - key

oi - coin

oy - boy

Writing - As I just mentioned, writer's workshop has been a bit hit!  The steps that we are working on are 1. Brainstorming (prewriting) 2.  Rough Draft 3. Editing  4. Rewriting, and 5. Publishing.  The students are in all different places.  Some students have already published a book, some students are writing a rough draft, some students are illustrating, etc.  It is amazing to think about how far they have come with their writing since the beginning of the year!  

Science - Our last property of solid that we tested was hardness.  We felt each solid and put them in the order we believed to go from the softest to the hardest.   The next property we will be testing is buoyancy.  We will find out if each solid sinks or floats.  On Friday we got to mix science and math together.  Miles brought in his gum factory and we made watermelon gum!

Ordering the solids from soft to hard

Posing with Luke's famous pose!

Owen and Eli sorted their solid in three different categories - hard, medium, and soft

Religion - This week we finished up our generosity virtue cards.  We'll be picking a new word this week.  We read our Promise Paper on Friday and worked out of our text book a lot this week.  Here is my favorite story from Religion this week. Please read this page -

The first line says, "The parish family likes to pray and sing together."  When one of our students was reading this to the class this week, he read it as "The parish family likes to party and sing together."  I thought that was adorable and worth sharing!  :)

For our wake up work we have been building with blocks.  They are loving it!  These bristle blocks are quite old - they were mine when I was a child.  

Another Calla creation

Luke working hard

Luke with his famous pose!

100th Day of School - The 100th day of school is coming up!  We will be celebrating the 100th day on Monday, February 4th.  Your child may bring in their 100th day project any time between now and February 4th.  We can not wait to see all the creations!  The 100th day is so much fun!  Hooray!

Here's a copy of the 100th day project letter -

Happy 100th Day of School

January 17, 2019

Dear Parents,

    Today is the 90th day of school.  The children are exactly half way through the school year.  That also means that there are only 10 days left until the 100th day.  This year it works out that the 100th day of school is on Friday, February 1st.  However, Friday, February 1st is the last day of Catholic Schools Week.  We have CSW activities planned for that day. So, we will celebrate the 100th day on Monday, February 4th - day 101!  :) We will spend the entire day working on things that have to do with the number 100. For the 100th day of school, the kids will be making 100th day projects.  They can bring the projects in any time from now until the 100th day.  We will hang them in the hallway to display them.

    The 100th day projects are a collection of 100 things.  It’s a family project. Have your child decide on 100 of something and then decide how it will be displayed.  We have had so many interesting and creative projects over years. Some examples are goldfish crackers, small marshmallows, Legos, seeds, pennies, candy, stickers, pictures, feathers, nails, googley eyes, and even fake fingernails!  (Check out Pinterest - There are so many ideas!)

    Have fun with this project!  We look forward to seeing all of them!

Have a great week!  :)

Spelling - This week we will not have a spelling list.  We do not have school this Friday.

Reading - We continue to work in guided reading groups and daily 5 centers.  We usually get through 3 of the 4 groups every day.  We are continuing to learn about compound words in our word work center. 

base+ball = baseball

Math - This week we worked on adding 2 to a number, writing out number words, comparing and ordering objects by length, using non-standard units to measure and having an introduction to measuring in inches.

Using wrap-ups to add +2 equations

Using cubes to go from wall to wall in the classroom.  It was over 400 cubes.

Science - We have been working out of our Einstein Kit called Solids and Liquids.  We are currently doing experiments with the properties of solids.  We sorted the solids by color and shape.  We tested which solids would roll and which solids would stack.  We then took the solids that rolled and tested which one rolled furthest and which one rolled best.  We built a ramp with books and a ruler.  

Figuring out how to get the balls to stack

Religion - Our current virtue card is generosity.  This week we worked out of our textbook. We finished up our chapter about the Holy Family.  On Friday we worked on our Promise Paper.  We learned about Baptism.  We also had adoration on Friday.  This last week our fourth grade buddies walked up to the altar with their first grade buddies to pray.

Writing - We finished our New Years writings.  We are also learning about writer's workshop.  The steps in writers workshop are 1. Brainstorming (prewriting)  2. Rough Draft 3. Editing 4. Rewriting, and 5. Publishing.  

Last week we used different types of blocks for wake up work.  The students loved creating with the blocks!

Reminder - There is no school on Friday, January 18th.

Have a great week!  :)