January 7-11, 2013

Dear Families,

Welcome back to school. I hope you all had a wonderfully fun break. My family and I had a great time, and I even found time to relax last week. With that said, it is time for us to get back into the groove of the daily learning schedule, so here's the plan.

Reading Workshop:

In Reading Workshop we begin our study of Biographies.  Through reading a variety of biographies and learning facts about famous people who’ve contributed to our community, we will learn about what a biography is, what if contains and why it’s an important piece of literature. 

Writer’s Workshop:

In Writer’s Workshop we will be writing Snow stories that focus on the "small moment".  Students will have the choices to read a variety of fiction texts about snow and snow men and create their own story.  They can also choose to write a true story about an experience they had on a winter day.  Giving children the ability to choose their writing topic allows them to have creative freedom over their final product.  They will complete their story using the writing process.

Math:

It's that time of year that we will learn about time!  We will review telling time to the hour, then move on to telling time to the half hour.  We will tell time using analog and digital clocks.  We will make our own clocks to use during our unit and will color code the hands on the clock.  Please practice this skill at home using a clock with hands (analog) and a digital clock.  We will practice approximating time such as does it take about 1 minute or 1 hour to tie your shoes?  We will discuss activities that take about 1 minute, about 30 minutes and about 1 hour.

Social Studies:

In Social Studies our unit of study will be Citizens Who Shape our Community.  For the next two weeks we will examine inventors and contributors in our city, state and nation who’ve contributed to our community.  This week we will focus on inventors.  What is an inventor?  Who are some inventors you know of? How did they contribute to our community?  We will read about 3 different inventors and compare their accomplishments.

Reminders:

Monday, January 21^st – Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday