Light Lab

Here's a little snapshot of the light stations students participated in before vacation.  We had a great morning and learned many facts about light!  Thank you to all our helpers who made the morning a success.

The last couple of weeks, your writers have been very busy writing facts about all the topics they know about.  Last week, we wrapped up our nonfiction unit.  Children chose one book from their folders to revise and fancy-up.  Writers worked on including a table of contents, bold words, captions, realistic pictures, headings, and a glossary in their books of choice.  On Thursday and Friday, children shared their books with the class.  Next week, we will kick-off our opinion writing unit.

Lately during Reading Workshop, we have been reviewing our reading strategies and learning how to use multiple strategies when we come to a new word.  I modeled getting stuck on words and trying out different strategies to figure out the words.  We discussed how readers don't give up; they keep on trying!  One strategy that has been helpful for readers who are stuck on a word is to take a step back and think of everything that has happened in the book so far.  What is the title? What's happening in the pictures and the text?  Can asking those questions help me figure out the word? Sometimes that's all it takes! When your little reader is reading to you and gets stuck, remind him/her to try lots of strategies.


During Math we:

• made flowers to display combinations of ten (And to bring a little spring into our classroom!).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• told and wrote our own number stories.
• learned about fact families.
• played a game to help us practice naming and finding two-digit numbers on a number grid.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• learned about a pan balance as a tool for measuring the weight of objects.
• learned how to make an estimate. 

On Monday, the children will participate in a science lab about light.  Students will rotate through four different hands-on stations to help them learn more about light.  It promises to be a fun morning! Be sure to ask your child about it Monday evening.

I hope you had a great weekend!

Katie