Hello and welcome back from Mid-Winter Break! I hope you managed to stay warm and enjoy some family time.  I am excited to see my kids tomorrow…I’ll bet they’ve grown, some have lost teeth, and have many stories to tell me.  I can’t wait!

We will begin Unit 7-WEATHER.  This week’s theme is Kinds of Weather.   We will read a non-fiction book called A Rainy Day. During the week we will discuss the difference between weather and temperature.

LETTER-  “E  e”

WORDS- This  this   Do  do”

WRITING-We will work on writing a weather report.

I have developed a writing workshop and my students are now in full swing of the writing process. My weekly writing routine is–

Mondays I introduce our writing focus for the week. Tuesdays we work on the focus together and find examples in our reading or how we use the writing in every day life.  Wednesdays the students do their prewrite.  Thursdays I revise and edit with each student.  Fridays we publish and share our writings.  As you can see, they are very busy with reading and writing. My students have been using this routine for several months now and are comfortable with new weekly expectations. (For example, students now know that all sentences begin with a capital letter, have spaces between words, and end with punctuation.  They also know that certain words, like our Reading Words, need to be spelled correctly.  They know where to find them around the room.  Students also know to use good, new, descriptive vocabulary and correct grammar.) It’s so exciting to watch them grow into becoming readers and writers.  I was reading their Journals recently and was noticing with pleasure how far they have come and we’re only half-way through the year!

SPELLING WORDS-We will work with the et chunk.

           get   met   pet   set   this   do

I have a”helper word” for each of the short vowels.  Their “helper word ” for the short e is “egg.” 

short a is “apple”     short e is “egg”    short i is “igloo”

short o is “octopus”   short u is “umbrella”

MATH-We will work with the dime.  We’ll also play a coin exchange game.

SCIENCE-We’ll be discovering materials that help with waterproofing.

SOCIAL STUDIES-We will begin a 2 week study of different jobs and workers in different weather (this week’s theme) and seasons (next week’s theme.)

BUDDIES-On Friday, we will make a project with our Buddies.  Hint…he has a birthday this month and his face is on some money.  Hmmmm

If you have any extra magazines at home, I could use them in here for a project next week.  Thanks.

Thank you for all of the lovely Valentines and chocolates.  WOW!!  I need to get started back on my running program. 🙂

On a personal note…my husband was discharged from the hospital and now begins the long road to recovery. His world revolves around meds, doctor appts., tests, etc.  We had no idea how close and desperate was his health.  Thank you for your support and understanding.

See you in the morning!!!!

Mrs. Smith