Weekly Wrap Up

It was a bit of rocky week here in the classroom. It seems the kids are very ready for summer to hit. The blast of cold weather and rain forced a lot of indoor recess. Also, unfortunately, the class’ behavior did not warrant recess much early in the week either. Luckily, they recovered slightly toward the back-end, though, so I was pleased about that. We had an assembly on Monday from the Ann Arbor District Library’s summer reading program. Those of you new to Ann Arbor should certainly take advantage of that program. I attached a link at the end of this post. We also had the NWEA assessment on Friday, which went much smoother than last week. I am looking forward to seeing these scores when they are released. In general, it was a big week for assessments as we took a lot of time in math to finish up some unit 8 tests. Again, I was pleased with how the class performed and I made sure to give them plenty of time to recharge outside at the conclusion. We have a field trip next week along with a Spring Sing, so I am looking forward to both of these fabulously important events.  Now that the housekeeping matters have been dispatched, on to the HIGHLIGHTS!!!


Math:

In math this week we worked on mentally adding and subtracting 10 from a number. We also worked with number puzzles.  I also took time to review several subjects including defining and non-defining attributes of shapes and using shapes to make new shapes. Data was also a big push this week during centers. Finally, as I stated above, we took time to assess our progress with unit 8 material.


Writing

We have had several focuses with our writing this week. We are continuing work with How To books. Also, we are working a lot with proper sentence structure techniques. Additionally, we have begun our official class research project on Orcas/Killer Whales. The kids selected this topic and I really look forward to seeing how this research project will shake out. I have included a fact sheet for your child to complete for homework this weekend. Please send this research back in next week. If you have any questions about this project please drop me an email.




Phonics:

We took time in phonics this week to work on synonyms. This tied in nicely to our work with sentences as well. We also reviewed several phonics concepts in preparation for the end of the year.


Science:

In science this week we returned to our collecting and examining life unit. What was the topic of focus? Seeds. This included looking at diagrams of different fruits and their seeds. We made scientific drawings of what we saw as well. We also started our sprouting seeds projects. Right now we have 17 little bags with lima beans sitting in our window waiting to be sprouted. Let’s just hope they cooperate.



This was a brief look at the goings on of the week. Until next week…all told.