Sidra Khatoon » Weekly Update SY 24- 25

Weekly Update SY 24- 25

Dear Second Grade Families,

It has been a wonderful first week of school! It was very nice meeting so many of you during pickups!

 

The second graders have been doing an amazing job in building a strong school and classroom community. 104 have been part of SEL check ins, hands-on and fun worksheets to learn about each other and their families. 

 

The class was introduced to the classroom rules and expected classroom and hallway behaviors throughout the day. We explored Math manipulative and read the books "I promise" by Hebron James, "All are Welcome" by Alexandra Penfold, "Just Ask!" by Sonia Sotomayor, and "How to Get Your Teacher Ready" by Jean Regan, followed by activities. Second graders loved the classroom library and enjoyed quiet reading time. They are doing a good job in creating a classroom that feels, looks, and sounds great.

 

I am excited to see them grow and continue to support them this year!


Please read through the following reminders as we move forward into the school year:


Things to Note:

Students received a “Take Home” folder where assignments, work, or other important information will be sent home. Please send this folder back with your child each day to establish the routine.


Teacher Websites:

The best way to keep up to date with the latest things happening in your child’s classes is to sign up to receive website updates from your child’s teachers.  Check your child’s homeroom teacher for  important announcements & reminders as well as content area pages for updates on activities and learning in the classroom along with pictures and videos!


Ms. Khatoon | Link to Website Here


Friendly Reminders!

Snack:

Students can bring a healthy snack from home to eat during a designated time in the morning.  This healthy snack should be something that they can eat while doing work to help keep energy up during learning.  Please do not send students with candy or food that requires utensils.  

**Due to allergies in the classroom and school, snacks MUST be nut-free


Attendance: 

If your child is absent, please email me, your homeroom teacher and our clerk Ms. Beard and 

complete the absence form on the website found HERE

 

Change of Clothes:

Your child is bringing a ziploc bag home in their backpack today. Please send a change of clothes (underwear, pants, shirt, socks, etc.) in the bag. We will be keeping these in the classroom in case of any spills/accidents. 

 

Entry & Dismissal Procedures:  

Please complete this DISMISSAL FORM for your child’s regular dismissal schedule.


Morning Entry: 

  • School entry will begin at 7:30 a.m. 

  • All Students Door 4 | The Link Entrance

 

Afternoon Dismissal

  • Dismissal is at 2:45 p.m

  • K-2nd Grade | Door 4 (Link Entrance)

  • K - 2nd Grade Siblings  | Door 1 (Main Entrance)

  • Please park legally in the neighborhood for pick-up, parking lot is for staff only. 

 

Breakfast and Lunch

  • Students should bring a water bottle to refill throughout the day. Please make sure it is LABELED with your child’s FIRST and LAST name. 

  • Breakfast is free and will be served until 7:55 a.m. daily in the classroom

  • Lunch will be served in the cafeteria

  • Students can have free school lunch and/or bring lunch from home

  • If your child is eating lunch provided by the school, it will be helpful to review the lunch menu with them. They get to choose a main dish, a vegetable and a fruit when they enter the lunch line. The school also has sunbutter and jelly sandwiches if they do not like the main options for the day. 



Remember to mark your calendars for these Important Dates!

September 2nd - No School - Labor Day

September 7th - Family Back to School Picnic 10am - 12pm

September 11th - LSC Meeting

September 12th - Curriculum Night 5-7pm

September 24th - Fall Picture Day


I hope you all enjoy the longer weekend and look forward to seeing everyone back at school on Tuesday September 3rd! 


Have a great long weekend!

Hello 104 Families,

We had an amazing second week of School! The Second Graders are  doing a great job in learning as well as following the expectations of the school and classroom community. 

SEL

  • Students have got various opportunities to learn and know more about their classmates and Ms. Khatoon. The class has been working together to create a classroom community that looks, feels, and sounds Great! 
  • In SEL this week, this week’s focus was on creating boundaries. We talked about creating boundaries or explaining to others what we do and do not like.

  • We also enjoyed being part of the talking circle and the focused question this week was “What is one thing you can say to a friend or classmate that does something you don’t like?

Math:

  • During math the class started getting into our math routine. Students enjoyed working with a partner to solve Math puzzles. Students explored centers and different addition/ subtraction coloring sheets.

Foundations:

  • This week, the class has been part of word study where we are learning about the patterns of the words. Students have been doing great with sorting, cutting, and gluing the words based on their sounds in their composition books. The focused sound this week was short vowel ‘i’ & ‘e’

Reading/ Writing:

  • Second graders enjoyed the read-alouds throughout the week. The class has been learning about ways to choose a book and picking books that are “just right” for them. A “just right book” is a book that is not too easy or too difficult to read. We have also worked on sorting different genres, and how to track their thoughts while reading. In writing, second graders worked on writing about their second grade week.

Science/ Social Studies:

  • In Science, the class learned about Legos and how were LEGO bricks invented. Students learned about different sea animals 
  • In Social Studies, the class has been talking about how families are different but have the same family values. These values consist of love, caring, and respect for each other.  Students also got a chance to learn about their classmates' family.

Hello 104 Families,

The Second Graders had another great week of school. It was amazing to see families at the curriculum night yesterday! Here are the slides from curriculum night.

 

Dates to remember: 

  • September 19 Coffee with Principal Negrón | All Parents are invited
  • September 24 | Fall Picture Day | Sibling Pictures 


SEL

  • This week the students worked with their new partners. They got to discuss in groups and then share with the whole class about classroom norms and rules. The focused questions for this week's talking circle were “why is it important to follow the rules?” and “What are some of the classroom norms/rules you followed this week?”

Math:

  • In Math, we started Unit 1- Introducing Multiplications. Students are learning to recognize, represent, and describe situations involving equal groups.
  • Students did a great job using working with partners and using Math manipulative.

 

Foundations:

  • Our goal for Foundations was to recognize short vowel sounds in a CVC word.
  • The class practiced their foundation skills by cut & glue activities and small group activities.

 

Reading |Writing:

  • In reading, we learned to understand what makes a book a fantasy or a realistic fiction. The class enjoyed reading “Stellaluna” and “The Can Man”. After reading both books, we reviewed why “Stellaluna” is a Fantasy and “The Can Man” is  a realistic fiction book. The students also explored fiction books and wrote their thoughts about the books. 
  • In writing, the focus was to understand Sentences and Fragments. The class enjoyed the Scoot cards game by answering the questions on the cards that were placed around the classroom and by changing given fragments into sentences. 

Social Studies |Science:

  •  In social studies, we started Unit 1- Today and Long Ago. We are learning about life long ago. The essential question this week was “How do we learn about the past?”. Students explored facts that can be used to answer the essential question. 
  • In Science, we started Unit 1- Plant and Animal Relationships. In lesson 1- Plant and Animal relationship, We are being plant scientists and learning about different Habitats and ways to study Habitats. 

SEL:

  • This week in SEL we focused on Alike & Different. The class talked about the similarities and differences. The focused questions were- How are you & the classmate Similar or Different from each other? What is one thing you learned about how you are different from your classmates?

Math:

  • This week in Math we finished lesson 7- Building Flexibility, Efficiency, and Accuracy with Multiplication Facts. The focus this week was using strategies to solve multiplication problems and finding the missing factors in multiplication problems. 
  • This week students enjoyed playing Bingo and Roll, Spin, Multiply games with their partners. The class also took a sub unit Assessment. 

Foundations:

  • This week students learned about CVC & CVCe words.
  • This week students were part of word sorts based on the focused short vowel and silent ‘e’ sounds. 

Reading/ Writing:

  • This week students showed their understanding of the characteristics of Janell Cannon’s books. We explored the books Stellaluna, Pinduli, Crickwing, and Verdi. 
  • This week students identified the problem and solution to the problem the characters faced in the Jannel Cannon’s books. Students also took an Assessment to show their understanding of the lessons.   
  • This week in writing, students learned the difference between an idea and specific/ strong idea for writing. 

Science/ Social Studies:

  • This week in science, we investigated the question: Why aren’t new Chalta Trees growing in the Bengal Tiger Reserve? Students made observations on the maps, plants, and seeds to investigate the problem in West Bengal Tiger Reserve. 
  • This week for social studies, students compared daily life long ago and life today. Students took a closer look at schools, homes, technology, and communities long ago and how they are the same or different now.

Hello Families, 


Though it was shorter, this week was so much fun! The class earned all ten stars! We enjoyed the show & tell and we pulled out one stick from the marble jar!


SEL:

  • This week in SEL we had a Talking circle with the recess monitors. The focused questions were: How can you get to know the new recess monitors? How can we show them respect and make them feel welcome at our school?
  • The focus this week was on understanding and appreciating diversity and differences of others. The focused questions were, What if everyone in the world was exactly the same? Do you think you would want to learn or live in a diverse environment? Why or Why not? 

Math:

  • This week in Math students were introduced to Arrays. The goal this week was on Searching for Arrays, Exploring the Commutative Property of Multiplication, Solving Word Problems With Arrays, and Different Representations of Multiplication. 
  • The class has been doing great with warm up activities, working with partners, and individual work time. 

Foundations:

  • This week students worked with their table friends to add, substitute, or delete consonants and vowels to come up with a new word.
  • This week the focus was also to understand that  long ‘a’ can be spelled with the ‘a-e’ as in ‘bake’ and also with ‘ai’ as in wait. 
  • The students took a spelling test in foundations this week.

Reading/ Writing:

  • This week students began plotting points in read alouds and independent reading books. 
  • This week students identified the beginning, events, the high point and ending of the fiction book “Enemy Pie”
  • This week the class started working on narrative writing skills. Students identified a problem at school. 
  • Next week, the class will continue working on narrative writing. Students will write about the solution, and attempts they might have made to solve the problem.

Science/ Social Studies:

  • This week in Science, students investigated, observed, and learned about different seeds to better understand the investigation question on ‘why Chalta Trees are not Growing in Bengal Tiger Reserve?”
  • The class planted Radish Seeds to investigate whether the plant actually need sunlight and water to sprout and grow. 
  • This week the focused questions for social studies was ‘Why did people move to new places?’
  • The class Explored immigrants’ journeys to the United States long ago and understood why families moved to Chicago from other parts of the country. 

This week students had their first visit to the library! Student’s checked out books and will be able to do this again on Thursday. Please make sure students turn in the library book by Thursday so that they can check out another book. Have a great weekend!

SEL:

  • This week in SEL the class focused on the importance of understanding others feelings. The essential questions this week were “Why is it helpful to know how other people are feeling?” “Do you often talk about your feelings with your friends or family? Who do you talk to the most?”. Students drew feelings pictures based on the focused questions this week.

Math:

  • This week the class took a Sub Unit Quiz-2.
  • The class started a new sub unit on Graphs. Students have been reading, interpreting, creating, and representing data on scaled bar graphs. 
  • The class ended the week with a fun Friday multiplication board game. 

Foundations:

  • This week students were introduced to one and two syllable words.
  • The class worked with their table friends to sort the long ‘a’ sound words with CVVC and CVCe words. 
  • The class also learned about the homophones, words that sound alike, but are spelled differently and mean something different. For example, words like Plain (CVVC) and Plane (CVCe)

Reading/ Writing:

  • This week students focused on understanding the characters feelings and traits. 
  • The students showed their understanding of the lessons by reading the book ‘The Spelling Bee’ and identified the characters' feelings and traits with evidence from their reading. 
  • This week the class continued working on narrative writing. Students identified the problem, setting, and motivation they might have used to solve the problem.

Science/ Social Studies:

  • This week in science, the class continued our investigation of the question: Why aren’t new Chalta trees growing in the Bengal Tiger Reserve? 
  • The radish seeds that we planted last week have sprouted. Students were excited to see the plants grow. The class also measured the plants and noted their observations. 
  • This week in social studies, the class recognized and  learned about the famous Latinos who have helped shape our nation and inspired others to achieve success.

SEL:

  • In SEL this week, we learned the importance of being fair and avoiding cheating when we are playing a game or doing an activity. 
  • The students worked with their partners and also participated in whole group discussions. 
  • The focused questions were: Why is it important to play fair? If you realize you’ve cheated, even accidentally, what might you do to make things fair?  

Math:

  • This week in Math the class finished Unit 1- Introducing Multiplications
  • The class did a great job reviewing and practicing Math Unit 1 questions before taking the assessment. 
  • Students took the assessment on Friday.
 

Foundations:

  • This week students searched and recorded short and long ‘a’ sounds from their independent reading books.
  • This week students took a spell check in foundations based on short and long ‘a’ vowel spelling patterns.
 

Reading/ Writing:

  • This week in reading, we focused on finding Text Evidence.
  • This week’s reading text was ‘True Colors’. The class was part of various activities and showed their understanding of the characters, their traits, and finding text evidence for those traits. 
  • In writing, students learned about dialogues and added dialogues to their writing graphic organizer as sensory details. 
  • Students also added the solution to their writing Graphic Organizer.
 

Science/ Social Studies:

  • This week in science, we continued our investigation of the question: Why aren’t new Chalta trees growing in the Bengal Tiger Reserve? 
  • The class made observations on the Radish Plants we planted in the classroom. Students have been learning about parts of the plants and the function of each plant part. 
  • In Social Studies, The essential question was How do families and their past shape our community?
  • Students learned about “how families share cultures, traditions, music, food, and attire”. The class loved talking and sharing examples about their favorite family traditions. 
Second Graders enjoyed the read aloud by the librarian, Ms. Rosado. The class is working hard to stay at level '0' while checking out books. It will be great if you can please review with your student about the importance of staying at voice level '0' at the library.

 

SEL:

  • This week in SEL our focus was on “Unkind Speech”, Students were part of the sentence sorting activity. They reviewed sentences with their SEL partners and then sorted it based on kind and unkind sentences. 
  • The SEL talking circle focused on the importance of kind speech and avoiding unkind words. The class also shared their thoughts on the quote, “Words can inspire and words can destroy. Choose yours well.” -Robin Sharma

Math:

  • This week in Math the class started Unit 2: Area and Multiplications.
  • Students did a good job building shapes with foam blocks then described and compared the areas of their shapes with their classmates.
  • The class is also learning to estimate the area of space using square centimeters, square inches, square feet, or square meters.

ELA:

  • This week in Foundations the students completed Unit 1. The class took a spelling check on CVCe, CVC, and CVVC words with short and long vowel sounds
  • This week in Reading students analyzed fiction books by using text evidence to find: Title, Author, Characters, Setting, and the Plot. The class enjoyed the books “Those Darn Squirrels” by Adam Rubin and “Sky Sisters” by Jan Bourdeau Waboose
  • This week in writing students finished and the writing organizer and started on their narrative rough draft.

Science/Social Studies:

  • This week in Social Studies, students focused on the EQ: ”Why is it Important to Learn about the Past?” Our focus was to understand how people in the past affect our lives today. We learned about the “Brave Bessie”. The class also identified how people’s values in the past helped shape the present. 
  • This week in Science, Students gathered more information about how a plant is a system with different parts that help it grow. Students were introduced to the book, A Plant Is a System, to gather more information and to increase their knowledge on plant structures and their functions.
 

Important Update: Next week in SEL, we will be reading “My Name is a Song”. This book allows students to celebrate their own name. It also lets students share a story or history behind their names. Please have a discussion with your child about the meaning of their name and the reason why you picked that name for them. The students will be sharing the stories behind their names with the class.


SEL:

  • This week in SEL students were introduced to a tool to help them express what's bothering them and come up with solutions to problems. The tool is called ‘Bug and a Wish”. 
  • A “Bug” is when something annoys you and “Wish” is what you wish for others to do. For example, “It bugs me when you____”, “I wish you would____” . Students are doing a good job expressing their feelings using this tool.

Math:

  • This week in Math we continued to learn and explore the Area of shapes using the grids and no grids. The class also learned to determine the area of a rectangle with tick marks only. 
  • This week the class took a sub unit assessment to show their understanding of the lessons.

ELA:

  • This week in Foundations students completed short and long ‘u’ sounds.
  • Students showed their understanding of the lesson by doing the word sort for CVC, CVCe, CVVC words on long ‘u’.
  • This week in Reading students were introduced to different types of context clues. The class learned about finding the meaning of a vocabulary word by searching for the definition, synonym, antonym, or examples in the sentence. 
  • This week in writing students worked on their final books on personal narrative writing.

Social Studies:

  • This week in Science, students investigated, observed, and shared their understanding on ‘why Chalta Trees are not Growing in Bengal Tiger Reserve?”.
  • We used body models to understand a good space for seeds to grow and What might be the reason that no new Chalta Trees are growing in Bengal Tiger Reserve.
Thank you to the room parents and the volunteers for planning a great fall crafter noon. Second Graders had an amazing time playing outdoor games and making pumpkin keychains.

SEL:

  • This week’s SEL focus was on understanding the importance of respecting other names. Students were part of the read aloud “Your Name Is a Song”. The class picked either a Song for their Name or an Acrostic poem. The focused questions this week were “How did you get your name?,”  “Who chose your name and why?”, “What does your name mean to you? and “How do you feel when your name is mispronounced? How do you correct them?”

Math:

  • This week in Math we continued to learn and explore the Area of shapes using the grids and no grids with missing length. The class learned the steps involved in determining the area of a Rectilinear Figures. We finished chapters 10, 11 and 12.

ELA:

  • This week in Foundations students learned the long and short ‘e’ sounds. Students were part of a word sort and short and long ‘e’ hunt in their reading. 
  • This week in Reading, the class identified different elements of poetry. The students analyzed what metaphors look like in a poem. 
  • This week in writing, students finished their books on final narratives.

Science:

  • This week in Science, investigate how animals play an important role in dispersing?
  • The class made predictions on different ways seeds get dispersed to places.
 
See you all on Monday 11/4 for the parent teacher conferences!

Though it was shorter, this week was so much fun!  

SEL:

  • This week in SEL, we received the expectations on how our classroom should look like, sound like, and feel like. We also reviewed behaviors and hallway expectations. 

Math:

  • This week in Math, the class finished Unit 2- CH: 12 and 13. The class will be taking a unit practice assessment on Monday (11/11) and will take the Unit Assessment on Tuesday (11/12)

ELA:

  • This week in Foundations, students took a spelling test on long and short vowels ‘e’. 
  • This week in Reading, students are studying nonfiction texts. They defined and investigated nonfiction informational text this week on “Sharks”.
  • Students started Narrative Fiction Writing. They created and added details to for their own fictional characters.

Science/Social Studies:

  • This week in Social Studies, We finished Unit 2- Lesson 1: Use a Map. The class loved learning about road maps, political maps, and physical maps. The class is looking forward to creating their own maps on school or neighborhood communities. 

SEL:

  • The SEL topic for this week was on Family. The focus questions were “What does family mean to you?” “How is your family different from other families?” “Who is your favorite family member and why?”

Math:

  • This week, the class finished Unit 2. Second Graders did a great job taking the end of the unit assessment.
  • The class started Unit 3 Wrapping Up Addition and Subtraction Within 1,000. We finished Chapter 1 and 2. 
  • The goal was to describe different ways to represent `999`. Identify and compare additional patterns.

ELA:

  • This week in Foundations, students finished long and short ‘a’ sounds with CVC, CVCe, CVVC - ae, CVVC- ai, and oddballs.
  • This week in reading, students explored different types of nonfiction books. They explored: informational, narrative, and biography books. The students showed their understanding by doing worksheets and sorting books based on nonfiction text.
  • This week in writing, students finished their character worksheet and sketched a plan for their fictional story. 

Science/Social Studies:

  • This week the class finished a Science lesson on "Plant and Animals Relationship?”  The class reflected on the different ways seeds can be dispersed based on their readings, investigations throughout the unit and from ‘A Seed’s Journey” workshop. 
  • This week in Social Studies, students took Unit 2- Lesson 1 assessment. The class finished creating school/ community maps and included map tools. 

SEL:

  • This week Second Graders met with their Seventh Grade Buddies for the first time. The SEL focus this week was on things we are thankful for and identifying who and what we are thankful for.

Math:

  • This week in Math we finished Unit 3- Lessons 4- 8. The class has been developing fluency using algorithms to add within `1,000`. The class learned how partial algorithms and standard algorithms are similar and different. Also, they used an algorithm of their choice to add numbers up to 1,000
ELA:
  • This week in Reading students learned more about nonfiction books. Students read the paired text called: The Hottest Place on Earth and The Coldest Place on Earth. They used this text to identify the main idea, key details, and compare and contrast the texts.
  • This week in writing students continued to write their fiction narratives and worked with their writing partners to finish their writing draft.

Social Studies:

  • This week in Social Studies students finished their lesson on “Where am I in the World?” The class enjoyed learning about the grid maps and gained understanding on how to describe the same location in different ways.

 

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving break!

 

SEL:

  • This week's SEL topic was on feelings and challenges. The talking circle was focused on feelings and students thought about a time when they had a difficult feeling such as- Sad, Angry, Disappointed, or Embarrassed. We share how our bodies might feel during difficult times and what we can do to comfort ourselves. 

Math:

  • This week in Math, the class reviewed place value and subtraction strategies they already know. The class was introduced to Expanded Form and Standard Form Subtraction Algorithms. The class took a Quiz to show their understanding.
  • Students were also introduced to a strategy on decomposing a Ten and Hundred to Subtract by Place. 

ELA:

  • This week in Reading students explored more non- fiction books and learned about understanding important facts and the author’s message in non-fiction books. 
  • This week in writing students added dialogues and sensory details to their fiction books.
  • This week we started literacy centers for reading, writing and foundations.

Science/Social Studies:

  • This week in Social Studies the class finished the lessons “How Do We Use Land.” Students learned about different communities and explored how people share similarities and differences with others in communities near and far. 
  • This week in Science we started a new unit “Properties of Material”. The essential question for the unit is: How can you make a sticky glue?
  • This week the students explored different materials that we will use throughout the unit to make a sticky glue. Students also read the book “What if rain boots were made of paper.” with their partners to understand how different materials are used to make different objects. 

SEL:

  • This week in SEL our focus was on learning about each other's daily schedule after school. The students were very excited to share and learn about their classmates' schedules.
  • This week, we made our Fictional Mitten Mansions with our buddies. 

Math: 

  • This week in Math students took a Quiz to show their understanding on the addition and subtraction strategies and algorithms we have been learning in this unit.
  • This week, we started lessons on the number lines. We will continue with Unit 3- Lesson 16 next week. 

ELA:

  • This week in reading student’s read “Into the Dark Waters”, and identified text evidence, cause and effect, and assessed their comprehension on the reading about the Titanic. Students also had a mystery read come in on Friday!
  • This week in writing student’s edit and revise their narrative fiction writing. Next week we will finish our final fictional writing. 

Science/Social Studies:

  • This week in Science, students learned about the properties of several materials.
  • Students explored different types of glues. We did a beans sticky test to learn more about the properties of the mystery glues. 
  • This week’s Social Studies focus was on understanding “How is the Environment Where We Live is Important?”. Students learned how the place they live influences their identities and Developed the skills to apply geographic tools to the study of a place and the communities.

     

    Update on Spirit Week. Spirit week will be the week of December 16th. Here is the flyer.

    Monday - Monochromatic (Wear All one Color)

    Tuesday - Hoodie Day

    Wednesday - Donation Day | Extra Recess (10 minutes at the discretion of the homeroom teacher)

    Thursday - Cozy Clothes Day

    Friday - Movie Day

 

SEL:

  • This week in SEL, the class spent some time sharing their plans for winter break and doing fun activities.
  • During Cultural Corner, the class had an amazing time learning about ‘The Three Wise Men.  

Math: 

  • This week in Math, students finished Unit 3. We learned how to round any number within `1,000` to the nearest ten and nearest hundred. Students did a good job with estimation strategies, such as rounding, to make reasonable estimates for two-step problems involving addition and subtraction.
  • This week, the class took an assessment to show their understanding of the unit. We will start with Unit 4 after winter break.

ELA:

  • This week in reading students read “The Amazing Penguin Rescue ” and identified the genre, author’s message, and the problem/solution.
  • This week in writing student’s finished their final books on fictional writing. The class will get to share their fictional narrative stories with first graders after winter break.

Science/Social Studies:

  • This week in Social Studies students continued their investigation to answer the  essential question “How is the environment where we live important”. 
  • The class will continue to investigate resources to make the sticky glue.

Thank you for all the amazing gifts Second Grade families! I appreciate it a lot! 

I wish you and your family a happy and safe holiday break.

Happy New Year Second Grade families! Our second graders were excited to be back at school and started off great with the learning and reviewing the school & classroom expectations this week.


Week 17

SEL:

  • This week in SEL we have been reviewing the school and classroom expectations. The class is doing a good job earning points for following ‘New Year Same Expectations’. The talking circle was focused on the winter break. Students were excited to share all about the fun they had with their family and friends.  

Math: 

  • This week in Math we reviewed Unit 3 that we finished before winter break and started new unit 4- Relating Multiplications to Divisions. 
  • Students are learning to represent and solve divisions. We are working on understanding and connecting word problems to drawings and expressions that represent a division situation. 

ELA:

  • This week in reading, students read the poem “Titanic Remembers April 16, 1912”. Students learned new vocabulary words related to the poem, drew and wrote about what they visualized while reading the poem. Students enjoyed learning about personifications and ended the lesson with a game.  

Science/Social Studies:

  • This week in Social Studies the class finished the last chapter of unit 2. 
  • This week we started Unit 3- Economics- People and Places Connected. Students are learning about how people's Wants and Needs are connected. 
  • Next week will be focused on Science lessons on Properties of Materials.

 

SEL:

  • This week in SEL, we reviewed using the “Bug and a Wish” strategy. During the talking circle, Students shared times when someone or something has bugged them and how they shared how they can use a wish to help others understand what has been bothering them. We also reviewed expectations for working with partners to create a positive classroom environment. 

Math: 

  • This week in Math students finished Unit 4- Chapter 8. The goal was to iIdentify multiplication and division equations that represent the same story problems, one-digit multiplication facts and their related division facts. The class did a great job Identifying patterns in multiplication tables and finished the missing numbers in multiplications. 
  • The class did an amazing job with the Math project on "My Math Hot Coco Mug". Students came up with the multiplication equations using the marshmallow numbers and changed it into division equations.

ELA:

  • This week in reading, we started our First Novel. The novel we are reading is a biography called Frida Kahlo. This week we learned more about what a biography is and finished chapters 1-3 in Frida Kahlo.
  • This week in foundations, we focused on long vowel sounds. Students sorted their words and wrote a sentence for each word they sorted.The class tool a spelling test on long ‘i’ sounds.
  • This week in writing, our focus was on the grammar. Students reviewed Nouns and the class finished lessons on types of nouns. 

Science/Social Studies:

  • This week in Science, student’s have been tasked with creating a new glue recipe for our school. Our Unit Question is How can you design a mixture for a certain purpose?
  • Students read the book “Jelly Bean Engineers” with partners to understand the job of engineers. Students came up with their glue recipes and did their first sticky test at the beginning of this week. 
  • Students edited their glue recipe and made a second glue. The class noted the new sticky test results. Students loved and appreciated the hands-on experiments we have been doing in Science.

SEL:

  • This week’s SEL focus was on welcoming our new art teacher, Ms. Pitcher. The guiding questions were, “How would you feel going to a new place?” and “What can we do to make Ms. Pitcher feel welcomed at Decatur?” These questions provided students with an opportunity to reflect on their own experiences and consider how they could help Ms. Pitcher enjoy her work.

Math: 

  • This week in Math students finished chapter 9 and 10 of Unit 4- Relating Multiplications to Divisions
  • Students explored the Distributive Property and learned to decompose rectangles and expressions in different ways to determine their areas or products 

ELA:

  • This week in reading, the class finished chapter 3 of Frida Khalo. Students demonstrated their understanding of the reading skills such as, visualizing events, character traits, and analyzing facts. 
  • This week in writing, students reviewed Parts of a Paragraph, Topic Sentence, Supporting Sentences, and Conclusion Sentence. Students picked their first prompt for the opinion writing and wrote three reasons that connect to their opinions. 

Science/Social Studies: 

  • This week in Social Studies students continued their investigation to answer the  essential question “How do people's Wants and Needs are connected”. 
  • The class will continue to investigate resources to make the sticky glue.

SEL:

  • This week in SEL our focus was on understanding the difference between joking and teasing. Joking is saying funny things, making friends laugh. It is between friends. Teasing is to make fun of someone by playfully saying unkind and hurtful things. It can be friendly, but can turn unkind quickly.
  • The focused questions were, What can you do if your teasing hurts someone else's feelings? “How can you help someone who is being teased?”

Math:

  • This week in Math, Students learned strategies to Compare and contrast one-digit whole numbers by a multiple of `10`.  
  • Students learned to Compare different representations and strategies of solving multiplication problems within `100` where 1 factor is a teen number.
  • Students were allowed to use base ten blocks and square centimeters worksheets to practice finding products of multiplication problems. 

ELA:

  • This week in Reading students continued reading Frida Kahlo. The class finished chapter 5 of the biography. Students identified important settings, nonfiction text features, and juicy words from chapter 1-5.
  • This week in Foundations, students focused on identifying long vowel spelling patterns, including long 'e', 'i', and 'a'.
  • This week in writing, students practiced opinion writing and started their opinion planning that goes along with the article Finders Keepers.

Science/Social Studies:

  • This week in Social Studies we focused on the community's wants and needs. We discussed the difference between a want and a need. The class started the lesson 2: Goods & Services.
  • This week in Science, Students read the book “Can you Change it Back” with their partners. The class continued to plan their experiment to make the stickiest glue.

SEL:

  • This week in SEL, we talked about our school value of “taking care of each other.” We discussed how showing kindness towards each other is one way to take care of one another.
  • Focused questions included: “What does taking care of each other look like to you?” and “How do you think you can take care of each other in the classroom?”
  • This week, students participated in a kindness project we created for Mr. Murray to celebrate School Counselors Week.

Math:

  • This week in math, students compared and contrasted strategies for solving division problems with greater numbers. They did a great job explaining why they chose a particular strategy for a given division problem.
  • The class will be taking an end-of-unit assessment next week. We will spend time reviewing and practicing the strategies we have learned the day before the assessment.

ELA:

  • This week in reading, students finished their novel Frida Kahlo.
  • Next week, we have a special virtual visit with the author of our novel! The students will be able to ask questions and share their love and understanding of the book.
  • In Foundations, students sorted R-influenced words and took a spelling test.
  • In writing, students completed their final opinion pieces in response to the question: “Would you keep the $20 you found on the sidewalk?”

Science/Social Studies:

  • In science, students tested the stickiness of cornstarch and water (not heated) compared to cornstarch and water (heated and then cooled). Their design goal was to create a sticky glue.
  • In social studies, students explored the essential question: “How do producers and consumers depend on one another?”

The class had a great time participating in the Lunar New Year performance and celebration, where they learned about the traditions and significance of the holiday.