Newsletter 5-12-17

Hello Dragonfly Families!

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend and a happy Mother's Day! I hope you enjoyed your treasures from your dragonfly. They all worked very hard on their gifts for you! This week we have an early release on Wednesday. Students will be dismissed at 12:50. Next Wednesday, May 24th is our Author's Tea at 9:00! Our plant play is the following Wednesday, May 31st at 6:30. 

Reading

We have been focusing on comprehension as we read. We use sticky notes to record our thinking. We are even learning the skill of sketchnoting to help us in our book talks, without taking up time during our reading. Sketchnoting is very popular right now and can be calming and effective! We have also been putting a lot of focus on our book talks in this unit. We are learning how to contribute and bounce ideas off of others. We are also learning how to challenge each other to expand our thinking. The students will use these talks to inspire them to write about their reading and encourage others to read the books that they enjoy. We will be tackling this in our upcoming writing unit! 

Math

We have focused on graphing, word problems and traditional addition/subtraction this week. The students started showing addition and subtraction with regrouping using base ten blocks but are now solving the equations on paper with fluidity! We are going to continue to practice this skill, this week as it is something third grade teachers expect us to know! The students are enjoying this and love borrowing from the ten's place! We have introduced some new math games and continue to work on arrays for our understanding of multiplication! I have been so amazed by this class' growth when reading word problems. They have truly come so far in their thoughtfulness, regarding math! It is amazing to see them circle what is important and respond to word problems so thoroughly. Their had work is definitely paying off! 

Science

We continue to plant and investigate our investigative questions- seeing what plants can and can not live without. We have talked about photosynthesis and germination the most! Of course we are taking time to practice for our plant play. I'm sure you are all becoming familiar with the songs (sorry about that! hah!) You will be amazed at how much our plant play will teach you about plants through the catchy tunes and spoken lines!

We love our moms! Thank you for all that you do!