Academic Update

Hi Families!

I wanted to share with you some of our recent learning adventures! We've had some of our BEST days ever, this past week! The students have been so determined and accomplishing so much! We had some teachers visit from other schools in our district and they were so inspired by our reading time. It was really special to share with the students that their hard work is inspiring (and impressing) others! 

We started our week with some self love- we wrote ourselves notes about our two favorite things about ourselves and the students kept these with them all day. It was a great and positive way to celebrate that we are perfect just the way we are! 

Reading

Our fairy tale unit has taken off and the students couldn't be more excited to think deeply about the stories they already know a lot about. We have talked about how this unit is designed to make us think and question. First we looked at trends we see across all fairytales. We then began focusing on characters and their traits. From there we talked about trends we see among characters in these stories. We spent some time talking about villains and how they are crucial to the story. Although we grow up disliking these characters, as deep readers we realize just how important they are and how fascinating they are to study. The students have started to look at these characters as people and wonder what made them this why and what motives keep them this way. We are in the heart of our discoveries and it has been so powerful watching these careful readers take notes and talk about their reading. Next, we will look at fairytales as authors and see why so many authors choose to write fractured fairytales. We will also focus on the main lessons in these stories.

Writing

Our persuasive writing unit has been so much fun! We know that in order to write persuasively, we need to know our audience. We also need to know how to prove an argument. The students have been really good at this! We have been writing persuasively to many types of audiences. First we started with commercial making on the iPads! The students then wrote to fairytale characters, as well as the main characters in our new read aloud "The Land of Stories". We will begin reviewing books and writing persuasive reviews for others, so they can enjoy the books we love! We will put these in the library for all of SMS to enjoy!

Math

Money, money, money! We have been rocking at our money unit! We have worked with various coins and bills to help us become familiar with using money. Students have used so many strategies from earlier in the year to help them count up large amounts of money. Since money comes in different denominations, this unit is complex in the amount of steps you have to take to solve one money problem. The students have become pros at lining up their money by value, counting on, and organizing money when we can make larger amounts. We have sorted money, made coin flip books to help us remember their quantities, and begun money word problems. Next, we will make change and begin subtracting with money.

Science

Fairytale STEM projects are underway! How will we get the three billygoats across the river, without using the bridge? We will have to construct a boat! How can we protect Little Red Riding Hood from the Big Bad Wolf? We will build a zipline! How will we send Cinderella to the ball? We will build a chariot! Stay tuned for our STEM creations! 

Wax Museum

Our Fairytale Wax Museum is April 6th. Please be reading your child's fairytale choice at home. We have started our murals with the help of an awesome volunteer! Please chat with your dragonfly about their costume for the wax museum so they know how to decorate their mural in class! We are so excited to share all of our knowledge about our character with you!