MCGHEE'S MESSAGES
JANUARY 11-15
IMPORTANT DATES AND INFORMATION
Jan 29 1:00 Mrs. VanMeter creativity lesson
Feb 5 Counselors Day-let show her some love with treats, cards and small gifts of thanks
Feb 15 Student holiday (teachers work)
Feb 17 Spring pictures and whole class picture
Feb 19 PTA Skate night (my favorite!!)
Mar 7-11 Spring Break
Mar 14-17 and 21-24 Second grade swim lessons (I'll let you know our days and times soon)
Mar 25 Good Friday- no school
Mar 29-30 4th grade STAAR writing test
April 1 Early release 12:30
April 1 Starfest 5:00
We are back in full swing now. The kids really enjoyed our Happy Feet/pajama day. Our next fun movie will Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but not until we are finished reading the novel. I like to watch the Johnny Depp version because it is closer to the book. Do your research on the pros and cons of the movie now, as I will again need parental permission to show the film because it is PG. I will let you know when we are close to finishing.
I want to remind you to please send in snacks and a water bottle with your child. They seem to be starving! :) I have talked them about it truly being their responsibility to grab a snack, but if you can be sure you are helping them with this it will help me. They are begging me for food! I don't really have much to offer. Especially now while I am only on Day 8 of my Whole30 plan. So load them up with extra snacks please. Better to have extra than not enough.
Have a great week!
April McGhee
WHAT WE'VE BEEN LEARNING
Science-We are still working on our rock unit. We have learned about volcanoes, rock slides, ice wedging, root wedging and lots more. This will be our last week on rocks.
Math-We are finishing up our unit on 3 digit subtraction with regrouping. We have practiced lots and lots. We watched a Kahn academy video, some You Tube videos, a Brain Pop and anything else I could get my hands on to present regrouping to them in a variety of ways. The most important (and the biggest mistakes when not followed!) points are:
1. you must go from right to left---start in the ones column
2. you must show your regrouping as you go, you can't expect to remember to go back and cross out and change numbers later, do it step by step
3. subtract the top number from the bottom number (they are constantly trying to subtract the bottom to the top instead of regrouping)
Hopefully, with practice and drill this will become second nature to them.
Language Arts-We read a story title Penguin Hatching. We will continue to use that story this week as well. We also read a book called Snowflake Bentley about a man named William Bentley that photographed snowflakes in Vermont. We started our novel study of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory too. We all have a copy but we are reading it chorally and then writing a summary in our journals. I am very proud of them and their growing love of reading!