Week 29

We have a short week ahead of us, but it will be full!

Read In!
K-2 is doing a read in on Thursday, March 28!  Students can wear pajamas and can bring one stuffed animal, one blanket, and one pillow!  We'll spend the day celebrating literature and doing fun reading activities!

Christian Studies:
This week in Christian Studies we'll be discussing Palm Sunday and Jesus riding into Jerusalem.  We'll also read about Jesus' farewell words to His disciples.  This will get us ready for Holy Week this week.

Language Arts:
This week we'll be reviewing the last four spelling concepts: /aw/ spelled aw and au, contractions with the words "would," "have," and "will," other uses for silent e, and y as a vowel.

We'll also continue reading our book Money Matters!  We'll learn some new vocabulary and we'll write some answers, responding to our reading.  

Math:
We'll be finishing our module on algebra, using bar models to add and subtract to find the missing numbers in an equation.

Week 28

We have a fun week ahead of us!

Fun Day!
We have our All-School Fun Day coming up on Thursday, March 21!  This was one of the incentives that the school earned through their Fall Fest fundraising.  On this day, there will be no homework and no school work.  The students will spend all day rotating through fun activities, including card-writing for missionaries, BINGO, an extra fun P.E. activity, a movie, and ending the day with the Zaniac at 1:45!  Lunch will also be provided that day.  Each student will get one hot dog, a bag of chips, and a Capri Sun.  If your student would like to bring more food to supplement this lunch, they're welcome to!  They can also bring a snack for morning recess, as usual.  This will also be an extra spirit wear day!

Christian Studies:
This week in Christian Studies we'll be learning about the Transfiguration of Jesus.  We'll determine when we see Jesus as true man and when we see Him as true God.  We'll also learn about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, and we'll connect that with Easter and our own promise of salvation.

Math:
This week in math we'll start algebra, but don't worry--we're starting with basic missing addends!  We'll be using bar models to identify what we know and what we're missing in the equation.  We'll be using drawings and equations to represent addition and subtraction situations, analyzing the word problems to determine how we're going to solve it.

Language Arts:
This week in Language Arts we'll be looking at using y as a vowel, specifically when it says a short i sound.  We'll be practicing lots of different and interesting words, and I've encouraged the students to use the words we work on in class to help them study, as I'll be pulling from those words for our practice test and final test on Friday.

Social Studies:
We'll also be continuing our unit on Heroes in Social Studies.  This week we'll be looking at those who fought for women's rights.  We'll also talk about farmworkers' rights, and we'll discuss who is on Mount Rushmore and why.

Week 27

We have a full week ahead of us!  Here's what we're doing this week:

Math:
We'll be finishing up our module on addition and subtraction fluency.  We'll use some of the strategies we've learned to add 3 and 4 two-digit numbers, looking for doubles, tens, and near doubles to help us add quickly and accurately. 

Christian Studies:
We'll learn about the parable of the sower this week and we'll discuss how we are the soil.  We'll discuss what the soil stands for, and we'll determine which soil we'd like to be.  We'll also talk about Mary anointing Jesus with expensive perfume, and we'll tie that into Lent.

Language Arts:
This week we'll be spelling words that use a silent e for other uses (other than a magic e).  Some of the uses we'll be looking at are:
~after an "s" to distinguish it from a plural
~after an "s" to distinguish between homophones
~after a "v" or "j" to end a word
~after "th" at the end to make a voiced sound

We'll also start a new book called Money Matters!  We'll discuss things like budgeting, expenses and income, and the history of money.

Art:
Last week we learned about Georgia O'Keeffe and saw lots of examples of her artwork.  Each student received a different picture of a flower, zoomed in, and they used their pencil to draw the details they want to include.  This week we'll be using water colors to paint our flowers!

Social Studies:
We'll start a new unit on heroes.  We'll discuss what heroes are and how they help us.  We'll also talk about heroes for freedom in history.

Week 26

We have another different week ahead of us!

Early Dismissals:
We have two early dismissals coming up on Friday, March 8 and Monday, March 11.  School will be let out at 11:15 AM.  Please let me know if your child's after school plans are different on that day so I can get them where they need to go!

Christian Studies:
We've been learning about Jesus' early ministry, and this week we're learning about the miracle of Jesus healing a blind man who had great faith. We'll also learn the parable of the rich fool.  We always have great discussions about how to apply what we've learned in these stories to our everyday lives!

Math:
This week in math we're starting our new module on addition and subtraction fluency.  We'll use the steps we've been doing in addition and subtraction and will rewrite equations and practice adding and subtracting, with and without regrouping.

Language Arts:
This week in language arts we'll be spelling contractions that end in "have," "will," and "would."  We'll identify the two words that make the contraction, then we'll identify which words fly out when we slam them together, and we'll remember to put an apostrophe there.

Science:
We'll be finishing up our science unit on how we can find the best place for a plant to grow.  This week we'll look at a claim and identify whether we agree or disagree with it.  We'll also state evidence for why we agree or disagree.