We have a new student, Hana, joining our classroom today from Salina. I’m sure she’ll make many new friends since we have so many welcoming and friendly students in our class.

Library books due Wednesday because we go to the library Thursday morning at 9:00 for book check out. If a book is not returned, a new one cannot be checked out.

Spirit Friday is Hat Day 🙂

This week’s spelling words focus on consonant diagraphs: ch, sh, wh, th.  chase, chill, sheep, think, while. Dolch words: she, then, thank, when, where

Our reading strategy continues with reading a non fiction text for details that support the main idea. Last week, we began reading about a girl named Rosina who is deaf. The main idea is that she is like us in many ways. We’re continuing reading for details this week.

For science and our writing, we continue reading and learning about places on Earth that water is found. Last week we read about oceans, lakes, rivers. This week we’ll learn about ponds and streams. If all goes well 🙂 we’ll be making some models using sand and water this week.

Math continues with money this week but the focus will be on making exact change. Using a number line for subtraction will also be taught–like open number line for addition. I am glad to see, that most students understand the open number line method. Those that don’t quite have it, I’ll work with. The “break apart” method meshes very nicely with this too. Great mental math strategies. Break apart is just breaking a number into it’s base 10 parts to make addition and subtraction easier.

Consequences of changing an environment will be discussed and looked at for social studies. I use a fiction community, Treeville, to see the positive and negative consequences of changes. I then talk about how what is now Fairlane Mall once was a huge wetland that was originally the front yard of Henry Ford’s home, Fairlane Mansion.

Enjoy your week!