October 14 - 16th

Although it was a short week, we got a lot accomplished!

Mr. J and Miss K. made the flight to India......way to go!

Writing Workshop

The students really enjoyed writing about their Pet Rocks and why they are special during writer's workshop this week.  Please watch for our Pet Rock Traveling Book to be coming home soon.  Don't forget to share your comments at the back!

Reading Workshop

During Reading Workshop this week I continued to conference with the students on their individual reading strategies.  As a class we discussed how to increase reading fluency by rereading text.  This strategy is excellent if your child reads slowly, choppy or if he/she often loses track of his/her place when reading.  The following are a few ways you can help your child with this strategy at home:

1.  Have your child choose a different paragraph form the story they are reading each day.  Have them reread that paragraph until they can read it smoothly, with expression, and read all the words correctly.  This practice doesn't take long, only 5 to 8 minutes each day.

2.  Remind your child that he/she must be reading from a good-fit book.  If the book is too difficult, your child's energy will be spent on decoding words and not on fluent reading.

3.  Model what fluent reading sounds like by reading aloud to your child.  Then, have your child reread a paragraph they have heard you read.  As always, be sure to continue to offer your child support and encouragement.

Thank you to Mr. T for sharing about his book "Stink" during our Reading Response time.

Handwriting

This we worked on handwriting the lower case "g" and "q." The students want to handwrite everything now!

Math

We are working hard in class to finish our Patterning Unit. The students will be writing their unit test next Wednesday, October 21st. 

Goals covered this week included:

• Extend patterns using a verbal rule.
• Create a T-table for growing block patterns and identify rules of number patterns using T-tables.

Science

The students are working very hard to finish up their lap books. They have really enjoyed putting the information about rocks and minerals together in such a fun way. This week we focused on learning about the rock cycle. Next week we will start to study soil, learning that different soils have different compositions, and that component materials include rock fragments and remains of living things.

Social Studies

The mapping assignment came home this week.  The students are asked to create a map of their favourite place to live. They are encouraged to use their imagination and have fun with the project.  The maps are due back next Friday, October 23rd. We also began learning about the 7 continents and the 4 oceans on earth.  The students will be writing a quick quiz in the upcoming week to ensure they have a good grasp of these.

Student of the Week

Congratulations to Mr. T for being chosen as our Student of the Week during assembly on Friday!  You deserve it!

Happy Birthday to Miss K who celebrated her birthday over the Thanksgiving Weekend!