Rain, Rain, Go Away! The Kids Want To Go OUTSIDE To Play!

Good evening, parents!  I hope you are all staying dry (and warm) in this crazy weather.  This week, Miss Head has been teaching most of our morning lessons.  She will add on most of the afternoon lessons next week.  Beginning April 22, Miss Head will be completing her two weeks of "head teaching" before phasing out of the classroom and graduating!  Throughout this week and next, I will be administering Developmental Reading Assessments to each student.  The students also completed their District Writing Assessments yesterday. 

Here is a quick curriculum update:

Reading:  This week's readings focus on new inventions and how they can change people's lives.  Students read an article titled The Power of Magnets which explained how magnets work, the history of electromagnets, and the role magnets play in generators and motors in our every day lives.  This week's comprehension strategies focus on finding cause and effect relationships within texts and summarizing important information in articles. 

Spelling:  The pattern this week for spelling is working with words with double consonants.  Each word has two syllables and we have been practicing dividing the syllables between the double consonants. 
Ex:  jel-ly      pil-low      let-ter
Understanding what sounds are being heard in each syllable should help the students correctly spell the words.

Grammar:  This week's objectives are to identify and use commas in a series, in compound sentences, and with dates. 

Math:  Students learned how to compute multidigit mutliplication using the partial products method.  They have been very excited about using this "grown-up" way to multiply!  Please help to reinforce the importance of knowing the basic multiplication facts by encouraging your child to practice triangle flashcards at least a few times a week. 

Social Studies:  Most of the students performed their "human monuments" today for the class.  They were amazing to listen to and to watch! Be sure to check back on Friday for pictures of all of the groups' monuments!

In other news......

*We are in the very early stages of a research project!  Students will be individually researching an animal using books, online databases, and other reference materials.  Animals will be chosen by the end of the day on Friday.  More details to come...

*Thanks to those who donated pencils to our classroom supply!  We could always use more, so any additional donations would be greatly appreciated. 

Look at these dedicated readers during library check-out time!  They are so sweet!

Have a great rest of the week! 
Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us