March 9th Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

This week we will be reading Narwhal and Jelly books by Ben Clanton, which I'm sure you will be hearing all about later this week!  We are learning about how important the illustrations in a book can be, and will focus on giving our readers detailed illustrations with our current writing projects.

We will continue working on our fairy tales in writing and we will be working on word choice and showing (not telling) how characters in our stories are feeling.  We also finished our class fairy tale in community writing!  We are finishing up the illustrations during art center this week.  Make sure you ask your child all about it!

This week in math, we will...

• Solve addition story problems within 20, with unknowns in different positions of equations.
• Solve subtraction story problems within 20, with unknowns in different positions of equations. 
• Compare heights of different kinds of penguins. We will work on writing inequality statements, order heights and figure out the difference between our heights and the penguin's height. 
• Recognize, describe, and extend number patterns and count by 2's beyond 20.

We will continue working on our social studies unit Our Country this week.  The kids have been very interested in the geography of the United States and this week we will continue to focus on the geography as well as learn about some of the symbols that represent the USA.

Special Points of Interest

• March 9- PTO Meeting (7:00 pm)
• March 11- Schauer Arts Center field trip fee due in Skyward
• Scholastic Book Orders are due this Friday, March 13th. Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub Class Activation Code: JBVLX
• March 17- St. Patrick's Day- Trinity Dancers Assembly
• March 19- End of 3rd Quarter
• March 20- March 27- Spring Break
• March 30- School Resumes
• April 2- Field Trip to Schauer Arts Center

March 2nd Newsletter

Dear Parents and Guardians,

It sure has been exciting to take the students to the IMC the last few weeks.  Many of our students are very excited about being able to check out books they can read on their own!  While it is fantastic to listen to your child read, please remember that reading to your child is still just as powerful, as the vocabulary they can't quite read in more difficult picture books is just what they need to help them grow as a reader.  

In writing, we continuing to work on fairy tales.  We are currently working on a class fairy tale in community writing, and the students are writing their own fairy tales during writer's workshop.  Last week we focused on mapping out our stories and writing a solid beginning to our stories.  This week the students will work on stretching out characters' actions, using more vivid verbs, telling what their characters said using speech bubbles or dialogue within their text and showing how their characters felt.

This week in math, we will...

• Count pennies, nickels, and dimes.
• Read analog clocks to the hour and half-hour. 
• Solve Doubles Plus or Minus One addition facts within 20.
• Solve addition facts using the strategies we have been working on throughout the year, including:
• Doubles 
• Doubles Plus or Minus One
• Make Ten
• Add Tens
• Add Nines
• Learn two new Work Places called, "What's Missing and Pick Two to Make 20.
• Solve different types of addition and subtraction story problems including:
• Result unknown (10+3=?)
• Change unknown (13-?=8)
• Start unknown (?-5=10)

This week in social studies, we will continue learning about the United States and American symbols.

THANK YOU to the families that donated tissues and hand sanitizer to our classroom.  I really appreciate your generosity!

Scholastic Book Orders are due this Friday, March 13th. Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub Class Activation Code: JBVLX

Special Points of Interest

• March 2- One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Day- Wear red or blue
• March 3- Oh, The Places You'll Go Day- Wear college jersey/t-shirt
• March 4- Green Eggs and Ham Day- Wear green
• March 5- Fox in Socks Day- Wear fun socks
• March 6- Cat in the Hat Day- Wear fun hat
• March 7- Winter Carnival (11:00 am- 3:00 pm)
• March 9- PTO Meeting (7:00 pm)
• March 11- Schauer Arts Center field trip fee due in Skyward 
• March 17- St. Patrick's Day- Trinity Dancers Assembly
• March 19- End of 3rd Quarter
• March 20- March 27- Spring Break
• March 30- School Resumes
• April 2- Field Trip to Schauer Arts Center