Getting Ready for Halloween

 Our Halloween parade and party will take place Monday afternoon. Students who are staying at school for lunch should bring their costume to school. They will have a chance to change into it during the lunch/recess hour. Please review Mrs. Sessler’s SPLASH newsletter for more details. Thank you to the parent volunteers who have helped make our classroom party possible- we are so excited!

Weather Unit

We were so excited to dive into our first science unit these past couple of weeks! We learned that weather is how the sky looks and how the air feels. We also learned that weather occurs in the troposphere, the layer of the atmosphere that is closest to earth.  Students also learned how meteorologists collect important weather data for forecasts. We focused on learning the tools that gather key weather information. Some of these tools included barometers, anemometers, thermometers, rain gauges, and wind vanes.

Math this Week

We focused on multi-step number stories this week! We discussed what to do when we approach a word problem and created an anchor chart to help us! We wrapped up our unit on addition/subtraction bar modeling with a short quick check. We will revisit bar modeling throughout the year. Next week, we will begin chapter 6!

Descriptive Writing

 In writing, we read the book I Need My Monster. Students then created their own monster drawings! Next, students focused on writing sensory details to describe their creations. Students used a web to organize their thinking. Finally, students wrote a rough draft with details about how their monster look, felt, smelled, and sounded. In grammar, students differentiated between common and proper nouns.

Nonfiction Unit

We were very excited to start our nonfiction unit! Students analyzed the three types of nonfiction: literary nonfiction, biography, and reference nonfiction. We also reviewed the purpose of nonfiction text features with a book about chimpanzees.  Students went on a scavenger hunt and found text features in nonfiction books. We discussed how helpful text features are in helping the reader understand the text.

Reading this Week

Students reviewed key ideas from our launch unit! They practiced making meaningful connections, asking questions, and creating visualizations. We also examined nonfiction text features this week using a variety of books.  Reading poetry and figuring out the big idea was another area of focus. At the end of the week, students took their launch quiz. Next week, we will begin our nonfiction reading unit!