March 16th - 20th

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A little Leprechaun visited our classroom on the morning of St. Patrick's Day.  He played some very mischievous tricks on us.  The student's shoes were missing and the Leprechaun left our room a mess!

Today we read "Leprechaun on the Loose" by Marcia Thornton Jones for our read aloud.  This a tale about a little Leprechaun who causes trouble for a class party and a little boy who is trying desperately to catch the trouble-maker. Finally, the little boy builds a leprechaun trap, but will it work?  The reading strategy that we focused on during the read aloud was comprehension.  By summarizing text and sequencing the main events of a story, readers are able to improve their comprehension.

Language Arts

The students worked so hard during Writer's Workshop this week.  For St. Patrick's Day, we wrote Irish Limericks.  

Limericks are short and witty poems.

•It is often believed that the limerick was invented in the 1700’s by soldiers returning from France to the Irish town of Limerick.

•Limericks are generally meant to be humorous.

•Limericks have 5 lines.

•The rhyme and rhythm of a limerick helps it read as a light-hearted poem.

•In lines 1,2, and 5 –the last words rhyme.

•In lines 3 and 4 –the last words rhyme (but not with lines 1, 2, and 5)

The students also completed their Easter stories and are so excited to read them to you during Student Led Conferences!

Here are a few of the students enjoying their Read to Self  time.

Math

This week we continued working on multi-digit subtraction.  The students enjoyed playing "Playful Penguins" to reinforce their regrouping skills.

Science

This week the students were given their next challenge:

Great job building a sturdy table for our shelter! We've been on the island for a few days now. All that we've eaten are some bananas and a few berries. Elliot and Kaylee decide that they would like to look for more food, while the others work on a plan to get off the island. They need a way to carry the food back to our shelter. Ethan suggests that they make some sort of a backpack. Seth finds some tree bark and leaves that they could use to make the bags. We aren't sure which material will work best to hold the food. We will need to test the two materials to determine which one will support more mass.

The testable question is:  Will different stocks of paper support different mass?

Conclusion:  Construction paper supports more mass than bond paper.

Social Studies

This week we began our study of Ukraine.  The students have began taking "jot" notes about the Ukrainian culture in order to create a travel brochure.

Art

The students worked on an Easter art project to display in the hallway during Student Led Conferences.  We hope you enjoy it!

Congratulations to the following students for reaching their next reading goals!

Two of our students redeemed their DOJO points to bring stuffies to school!

BRRRR!  It was a chilly first day of Spring on Friday.  What a shock to wake up to snow on the ground!  The students still enjoyed dressing up for "Beach Day."

Mr. T celebrated his 8th birthday this week!

 Congratulations to Miss K for being chosen as our Student of the Week!