News You Can Use!

Literacy 

Treasures:

This week, the children worked with variant vowel (au, aw). We read all about Chinese New Year this week. The children worked with classifying and categorizing. As we read different books and excerpts on Chinese New Year the children classified the different information into four categories: Traditions, Food, Celebrations, and Facts. They recorded their information on a graphic organizer. 

Grammar Packets:

This week, the children learned that the words I and me are pronouns. They learned that you use I in the subject of a sentence and me in the predicate of a sentence. 

Writing:

This week, the children continued their Expository Writing unit. They took their facts from their graphic organizer and published one page for each fact heading. They compiled their fact pages into a nonfiction book on their animal. The children added detailed illustrations, a colorful cover, and an All About The Author page. They worked really hard on their writing and can’t wait to share their nonfiction books with the class next week.

Math 

In Math, the children reviewed telling and recording time to the nearest five minutes. They also worked with money and adding and subtracting a variety of 2-digit numbers. The children took turns telling, writing, and solving number stories. They used a variety of strategies to solve the different number stories. On Thursday, the children reviewed the characteristics of polygons. They created different polygons using straws and twist-ties. The children also reviewed the names of 3-Dimensional Shapes. 

Social Studies

This week, the children continued learning all about China. We learned about the different foods that are eaten all across China. The children also learned about Chinese New Year. They researched the holiday during reading time using several non-fiction books and excerpts. The children created their own dragons out of paper to represent the dragons used during the Dragon Dance. We will complete them next week and then the children will bring them home to enjoy. We ended the week by comparing Chinese New Year to our New Year in America. 

Poet Bill Buczinsky Visit

On Monday, the children enjoyed a visit from poet Bill Buczinsky. The children were awestruck by Mr. Buczinsky’s poems, magic tricks, and his engagement of them in his presentation. He had the children chanting, rhyming, and moving the whole time. Mr. Buczinsky empowered the children to discover their own poetic voices. The children were very excited when Mr. Buczinsky chose 3 children and myself to jump over as he acted out a poem. I have to admit I was a little nervous, but he cleared the four of us with no problem. What a wonderful presentation!

Have a great rest of the weekend! 

Happy Memorial Day!