Week of 3/4

Happy March! We had such fun last week with Read Across America week; the children were very enthusiastic about all of the spirit days. Dr. Seuss would have been proud! We were lucky to have Ms. Sarah Duncan-Hinds, coordinator for IWCS English, Language Arts, and Reading, visit our class to read Hooray for Diffendoofer Day on Friday: 

Here's a look at what's happening this week:
 Language Arts: 
This week's story: The Riddles
Strategy: Drawing Conclusions
Skill: Realism vs. Fantasy
Phonics: Sounds of long e (i.e. bean, feet), compound words, contractions
Writing: "Super-size" sentences/letter-writing

Math:
We've started our measurement unit (SOL 1.9), and students had fun measuring the lengths of various objects using nonstandard forms of measurement such as paperclips and cubes. Since we had read Dr. Seuss' The Foot Book, we thought it would be fun to trace our feet, then measure them with our nonstandard units. We were even introduced to one standard form of measurement - INCHES! Using a ruler was very exciting! We will continue our exploration of measurement this week, but check out last week's measurement fun below:

Social Studies:
We've completed our American symbols unit, but since the kids were so "into it", we've started a collection of American symbols to display that the kids see out and about or have at home. Some students have brought in flags, quarters (bald eagle), stamps (Statue of Liberty and the flag), and a dollar bill (bald eagle). Students can bring in the actual object, or a picture of it. 
This week we are going to move on to a new Science unit - plants (SOL 1.4). Students will learn about the life needs and parts of plants, and will even get to plant their own seeds and watch them grow! 

Important notes/reminders:

• Scholastic book order forms went home in the red folder last week for those students who may want to redeem the book coupon that I gave students for Christmas. If you want to order additional books, remember to order those online - you get to choose a $5.00 book from Scholastic, AND our classroom gets a free book! Just click the Scholastic button at the top-right of this blog. Our class activation code is H3GPG.
• If using the holiday coupon, send in the completed coupon to me. 
• Interim reports will be issued Wednesday!
• Book fair begins Monday 3/11. If you are able to volunteer at the Book Fair, please send back the volunteer form.