November 28-December 2

Writing:
This week we are continuing to work on the difference between fiction and non-fiction and students will get to choose what they want to write. While writing, we will work on using capital letters, correct punctuation as well as exciting beginnings and endings. Gone are the days of "Once upon a time," and "The End!" We will use our words to show that the story has begun and ended in a different way.

Reading:
We are focusing on one of my very favorite authors this week: Leo Lionni! W will read a variety of his books and finds similarities and differences between them. We will look at characters, settings, themes, and the main idea. This would be a great week to check out some Leo Lionni books to read at home so you don't miss the fun!

Math:
It's all about the money this week as we focus on identifying and counting collections of coins. We will know how much each coin is worth and be able to identify it by the front and back. We will also learn the difference between the cent sign and the dollar sign and be able to label a collection of coins using both. We will also practice making change using the fewest coins possible so we don't have 56 pennies jingling around in our pockets!

Help your child at home: dig out your old change mug and give your child a pile of coins to count. Maybe they can receive a certain amount for helping around the house. Or let them count the change at the grocery store. We only have plastic coins at school so any practice with real change would be extremely helpful!

Science:
We're engineers this week as we have a problem to solve for a friendly community of gnomes. The poor gnomes have to walk around the lake every day to get to the market when it would be so much faster if there were a bridge! That's where we come in- we're designing and building a bridge. We will first look at different famous bridges and look at what successful bridges have. Then we will plan our bridge and build it later in the week. Then we will see if the gnomes can successfully cross our bridge without it collapsing!

Reminders:
International Festival- December 8th