Spirit Week!!!

As a busy 1st quarter is soon coming to an end, Spirit Week sure helped to boost our spirits and give us that little extra zest in our days this week.  I loved seeing all the different festive attire this week!!!

Here is a summary of what happened in our classroom:

​In Langauge Arts...

• The genre this week was focused on narrative nonfiction.  Students read a Time For Kids Text about taking care of animals.  They learned that narrative nonfiction is about real people, things, or events; is told by a narrator; and has text features.  They explored some text features such as captions and photos and discussed how they can be used to locate key information in text more efficiently.  
• Using a flow map, students identified key events in a text they read and learned how to sequence the events in order.  They created their own flow maps with large printer paper and post-it for the text Taking Care of Pepper.
• In writing, students are continuing to work on their chronological narratives.  They are adding more details to their flow maps by adding elaborative sentences or "tell me more" sentences.  Using a flow map will help students to keep their ideas organized so when it's time for publishing there should be a nice flow or sequence of events.  
• We continue to practice using Q.A.D.E. when responding to text.  This week we used highlighting strategies to examine student samples.  Students highlighted the different components of Q.A.D.E.  We looked at some exemplar work and students gave specific feedback on things that were done well.  

In math...

• Students reviewed time on-the-hour and were introduced to time half-past the hour.  They learned the various ways to say and write a given time.  For example, 7:30, thirty minutes after 7, half-past seven, or seven thirty.  And of course students practiced with drawing the hour hand and the minute hand properly on the analog clock.  
• Reviewing the doubling strategy, students were introduced to near-doubles like 4+5, 9+8, and 7+5.  Applying their knowledge of double facts, students practiced to fluently add near-double facts when solving word problems.  When problem solving, students also practiced using the C.U.B.E.S. strategy: Circle the numbers, Underline the question, Box the keywords, Evaluate and draw, Solve and check.  

In Social Studies...

• Students have been listening to various stories and watching various videos about "Stranger Danger" and becoming experts on the topic.  They have been learning to take three-column notes.  The first column for their question, the second column for their answer, and the last column for their source.  As they take notes about the topic, they continue to learn and answer the following question: How can we keep ourselves and others safe from strangers in our community?

REMINDERS AND ANNOUCEMENTS

• Picture taking is this coming Wednesday 9/20 at 10:35.  Students do not need to wear their uniform on that day.  Appropriate dress code still applies.  Students will have indoor recess that morning.  
• Turkey Trot forms were sent home on Friday.  Please check homework folders.  
• Mrs. Bogoyo (our librarian) will be coming to our classroom this coming Monday to do a lesson with the children, but there will be no borrowing of books this coming week.  
• Thank you Mr. Nett (Macy's Dad) for advocating for our 2nd grade students who now have physical activity every week on Tuesdays!  Since 2nd grade is so large this year and our PE teacher is unable to accommodate all classes every week, hence we have an A and B rotation.  I shared Mr. Nett's concern with administration and now every week our 2nd grade students who are off of PE rotation will participate in an indoor physical activity class called "Go Noodle."  So all students can wear shoes every Tuesday now.