Dec. 3-7

OPERATION SNOWFLAKE:
Our class has 'adopted' a 10 year old child in our school community and will be collecting coins to go towards the purchase of a gift for that child to open over the holidays.  This is a great way for your child to feel that they are a part of this community and making a direct impact in someones life.  There will be a class coin bucket for all the change brought in by the students.

WRITING:
Our writing will incorporate our research this week.  The students will be 'trying on' different topics in order to choose one to make an all about book with.  They will incorporate all the features of non fiction text that we have studied these past couple weeks (captions, photos, heading, sub heading, glossary, diagram, table of contents and bold print).

Our grammar will focus on pronouns through ornaments, word sorts and word searches.

READING:
Daily 5 will continue along with guided reading groups. We will continue our research on dinosaurs.  The students have loved finding out facts about all the types of dinosaurs that lived and comparing the differences (big and small) between them all.  I will continue walking them through each step of how we prepare for research, inquire about research and discover our answers to research.  At the end we will end up with a tree full of knowledge about dinosaurs.

MATH:
Our first unit on 2 digit addition and subtraction, without regrouping, has ended and we will revisit these two skills after the break.  This week we will build on our pattern knowledge.  We will start out with shapes and the A/B/A/B patterns and move on to patterns in numbers.  Our examples will be from cupcakes, candy shops, arms, legs, 2s, 3s, 4s and (my favorite) pizza!  It should be a delicious time learning about patterns in numbers!

SOCIAL STUDIES:
Our study will continue on the historical figures from Austin, Texas and the United States.  We will focus on each individuals contribution or invention and what they are remembered for.  On Friday, the students will select the person they want to research further on.  This individual study will carry over into the next week as they go through the process of gathering more facts, writing a research report and creating a model of what that person looked like.


REMINDERS:
Dec. 3 - Book Fair
Dec. 3 - Choir performs at Westwood
Dec. 4 - Caraway concert in cafeteria
Dec. 5 - Early Release Day