Reminders:

Please return towels, book bags and library books on Monday

End of the year ABC Days!

Tuesday-A-animal day-bring a stuffed animal

Wednesday-B-bubble day

Thursday-C-chalk day

Friday-D-donut day

May 2-field trip to Hemlock Crossing-We will be leaving school at 9:30 and returning by 11:30-if you would like to join us, it will be similar to our trip last fall. You can meet us there around 10! Please let me know if you will be coming!

May 22-field trip to the Farmer’s Market

May 24-PBL celebration-This will start in our room at 11:15. We will then walk to Lawrence street park for a fun celebration. We will walk back to school by 12:15.

What we are learning:

This week in Bible we continued our study of the parables. We read together the story of the prodigal son. We also played a game called sheep and wolf to illustrate the parable of the Good Shepherd.  One student was a goat in the middle of our circle with all of our hands connected. We would then open the gate and another student who was a wolf would try to get the sheep. We would lift up our arms to let the sheep in and then put them down to keep the wolf out. We talked about how Jesus always opens his arms to us and also protects us from things that could harm us! He is our Good Shepherd!

In math this week we are studying teen numbers. We are using counters and 10 frames to help us understand that teen numbers are 10 + a given number.

During writing workshop we wrote another note to our pen pals in Mrs. Bronsink’s room. We also worked on writing questions using our wh- word wall words to friends in our classroom. It was fun to see the answers they gave!

During Daily 5 we continue to work with Mrs. Arnold. We are also doing extra work with Miss Hannah during this time. I am so proud of how they have all grown as readers!

Phonics, this week, consisted of reviewing the short and long sounds for the vowel E as well as the sh, ch sounds.

In Science this week we brainstormed about different animals we would like to learn about during our Project Based Learning activity. This will end with a celebration in our classroom and at Lawrence Street Park on May 24 (more information above). We also got a chance during nature rich to see some of God’s creation and the amazing living things He put around us!

 Reminders:

• Please bring towels, library books and book bags back on Monday
• On Tuesdays, with nature rich, please have your child bring rain boots.
• We have another field trip planned to Hemlock Crossings to connect with our is it living study. It is TENTATIVELY planned for the morning of May 2. As of right now it will work just like our last trip-we will take a bus and parents will drive and meet us there. As soon as I have more information I will pass it along
• Our trip to Holland Farmer’s Market will also be done the same way. That is tentatively planned for May 22.
• We will have a small celebration in our classroom on May 24 at around 11:15. We will be sharing what we have learned from our PBL (project-based learning) on animals. Parents, grandparents and siblings are invited to attend. Immediately afterward we will walk to Lawrence Street Park for an end of the year celebration. We will plan to leave the park by 12:15 to make it back in time for lunch. More information is forthcoming!

What we are learning:

This week in Bible we continued our study of the parables. We did skits for the wedding banquet as well as the lost sheep and coin. We talked about how it is important to NEVER be too busy for God and listen to his invitation! We are singing this song often in class right now!

During writing workshop we are practicing proper sentence formation as well as writing notes to our pen pals in Mrs. Bronsink’s class.

In math this week we continue to work on making partners for numbers! This can be a tricky concept! I encourage you to count things at home and ask your child questions such as, “How many more would I need to get to 10?” or “How many of these would I need to get to 8?” etc.

In Daily 5 we are continuing to work in small groups with Mrs. Arnold as well as practicing literacy skills with Miss Hannah and doing some writing and reading on our own.

In phonics this week we worked on o word families as well as reviewed the vowel i and the short and long sounds it makes.

During science we continued our study of living things. Last week we learned about living vs. nonliving things. This week we watched a video about how a beaver adapts to his environment and learned about the big word adaptation. We talked about all the different ways living things adapt to their environments. We also discussed how God made animals and humans each in their own special way to help them adapt.

Lately, the class has been asking to read to friends as their reading skills are improving daily! On Friday we had the opportunity to do that!

Reminders:

• return library books and towels on Monday!
• If it is wet feel free to wear boots or outdoor shoes!

What we are learning:

This week in Bible we started our unit on parables. We learned about who is neighbor through the story of the Good Samaritan. We came to the conclusion that Jesus wants us to treat everyone like our neighbor. We also studied the parable about the friend at midnight. The students, along with myself, took part in a skit for this story. They all rested quietly on the rug with the lights out and I knocked on the door 3 or 4 times before Miss Hannah finally answered and listened to my request for some oil to make bread so I could feed my family. We learned that Jesus wants us to keep knocking and asking and that He will always answer us. This goes along with our new verse, Matthew 7:7,”Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.”

In phonics this week we focused on the vowel i and the short and long sounds it makes. We also continued to work on word families, this week we concentrated on the -it and -in families.

In writing workshop this week we began our pen pal unit. We each were assigned a pen pal from Mrs. Bronsink’s class. We worked on the format of a simple letter and are looking forward to receiving a response back from our friends!

During math we continued to work on breaking numbers into parts. We also worked on finding missing parts of an expression. At the end of the week we even threw snow balls at Mrs. Arnold after we came up with expressions for numbers all on our own!

Finally, we enjoyed writing and learning about the solar eclipse. We carried science a step further by creating an oven from a pizza box and seeing if the sun’s energy could heat up s’mores! We learned the sun provides light, energy and heat!