It's Great To Be Back!

Although the winter break was relaxing, it is so nice to be back into the routine and experience the excitement that comes with January.  There is no snow outside, but in the class we have been discussing snow and snowmen and thinking about what happens to snowmen after we go to sleep!  We read Snowmen At Night by Caralyn Buehner and had fun creating a chart full of ideas. 

Then we used a torn art technique to create our snowmen and completed a writing to match.  We worked to include a topic sentence, use transitions and then conclude our writing.  They are hanging in the hall and will come home after all of our schoolmates have a chance to check them out!

 

We also spent time this week talking about schema and how it helps us when we are reading.  Schema is like a built-in filing cabinet where we store information we have already learned.  If we have schema about Florida, we use that "folder" when we are reading a book that takes place in Florida to help us better understand the book.  Check out all of our schema about animals, the sun and winter!  When you are reading with your child, ask him/her about the schema that was used while reading. 

In math, we are focusing on place value.  We are focusing on 2-digit numbers and building them with tens and ones blocks.  The goal is for students to understand that 52 is made by putting together 50 and 2.  We played a game called "Grab and Dump" to practice this.  Students reached into the bag and grabbed some cubes and dumped them on the table.  Then they had to sort them into groups of ten.  After that, we identified the total number by counting the tens first and then the ones that were left over.  This is an easy activity to practice at home with a bag of dried beans or pennies.