News You Can Use!

Hello 1-1 Families! We had a very short week, thanks to the weather! We still managed to get a lot done!

Literacy 

This week, the children enjoyed a mini author studied on author/illustrator, Leo Lionni. We read many books by the talented author, but our close reading lessons focused on Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse and An Extraordinary Egg. The children discussed the meaning of large words in the texts and also identified story elements from both stories. As a class, the children identified the characters, setting, problem, and solution in each story. After documenting story elements for both stories, the children were able to compare and contrast the two stories. 

The children were even able to watch a few video clips of Mr. Lionni answering questions about why he wrote about animals, where he got his ideas from, and what his life was like growing up.

Guided Reading Groups:

We will continue our short break from guided reading groups next week. I will meet with the rest of the children one on one to do another round of running records. Reassessing allows me to make sure that each child is receiving reading instruction that best fits their instructional reading level.

Math 

On Tuesday, the children continued working with the function machine and What’s My Rule math problems. They worked on finding the rule and missing input and output numbers.  

On Wednesday, the children enjoyed reviewing all they learned during Unit 5 by playing, “Math Review Mimio Vote, Unit 5.” Once again our classroom turned into the set of a game show and each contestant had their very own clicker to answer a set of math questions. The questions covered all of our topics from unit 5.

On Friday, the children took their unit 5 test. They did a great job, I am proud of how hard they worked! Look for your child’s test in their red folder this coming Monday.

Social Studies and Writing

This week, the children chose their favorite president (George Washington or Abraham Lincoln) that we researched. Using their graphic organizer, they wrote a paragraph about their president. They completed their paper by turning it into a replica of George or Abe. The children’s president projects are on display in the hallway. 

On Friday, the children listened to the story, Dubs Goes to Washington. During the story, the children previewed some of the U. S. Symbols that we will begin researching next week. The children also watched a short Brainpopjr video titled, U.S. Symbols. After, they discussed what the term symbol means. The children also shared what symbols the saw in the video and what the symbols represented. Each child selected one U.S. symbol that they will research next week.

Star Student

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

Royal Reader

A special thank you to Alex’s dad, he joined us this week as our Royal Reader. The children enjoyed listening to the story that Mr. Kusalovic read, Sneezy The Snowman.

Notes:

-A VERY special THANK YOU to the Dryden PTA! We truly appreciate all you do for the children, families, and staff at Dryden. Thank you! The children enjoyed a wonderful presentation from, be the GROOVE on Tuesday morning compliments of the PTA. The group was mesmerizing! The children thoroughly enjoyed the presentation! Check out their website to learn more: www.bethegroove.com

Have a great weekend!