Changes!

Good afternoon!  I hope you all had a wonderful 3-day weekend with your children.  We have been enjoying a few new changes in our classroom.  On Thursday of last week, we received a new, bigger SMARTBoard and our older one was taken out to one of the "cabin" classrooms.  The response from the students truly showed what amazing character they have.  Although they were excited to get the new board, they felt sorry for the class that was getting our old, smaller one.  What an amazing group of kids!  We also welcomed another new student to our class:  Eva.  Today she shared pictures and stories about her life in Senegal!

Quick Curriculum Update:

Reading:  Our main selection this week is a non-fiction piece titled The Journey:  Stories of Migration by Cynthia Rylant.  We will be using Venn diagrams to compare and contrast information in this text as well as our small group books.  Students will also be identifying sensory language that aid in visualizing these stories. 

Spelling:  This week is a review of some of our previous spelling patterns:  adding -s, -es, -ed, -ing

Writing:  Students are learning the components of a great descriptive paragraph.  They will also be drafting one of their own.

Math:  Students began the first lesson in Unit 8's study of fractions.  This unit has two main objectives:

• To review the use of fractions and fraction notation
• To help students develop a solid understanding of equivalent fractions, or fractions that have the same value

Science:  We will continue to use hydroponics to grow our bean plants and will measure its growth each week.  In addition to this, we have been observing (and playing with) bess beatles.  The students are super excited for tomorrow's delivery....crayfish!  I will be sure to post pictures soon of all of our little creatures. 

**Please remember there is no school for students next Monday and Tuesdsay (February 25 and 26)**

I look forward to meeting with all of you at parent/teacher conferences to discuss your child over the next couple of weeks! 

Have a great evening,
Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us