February 1-5

What Have We Been Doing in Class?

Reading:  We spent the month of January reading books by Patricia Polacco.  The students used the comprehension strategy, questioning and wondering, to understand the story, make predictions and infer.  Before, during and after reading the books, we would write down the questions we have about the book.  Questions before reading the text would come from examining the cover and title.  Throughout the book we recorded questions we had and then again at the end of the book we wrote down what we were still wondering about the story.  I wanted to make the students aware of the importance of doing this during their independent reading. Some of our favorite Polacco books are, When Lightning Comes in a Jar, Welcome Comfort, My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother, The Keeping Quilt, Betty Doll and Mr. Lincoln's Way.  You can visit the author's website at 
http://www.patriciapolacco.com/books/index.html

Writing:  We have spent the past 3 weeks exploring the genre of personal narratives.  Our kids are in the beginning stages of editing their own personal narrative.  We began the unit by reading several published personal narratives and explored what goes into a good personal narrative, including sensory details to make their story come alive. After reading good personal narratives, the kids made  a list of significant events and topics from their own lives.  Then they began writing short narratives, not more then two pages.  They chose their favorite, one they thought they could add too, and began working together with a partner, asking one another questions about their writing and giving feedback in helpful and respectful ways.  After revision, editing and publishing, the stories will made into a class book, each student getting a copy.  

Math:  We began our math unit on Equal Groups by making lists of things that come in groups.  They illustrated multiplication situations and wrote equations to match.  We also highlighted multiples on 100 charts and discussed patterns and relationships.  We used known multiplication combination to solve more difficult ones.  We then were introduced to arrays to represent multiplications.  We made cards to help us learn multiplication combination with products up to 50.  Later this week and next week we will begin looking at division and examining the relationship between multiplication and division.  We will write story problems for a class multiplication and division book.  We are also beginning to take a closer look at time.  

Science:  We finished  a unit on simple machines and have begun studying the human body.  We will be learning about bones, joints and muscles.  Students will need to know the major bones in the body.  The children will be involved in  lots of hands on activities. 

Testing:  Testing will begin the week we get back from Spring Break.  We have begun looking at practice questions in class and a practice testing booklet will be sent home this week.