February 18, 2015

We began the season of Lent today with an all school Mass. Yesterday, we created a calendar in class that tied the different activities we do during Lent with the Ten Commandments. For example, the class decided to wash the dishes one day, which connects with the fourth commandment: honor your mother and father.

We've been doing a lot of great writing activities lately! Students wrote about what their life will be like when they're 100, and we used an aging app to change their photos to make them look older. We just finished working on some special letters for people, and I'll be sending those home in the next week or two.

In reading, we finished reading our historical fiction books and are about to start a non-fiction unit. Quite a few students lately have not been doing the assigned reading and have come to our guided reading groups unprepared. I emphasized with them that they get graded on having their work completed, and the work I assign needs to come first during reading time. All the students have at least 45 minutes of class time in between meetings to get their work done, and I expect them to use that time wisely.

We're learning about physical and chemical changes in science, which includes one of my favorite lessons: making pancakes to observe physical and chemical changes! We'll do that this Friday.

Our current math unit is about decimals. We will have a test next week on Friday, February 27, about place value, rounding, and ordering decimals. Also coming up are the TerraNovas, which will take place the first week of March. Please make sure your child is well-rested and arrives on time to school. They are welcome to bring a healthy snack with them the first week of March, as we will be having snack time in between testing. This week students will be receiving their progress reports. If you'd like to meet to discuss anything, please let me know!