Weekly Update 12/4/17-12/8/17

What's Happening Now

We have not stopped moving since our last post! If you have not been to school recently, you must come and see the amazing rain forest that the kids created on the windows outside of our classroom. The children were put into groups to research one of the four layers of the rain forest (emergent, canopy, understory and forest floor).  They became experts on what animals and plants are found in their layer. Armed with this knowledge, they constructed an accurate, informative and delightful rendition of a rain forest. To prepare for this build, we had a great visit to the rain forest at Discovery Place where we found an extraordinary number of frogs! 

Last week we visited with our InReach friends. Some of students went to the greenhouse at Metro School where they created pots of Christmas cacti, succulents and small ornaments. These will be sold on December 19th to help raise funds for the greenhouse projects which benefit gardens around Charlotte. Unsold plants will be donated to Friendship Trays. The other half of the class sang with our friends at Covenant Presbyterian Church. We are so grateful to all of the parents who help make this important service learning project possible.

In Reader's Workshop we are working on understanding nonfiction text features. We have been thinking about how titles, photographs, captions, diagrams, bolded words and maps help us to better understand nonfiction. This week the children will be given an article that will be just pure text. Working in groups, they will figure out how to cut the article into logical sections and then add the appropriate text features to the posters they will create.

Writer's  Workshop: Our persuasive letters have been sent and, while some have already received responses to their letters, others are eagerly awaiting! One idea has already been implemented in the classroom. The Student of the Day will now be encouraged to share something from their Noticing Book to help us get to know each other even better. We will continue to work on writing persuasive letters as we deepen our understanding of both the gifts and threats to the rain forest.

Math: We have jumped right into Unit 3 of math--Numbers and Operations. Currently, we are exploring ways to add larger two-digit numbers using "strips and singles" and how far those sums are from 100. We are also continuing our work with money.  We are investigating the different ways we can create a number (say 53) using dimes and pennies. 

Finally, in science, we are continuing to watch our busy worms create soil. Next we will study the water cycle and think deeply about photosynthesis, all of which ties into our work with the rain forest.

Important dates to take note of:
Thursday, December 7-- Imaginon
Thursday, December 14-- InReach Holiday Celebration
Tuesday, December 19--Camp Read-A-Lot
Sunday, December 17-- PALT Caroling in Linear Park 4:30-5:30
Wednesday, December 20-- Lessons & Carols Chapel at 2pm in the gymnasium. We hope to see you there!
Thursday, December 21-Tuesday, January 2--Christmas Break, No School