This week has been full of reading about the world and learning about maps. We practiced reading maps with Mr. Caron in our challenge this week. We learned  about different scientists and enjoyed seeing how each student created and shared his or her “Who Am I?” project. Thank you for all your help with that project. It was obvious that the children had your support to help them think and plan and present. In Math we explored time in our problem solving work and practiced facts each day as well. We’ve worked on setting a purpose for our writing and deciding on a target audience. We worked more with homonyms too along with the reading, writing, blogging, and art making we continue to do each week.

Secret Friend Project

           I hope all of you have had a chance to read through the instructions for the Secret Friend project and that all of the children will be here and able to share on the Tuesday before the New Year break. Many families did sign-off on the parent signature sheet, but not all. If you have any questions or concerns please let me know.

          The completed and wrapped writing and artwork should be brought to school no earlier than Friday, December 18 and no later than Monday, December 21. Please write your classmate’s name on the outside of the gift. Do NOT write your name on it. Your identity will be revealed when you give the present to your friend.

Reading Clocks – Telling Time – Solving Elapse Time Problems

            For the past two and a half weeks we have been working to use what we know about multiplying by5’s and 10’s. We’ve been exploring the passage of time by looking at both analogue and digital clocks. We’ve also been looking at time on a number line where the hours are the beginning and ending of the line with the 60 minutes in between. Some children find this whole process very challenging, but I can tell those who have decided they will figure it out are. I appreciate that effort. You may want to choose one or two problems coming home this weekend to start a conversation of how minutes are grouped and hours recorded.  See what your child can explain to you about his or her thinking. They have some interesting strategies.

Bits and Pieces –

• Thank you to the Hyetts for sharing a bit of their Hanukkah tradition with us this week.
• Enjoy the pictures of all our amazing scientists sharing their “Who Am I” projects. Have your child tell you about what they learned and what they saw as their classmates shared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Wildwood is our present chapter read-aloud. It is complex and exciting. Prue and Curtis are each in different parts of the Wood. As a class we are trying to figure out how the magic works and whether our suspicions about the Dowager Governess, the coyotes, the birds and now the Governor Regent will play out. See if your child can explain what he/she finds most interesting and puzzling about this story as it unfolds.
• Our next classroom research project is beginning next week. We’ll be learning about the cultures of different countries and the habitats of an animal from that country.

Here our some pictures of our grade level scientist share.  We learned a lot from each other.