Spelling - We will not have a spelling list this week.  Over the weekend, Spelling City transitioned to VocabularyA-Z.  Vocabulary A-Z is a partner with Raz Kids.  I will need to go into the new website and play around with it to figure it out.  Then I will share the new website with the students.  

Phonics - We are working on words that are closed syllables, closed syllables with the suffix s, and vowel teams ay, ai, ea, ee, and ey.  

Reading - Each day we work in daily 5 centers and guided reading groups.  Our current word work focus is compound words.  Compound words are words made out of two words.  For example, cup + cake = cupcake.  In guided reading groups we work on stories, poems, and reading concepts at each groups reading level.

Writing - We are just starting a new writing unit - stories that are non-realistic fiction.  They will be stories that are fiction - and they can not really happen.  So far we have researched examples by reading mentor texts.  Our first mentor text was Creepy Carrots.  Tuesday our mentor text will be Little Red Writing.  This week we will be brainstorming ideas.  The students also continue to work in their January journals to practice their writing, as well as writing centers in daily 5.

Math - We worked a lot this last week on place value.  We are working on the ones place and the tens place.  We practiced adding 2 digit numbers without regrouping.  We also worked quite a bit on our current math facts - doubles plus one facts.

Handwriting - We finished all the letters in our first handwriting book!  This week we will start our second handwriting book.  This book will focus on writing more than just the letters.  It will focus on writing words and sentences.  We will continue to work on forming the letters correctly, writing the letters on the correct lines, and using good spacing.

Science - In our solids and liquids unit we used our solids to experiment with rolling and stacking.  After our experiments, we worked on sorting the solids into categories - solids that roll, solids, that stack, and solids that do both.  Another day we used a pile of books and a ruler to make a ramp.  Then we placed solids on the top of our ramp and watched to see if they would roll.  We had fun with the different types of balls.  We found out that the weight of the balls played a roll in how fast and how far they would roll.  

Religion - We discussed the Bible story of The Good Samaritan.  We continue to work on our virtues and values.  We are still reading and learning about generosity.  Friday we had adoration.  We are also using our Religion time to work on some social-emotional learning.  This past week we learned about expected and unexpected behaviors, following the group plan vs. following your own plan, and the     

SuperFlex characters Rock Brain and Rex Flexinator.  We call Rock Brain the unthinkable.  Rock Brain is when you get stuck on only doing what you want to do and not compromising.  Rex Flexinator is the thinkable.  Rex Flexinator helps you to think of others, be flexible, and follow the group plan.  

Have a great week!