Week of January 4, 2010

I really appreciate the group class gift you gave me before the vacation! I spent the whole VISA gift card from you at the Spa at my health club – relaxing, being refreshed & renewed; Thanks so very much to all of you!! From the students’ comments, it sounds like the 2-week vacation was a wonderful, enjoyable change of pace for everyone.
Thank you too [spelling word] to Lori Bradford who coordinated my helpers & details for our Kindness Market and our classroom Holiday Party, and to all you other parents who were so supportive and helpful at these special events!

Today we began a new unit in reading: Fossils. This is a great sequel to our science study of rocks and soil in the fall. What makes this topic so interesting is that all we know about dinosaurs has been learned from studying fossils, so it’s also a Dinosaur unit! This week we read “Fossils Tell of Long Ago” by Aliki. The comprehension skill we work on is sequence, because the sequence, or order in which things happen, is so important in the formation of fossils. Tomorrow is our first venture into being a paleontologist… digging up “fossils” from the “Dirt Cups” Jackson’s mom is bringing in. The vocabulary words are: amber, fossil, extinct, peat, mammoth, seeps. Our spelling words all have the /oo/ sound, spelled in different ways. The spelling workbook gives good practice with the suffixes -ly, -ing.

With this Friday’s deadline for Longfellow submissions to the District writing contest, we are working this week on elaborating, revising, and editing our best writing.

Math Unit 4 is on developing strategies to do more complex addition and subtraction in our heads. The attached newsletter explains this well, and shows some excellent diagrams to help students organize their thinking, and visualize how to solve math word problems. You can reinforce what your child is learning in school by prompting him/her to use these strategies & tools at home. Also, please do not teach your child how to do pencil & paper vertical addition/subtraction of 2-digit numbers. In this unit your child will be learning other more concrete, 2nd grade level of thinking & understanding as s/he works with these bigger numbers (eg. tally marks, the 100 chart).
In Social Studies we continue our “People at Work” reading, learning about the difference between goods & services, and of the history of “work” (the first farmers). At home, see if you can explain your work to your child – do you produce goods, or provide services?
Homework
Daily: read aloud for 20 minutes and fill in your January Book It calendar (it’ll hopefully come home tomorrow), Home Link as needed, practice your spelling & vocabulary words; use the vocabulary words in your conversations!
Due tomorrow: report card envelope; optional Book It calendar.
Due Wednesday: Spelling workbook, pages 66-69; also bring your library book;
For Friday: spelling, reading & vocabulary test; Dino Field Trip permission slip & $10.
Due next Monday: play Capture 5 with an older person; turn in the paper of number models showing how you moved on each turn.
Coming…Dinosaur field trip to Children’s Museum on Thurs, 1/28; a few chaperones needed
Winter is here: please remember warm clothing & boots for outside, and shoes & sweater for inside. Keeping a water bottle here is also important.
Ask your child: Tell me what you learned from reading about fossils; [by the end of the week] show me with dimes and pennies how to add 47 to 39.