Language Arts
In Language Arts we re read Amelia Bedilia to prepare us for the rough drafts of our book reports. The kiddos practiced using words that show order. They also discussed why they liked the book.
To organize their thoughts they used a planing web. Next week we will use the planning web to begin our rough drafts.
We discussed how, in paragraphs, we must maintain a certain theme. The children practiced reading a paragraph and crossing out the sentences that didn’t go with the theme.
Math
In math we practiced regrouping with addition and subtraction of a three digit number. We also continued our unit on mental math with subtraction. The kiddos used strategies, like the number bonds, to subtract the ones and tens. They also subtracted the ones and tens without using the aid of a number bond. The students also had fun playing a game where they had to try to mentally subtract a number from the one they picked out of the pile.
History & Geography
This week we read a trade book on Thomas Jefferson and watched a short documentary about his life. On Thursday we discussed from our read aloud that “liberty and justice for all” was not necessarily the case when the founding fathers wrote the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. We talked about different groups who at the time were left out of these important documents, such as women , Native Americans , and Afro- Americans. On Friday the class worked together to write a short paragraph, summarizing and sequencing the ideas that they heard in the read-aloud this week. We focused on sequencing words and what makes a good conclusion sentence.
Science
We spent more time discussing the layers of the earth this week. The class filled out a chart labeling the layers of the earth and writing a sentence about each layer on the back of their paper. On Tuesday we read about volcanoes and geysers. We discussed Yellowstone National Park and we did a Venn diagram comparing volcanoes to geysers. On Thursday we made mini volcanoes that will erupt as soon as they are dry( hopefully on Monday.) We also did a geyser experiment and talked about how pressure and heat create the geyser. On Friday we read a book about volcanoes and found locations on the map of some significant volcanoes around the world as well as in space. On Friday we got a chance to look at and handle a variety of different types of rocks. We will be learning more about these in the next couple of weeks.
English Spelling
We got our new sort list this week on the long and short u sounds. We worked on sorting are words, putting them in alphabetical order, and underlining vowel patterns with different colors. For grammar this week we worked on correct capitalization and punctuation as well as sequencing ideas in a paragraph. In our journals we wrote about our favorite founding father: what we knew about them and why we like them. We also wrote the saying “April showers brings May flowers” followed by something that we did in April and something else that we plan on doing in May. On Thursday the class had free choice writing, and on Friday we wrote about our geyser experiment.
Art
All the students continued working on their Mother’s Day pictures and cards. I know you’ll enjoy their colorful, happy artwork! Next week we’ll resume a variety of art projects.