May 17, 2018 5:46 pm
I love the weather, not because the weather is nice or at all spring like, but because it is happening as we are learning all about weather. I have heard that some of the students are discussing warm and cold fronts and enjoying making jokes about the layers of the atmosphere. This week we will continue to explore what causes weather, different types of weather, and the terms that describe weather. I’m guessing we may even have a budding meteorologist in our midst.
Our study will take us on an exploration of the water cycle and formation of clouds and demonstrate a basic understanding of air pressure. We did some fun demonstrations to prove that air is all around us and exerts a force. We also demonstrated just how strong that force is. Ask your children about the ruler experiment. This week in math we will review addition and subtraction through the use of word problems. Learning to understand what is being asked and to recognize key words to help with the operation are learned skills. Words like: how many in all, how many more, how many altogether and how many are left, are a few examples of the math phrases we will analyze and understand. The word problems incorporate favorite nursery rhyme characters that the children will recognize and enjoy.
For enjoyment and expanding our cultural literacy, we will review Nursery Rhymes over the next two weeks. Research suggests that hearing, learning, and reciting Mother Goose nursery rhymes can help young children take the first steps toward becoming proficient readers. Children experience the joy of words and the early literacy skill of phonemic awareness. Share some of your favorite from childhood. Please continue with the onset (initial consonants) and rime (the remainder of a one syllable word when the onset is removed) that teach letter combination and help with spelling. Start with the easier families and work your way to the slightly more challenging ones. One or two word families a week is plenty.
In our writing series we continue with non-fiction. This week we will read, discuss, and write about foods that we like or would like to learn more about. In the Making Meaning we are moving on to a new unit on visualizing. The purpose of the unit is to help to students visualize stories as they listen read-alouds. Creating mental images helps readers understand and enjoy texts. They visualize what they are hearing to make sense of texts and make informal use of schema and inference; we will practice the same skill this week in our social studies geography unit as well. This week we are learning about the United States; understanding the concept of mental maps and images is difficult for children. The goal is for children to begin to understand how making pictures in their minds that help them to remember where things are located and what they look like.
The class is enjoying chess lessons and this week we move on to piece number 4. To date we know the queen, the king, and the pawns. We have been playing in class against each other. On Monday we will learn about the rook and add the second most valuable piece to the lineup. Please review the instructional sheets that we send me. That will allow you to learn with your child and encourage play at home.
If your child is going to be absent, please remember to call the school and let us know. Please encourage proper hand washing at home as well to insure good habits. Please don’t hesitate to contact the school with any question you might have or ask me at arrival or dismissal.
Ms. Krachie
Categorised in: Ms. Krachie, News
