Sunday, January 7, 2018

Jan. 8-12, 2018

Specials
Monday - 3
Tuesday - 4
Wednesday - 5
Thursday - 6
Friday - 1

*Reference the brochure you received on Welcome to Wellington Night to know what each day is for specials!*

Upcoming Events & Reminders
January 9 - MAP test (rest up and eat a yummy breakfast!)
January 11 - MAP test (rest up and eat a yummy breakfast!)
January 11 - PTA Meeting 6:30 pm
January 12 - Report Cards go home
January 15 - MLK Day - No School
January 19 - Student Recognition Awards for 2nd 9 weeks (I will e-mail you ahead of this date if your child is receiving an award for these 9 weeks).
January 26- Nonrotation Day STEM Day
February 8 - PTA Night at Mathnasium
February 15 - PTA Meeting 6:30pm
February 16 - Nonrotation Day for Specials
February 19 - President's Day - No School

Weekly Standards
I can read, write, and identify words with long e vowel patterns  (ee, ea, ie)
I can tell or show the difference between similar words.
I can write to tell how to do something.
I can name and identify adjectives.
I can use text features to help me understand a nonfiction book.
I can write my opinion and support it with reasons.

Spelling Words
me
feed
seat
we
keep
beak
she
speed

Sight Words
because
blue
into
other
or
small

Week in Review
What a short first week back! I hope you and your family were able to stay warm at home on Friday. I know that at our house, it seems like we just can't get warm enough. We've even had to deal with the dreaded frozen pipes :( (Fingers crossed it doesn't happen again this season!)
Due to the shortened week, there are noticeably fewer pictures for the week. However, I will do my best to fill you in on what your students did in our two days back together! 

We begin every morning with a Morning Meeting. At our first meeting of the year, I asked the students to let me know everything they loved about our class. I used their answers to fill up a paper heart. After we wrote our ideas, the heart was passed around the circle and the students were encouraged to crumple, rip, kick, toss, stomp, you name it! When we were finished, the heart looked pitiful. One student even said, "Mrs. Carney! You're breaking my heart!" I challenged our two VIPs to put the heart back together and make it look EXACTLY as it did before we began. Obviously, it was impossible.

This lesson served as a great visual for our students to really think about the way their actions impact those around them. Sure, we can always say, "Sorry," when we hurt others but does it really make the pain go away? No. The students worked together and each used a piece of tape to repair our heart. Our promise to use only kindness with our classroom family is now hanging up high on our wall as a daily reminder.

We also read this book:
We talked about our own resolutions for the year! First, we identified the things that we were proud of that we accomplished in 2017 (because yes, it is okay to say what you are GREAT at!). Next, we each took a turn saying what we wanted to achieve at school in 2018 and hung it in the hallway. The kids took this job very seriously. :) 

In Math, we started to discuss measurement. The kids were asked to bring any item in the classroom to the carpet and put them in order by length. I gave them NO other direction. This opened up great conversations on starting lines. In measurement, it's like cheating if two objects don't begin from the same point!

We used this new knowledge to help us compare lengths. I brought in a stuffed Nemo that is about the same size as Baby Carney! The kids had fun finding objects that were longer and shorter than Baby Carney.








In Language, we started talking about Shades of Meaning. This lays the foundation for studying synonyms in later grades.
To get us started, we read this book:
We talked about the many different ways that animals move.  Rabbits hop, snakes slither, monkeys swing, and all of these words are shades of the word, "Move." Authors use shades of meaning to make writing more interesting. 

We learned we are beginning a study of penguins so the students came up with SHADES of the verbs "walk," "swim," and "jump," based on the way we would describe penguins moving.



We also talked about how we are going to be responsible for completing research on penguins this unit! To do that successfully, we need to understand text features. In these next few pictures, you'll see kiddos exploring nonfiction texts to locate some of our new text features!




I hope you have a fabulous (and warm) week!

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