Marvelous Monday!

Today was a great way to begin the week!  We are beginning our new year on the "right " foot!

In Social Studies we are completing our group projects. The children are given 20 to 30  minutes daily to work as a group. You may already now about the items and information that your child is responsible for bringing to class. If not, you may want to ask as a reminder for your child. We hope to have these projects finished by Friday.

In Science, we will begin our study of Motion and Design. The children will explore concepts related to the physics of motion and apply those concepts to technological design. They will explore forces that oppose motion as well as investigate both stored energy by using a simple rubberband and propeller. This unit will span over 14 lessons including an opportunity at the end for each group to design their own automobile based on all the skills that they have learned within each lesson.  I know the children are going to have great fun!

We will begin our new class novel, Stone Fox. Please do not have your child buy or check out the book and read ahead. One of the skills that we will work on with this book is climax. The climax of this book is the end and it take away from the excitement if they know the ending prior to the end of the book. If you have an older child that has read this book in third grade, please ask them to not give any information away. It is a wonderful book that will help us understand more about Realistic Fiction. Our class read aloud for Realistic Fiction will be Because of Winn-Dixie. Another outstanding book which I know some have read before but some have only seen the movie. Again, please do not allow them to get ahead of the story if they have not read it before. And for those that have read the book, please remind them not to share any information. We  will also be writing a realistic piece after we have had some time to understand this genre through our reading.

The Spelling words this week have either a ch or tch spelling. The children have another Get to 50 project to work on that is due by Friday. There will be a test on Friday as well.

We will begin our word work with Lesson 8. The words are as follows: contain, container, digest, finicky, habit, hinge, marsh, marshy, nursery, rely, reliable, spine, thrive.

In Math we are beginning unit 5. Some of the skills include: Place Value through Ten-Thousands and Millions, Ordering Numbers, and studying the US Census as a review of large numbers, and Decimals through the thousandths. This is going to be a huge concept and skill to master. The children must continue to study their multiplication and division facts. They will be tested on their 0-5's this week. They are coming home with a practice sheet tonight. Besides some workbook work, the children have two challenge word problems to work on independently. If they ask, you are allowed to help with the organization of the problem but not the answer. They are allowed to use the back of the paper if they need more room to work on the problem.

The Reading Comprehension activity is due on Friday. PLEASE don't forget to sign it after you child has read it to you. This is one avenue that I know you have listened to your child read to you orally once that week. Thank you !

The children have special thank you notes coming home today. But I would also like to thank everyone via this blog for all the kind and generous gifts that came my way prior to Winter Break. I LOVED them all. The children have even  benefitted from the Barnes and Noble gift cards.  We have several new biography books to read in the classroom. My hope is towards the end of the year, we will do a mini unit on Biography writing and these books will help tremendously. I almost have one book for every child in the classroom and will soon be able to complete the set.