News You Can Use!

Literacy 

Treasures:

This week, the children worked with an r controlled vowel (ar). The children read stories about inventions. They learned about some famous inventions and about inventions made by children. The children worked with identifying cause an effect. They learned, that a cause is the reason something happens. An effect is the thing that happens. 

For example: 

Cause: I didn’t wear sunscreen.

Effect: I got a sunburn. 

Grammar Packets:

This week, the children revisited adjectives. They learned that some adjectives tell the color of something. The children also worked with contractions formed with the word not. They had to place the apostrophe in the correct place.

Writing: 

This week, we continued our persuasive writing unit. The children brainstormed a list of problems that need solving or things they feel can be improved at school or in our classroom. To help the children brainstorm a list of topics, we went on a brainstorming walk around the building. The children wrote down problems that they saw during our walk. 

On Thursday, the children met with a partner. They chose the problem or improvement that they wanted to write about. Then, they took turns telling each other who their “audience” is, their opinion, and at least one reason to support their opinion. The children then completed a graphic organizer, including their opinion, three reasons to support it, an a closing. They will use their graphic organizer to compose their persuasive letter next week.

Math 

In Math, the children made up, solved, and recorded money number stories. They worked with using different strategies to add and subtract the 2-digit numbers presented in the money stories. The children recorded number sentences to match their solution strategies. They also worked with making change by counting up. On Thursday, the children worked with making equals shares. They divided shapes into halves, thirds, and fourths. 

Science

This week, the scientists continued their exploration of Weather. The scientists worked with understanding how water changes from a liquid to a solid and back again. They experimented with placing small objects into a glass of water and observing what happens when they freeze. They learned that freeze means to change from a liquid to a solid. 

On Friday, the scientists experimented with their frozen water. They explored different ways of making their ice melt. The scientists came up with many different techniques: breathing on it, rubbing it, placing it near the heater, wrapping it in a paper towel, carving it into smaller pieces, and running it under warm water. They learned that the term melt means to change from a solid to a liquid. 

The scientists also worked with understanding how water changes from a liquid to vapor and back again. They explored the idea that water can be part of the air, an invisible gas called water vapor. They did three experiments where they watched liquid water disappear into the air as it evaporated. The scientists used the terms; evaporate, humidity, and water vapor to explain what they noticed about the disappearing water. 

**Exploring Humidity**

Star Student

Evie was our star student this week. Thanks Evie for sharing all about you!

Royal Reader

A special thank you to Evie’s Dad, he joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children enjoyed listening to the two stories that Mr. Bartels read, Let’s Go, Cubs! and Bear Stays Up For Christmas. 

Have a great rest of the weekend!