Changes, Changes!
Week #14 December 3-7, 2018

Earth changes quickly or slowly, and we modeled that in science this week with our rock tumbler.  This was exciting work to see the changes in our rocks as the tumbler modeled weathering by the action of water, sand and gravel.

Our word study routine changed this week.  We worked on individualized list of high frequency words.  Our study each day also included activities to practice our hand writing and fine motor skills.  We will continue with the study of our own high frequency words for 2 more weeks.

We added a job to the duties of our "class president".  The president is now also our time keeper and wears an analog watch to report and update our schedule throughout the day. This watch has an elastic band with clear hands and the minutes labeled to assist in our time-telling skills.  So far our presidents have been very responsible!

Have I mentioned recently that we love our study of non-fiction?!  We are prolific writers generating multiple chapter books on our topics.  We are using information books to learn from authors who also wrote about the same topic.  We ask ourselves, "What non-fiction writing technique can I try?", "How can I share information with my readers like this author?", and "What can I learn from this author?".   In reading, we are learning from Gail Gibbons.  We learned this week that to convey a lot of information, she uses colorful, labeled pictures and diagrams along with a few meaningful sentences on each page.  She has written more than 120 non-fiction books and she lives in Vermont!

Other things to ask your child about this week:

*Mrs. Clark's visit to teach us about origami
*Whole-school assembly hosted by the Creative Arts Teachers
*Webinar with Jacqueline Woodson and video biography of Gail Gibbons





Have a wonderful weekend with your family!
Mrs. Hock