November 13-17

Writing:
Last week we read a book called Turk and Runt and laughed when the turkeys disguised themselves as snowmen to prevent them from being eaten for someone's holiday dinner. This week, we are coming up with new disguises for the turkeys and writing letters to them explaining our great idea! We will learn about the different parts of a letter, how to address a letter, and how to properly end a letter. Students will practice writing in complete sentences with appropriate punctuation and capital letters.

Reading:
We are working on making inferences. Turk and Runt was full of clues of what was really going on in the story but didn't actually explain it. Students will look at examples of this and realize they have been making inferences already! We will also look at some other familiar books to see what the author has told us without truly saying it.

Math:
We are learning about finding the area of shapes this week. Students will break shapes into square units and count them in order to find the area of the shape. We will look at shapes make out of Cheez-it crackers, shapes around our school, shapes in a robot, and find the area in them all!

Science:
We are continuing to learn about patterns of movement by experimenting with different objects to see how they move. Will a cube slide? Does a cone roll? Does it roll in a straight line? We will test out different objects to see! We will also look at the physical properties of different objects to see if we can predict how it will move.

Question of the week: What is the difference between a llama and an alpaca?

Reminders:
Thanksgiving lunch: November 15- eat in our classroom at 11!
Thanksgiving holiday: November 20-24

November 6-10

Writing:
This week we are focusing on adjectives and incorporating them into our writing. We will practice taking our writing from boring and nondescript to interesting and intriguing! We are also getting into the Thanksgiving spirit as we disguise a turkey to protect him from becoming someone's dinner. Then we will write a story about our turkey using a clear beginning, middle, and end and lots of adjectives.

Reading:
We are finishing up our study of spiders. After learning lots of new facts about spiders, we are learning not to be frightened of them (Mrs. Alden included!). Students will think about how spiders make them feel and make a connection to someone who feels the same way and be open to someone who might feel differently. At the end of the week, we will read Turk and Runt and talk about making inferences.

Math:
Our study of length continues as we focus on the metric system. We will learn about centimeters and meters. We will have our own "meter derby" as we roll cars across the carpet and measure the length they rolled. We will also look at broken rulers and how to measure something if the object isn't lined up with zero on the ruler. We will assess everything we've learned at the end of the week.

Science:
We are finishing up sound energy by going outside and describing the sounds we hear. We will learn that sound is caused by something vibrating and the vibrations are affected by the pitch of the noise. Later in the week, we will focus on magnets. Students will go on a magnet hunt and look for magnetic things.

Question of the week:
Cinderella is a common fairy tale that is told all over the world, but the storytellers change it to match their culture. How many different versions of Cinderella can you find? Bonus point: write a Cinderella story from your culture!

Reminders:
Spirit night at Pei Wei: November 9th from 5-9 pm
Thanksgiving lunch: November 15th- our lunch time is different this day! We will be eating in the classroom at 11:00.
Thanksgiving holiday: November 20-24