J Week
This week we went on our first field trip. The students were VERY excited to ride the bus and see the play. Beauty and the Beast was an exciting play and the students seemed to have a great time. Very soon you will receive a notice for our last field trip of the year. We will be going to the DuPage Children's Muesum to attend a class on 3-D shapes. This trip is always a highlight of the year. Stay tuned for details.
Next week we will be learning about the letter J. Students will learn about jellyfish when we read and write nonfiction stories about them. We will also read various versions of Jillian Jiggs. We will continue to focus on problem solving in math but will begin to solve more multiple step problems. When we work on multiple step problems we often try to solve them in small groups. Students work together and learn from each other's "math talk". Our goal is to help our students become problem solvers who understand there are multiple ways to solve a problem. Please refer to the math home links lessons on the right side of the blog that you should work on at home. These concepts have been covered in class, but it will be beneficial for your child if you review them. Of course we will continue our flex groups (although groups are changing) and writing workshop too.
Next week our school will be celebrating Earth Week. We will have an all school assembly on Thursday, April 26th. All week we will discuss simple things kids can do to help the Earth. Your child may come home with an easy "green" project to help make them aware of what they can do at home. This is a good time to point out all the easy things that your family does to help make the world a better place! Children learn from example.
During these last few weeks we will be busy preparing for first grade. The students will be asked to read and write more independently and they will be expected to complete some more difficult tasks. At this time of year we really want to be sure that each child is using capital/lowercase letters appropriately in both their names and in their writing. Students should also have spaces between their words and be experimenting with punctuation. We hope all children will be reading at level C by the end of the year and that they begin to read and write the 1st grade sight words. As the year winds down, you will be getting some ideas for things you can do at home to help with the transition to first grade.
