It appears the Groundhog got it right, spring is in the air!
We are officially halfway through winter, and the trend has been mild. I don’t think anyone will complain about that. We will be having a bit of winter this week at Turtle Creek as the Jenkinson’s Aquarium staff come for a visit with the penguins. To get ready for their arrival we will review what we know and learn more about their habitat and lifestyles.
In social studies, we continue learning about geography. This week’s lesson focuses on location and the four main directions in the compass rose. Please spend a few minutes looking over the packets when they are sent home
on Friday. Continue to support learning outside the classroom. We will be learning about the presidents too. I’m planning on discussing Washington this week and Lincoln next in conjunction with the holiday.
We will continue with the addition strategies in math this week. The students have displayed an understanding of skills taught to date and enjoy the little games we play to improve speed and mental computation. We will continue to reinforce the concept of addition. The strategies taught are plus 0, plus 1, plus 2 and plus 3. Plus zero is the same number, plus 1 is just the next number while plus 2 and 3 teach counting up mentally (remember to start with the larger number). The students will learn addition with doubles. Sorry to report there are no tricks to learning these addition facts; they need to be memorized!
The end of last week we began learning about deserts. I always begin by asking what they already know. The answers varied but all carried the same sentiment; deserts are hot places with sand, camels, and pyramids. I was delighted because it’s more fun teaching when the students are learning new information. So what exactly is a desert: a place where lack of water is severely limited to living things most of the time. Depending on the source, there are about twenty major deserts on our planet, each unique and a fascinating world in itself. This simple definition mentions nothing about temperature or landscape. Freezing temperatures are actually commonplace in many deserts. So what do they have in common? A desert is a dry place, not necessarily a hot one; it’s a place where plants, animals, and people have to adapt. We will begin at the North and South poles. In the Antarctic, we turn our attention to a group of animals that make their home in the iciest, driest, windiest and coldest place in the world. You’ll be seeing black and white shortly. We are going to ask the children to select one desert animal that they find interesting or are curious about and do a bit of research to find out a few facts about this animal. We will use this information to create a desert scene in our room. I will let you know the due date shortly.
Upcoming events:
- Visit from the Aquarium Wednesday, February 12th
- Class chocolate fountain Valentine celebration Friday afternoon February 14 th
- School Closed Monday, January 17 th in observance of President’s Day
- Wednesday, February 19th is the 100th day of school. Projects due day before.
Categorised in: Ms. Krachie