Feb. 6-10

We did not introduce a letter this week.  We spent that time focusing on winter, Abraham Lincoln, our magnet unit, and 100 Day!  Our sight words were "are" and "here."

We read Animals in Winter and learned about animals who migrate, hibernate, gather and hunt.  We played a fun sorting game to recall what each animal from our story did in the winter.  We read Jan Brett's The Mitten and, as a whole class, summarized the story into three parts:  beginning, middle, and end.  This can be tricky!  Summarizing involves finding the main idea and letting the details fall away.  It can also be a challenge to decide how to break the story up into three parts.  We practiced again with Jan Brett's version of Goldilocks and the Tree Bears called The Three Snow Bears.  We discussed and recorded the beginning, middle, and ending of the story.   Jan Brett has been our author study this month.  Check out her website to the left to learn more about her and her books!  We read Abe Lincoln's Hat.  We made a fun art project and wrote what WE would like to keep under a large, black hat if we had one!  We read a few 100 Day books, and wrote about 100 things we would like to have and 100 things we are glad we don't have.  We are really taking off in writer's workshop!  We had a share day to celebrate writing and inspire the other authors in our room.  We can learn from each other.  I am sending HALF the pile of writer's workshop creations home today and saving the other half for another share day.

In science, we conducted a few experiments.  The first was to see if magnets can attract to each other through a variety of objects.  As we discussed our results, we found that our answers varied depending on the strength of our magnets.  We also read a magnet book about the north and south poles.  We had a blast discovering what happens when two north poles or two south poles are put together.  do they magically move?  NO!  They repel!

Math involved measuring objects with our own feet and our partners feet (non standard measuring tools) and a tape measure set to one foot (standard measuring tool.)  We continue addition and subtraction stories using dice, manipulatives, and dry erase boards.  We counted to 100 MANY times this week!  We counted by tens, created and repeated patterns, counted backwards, and estimated.  During math extended response time we learned about ordinal numbers by finding and circling the second ice cream cone and the fourth ladybug.

Our cool tool this week completed the anti bully series.  We will focus on friendship, manners, and acts of kindness...how appropriate for Valentine's Day!

Please send you child with valentines for 23 students in a bag labeled with your child's name.  Make sure they are signed and ready for passing out.
Thank you to Mrs. Marron, Mrs. Hallissey, Mrs. Robin, and Mrs. Kain for running the 100 Day Celebration centers.  This kids had a great time!
Please check your child's backpack for a white letter addressing conferences.

Have a great weekend!