This week has been just as quick as the rest – zing and it’s Friday again.  We have continued to think about choices this week.  The children are beginning to realize that even not making a choice is.  We have enjoyed our discussions and it seems that most of the children are more aware of the consequences of their choices and actions.

Sentences that Shine, Words that Sparkle

 We have been working to add details to make our writing more interesting and specific.  We have been working on this daily in our reading responses for both independent reading and chapter read aloud.  We are doing research for our upcoming museum at the end of the month and are planning to use this information in our writing for that as well.

We have continued our exploration of sentences, paragraphing and proofreading. We have been examining what writers do with sentence beginnings and sentence lengths to make writing interesting.   We have also explored sentences types and kinds.  We have talked about removing the endless “and then” and thinking about whether a sentence should begin with a conjunction or a preposition.  I know many of the children are struggling to recall those names, but they are noticing and correcting their work some of the time.

 Fractions – what do the numbers mean

We are continuing our work with fractions and mixed numbers.  More of the children know how the denominator and the numerator give information about the parts they are looking at.  Perhaps you’ll notice this in some of your child’s work this week.

Naturalist Teams 

We have begun our study of habitats.  The children are working in Naturalist Teams.  Each team has selected a habitat to explore.  Teams are learning about the desert, the ocean, the rainforest, rivers and wetlands.  They have also decided to focus on a specific region – most of the groups have zoomed in on a particular area: the Australian Outback, the Great Barrier Reef, Amazon Rainforest and a New Hampshire Wetland.

The teams have science, writing, communication and social learning challenges to meet through this work.  Each task has also had a timed element and it has been interesting for them to meet all of these requirements to complete the work set before them. It will be interesting to see how each group works to complete this study and then how each of them in turn applies this understanding to their independent research about the United States.

Bits and Pieces –

• We have begun a new chapter read aloud, The Secret of Zoom.  You may want to ask your child what he or she is wondering about the orphans,  perfect pitch, hidden tunnels and test tube messages.
• Each of the children has nearly completed his or her magazine page for our class space magazine.  We hope to have that printed and ready for next week.  Be on the look out for the “Big Bang” edition.
• Next week we are beginning a new round of book clubs and many of the children have completed books that they are going to review on the blog.
• The Personal Safety Presentation that was scheduled for this past Thursday had to be rescheduled for Tuesday, April 28.

Have a wonderful weekend!