November 9th – November 13^th

 

We have had a week of new and exciting learning opportunities!

Reading

This week the children had so much fun taking part in a book study of The Gruffalo.  Students enjoyed the character in this story!   

Our focus for reading this week was comprehension and taking a closer look at books.  The children learned to visualize, by listening to what the author wrote about a character and drawing what they imagined it to look like from the description he gave.  They also learned to retell a story using the key details about the book.  We then learned about character traits, what they mean and some new vocabulary words we can use to describe the character of the mouse in the story. The children also had the opportunity to write about their favorite part of the story by learning what it means to have an opinion. 

We learned some new letters and the sounds they make. 

This week we focused on letters Q, J, V and W. 

 

 

 

Math

In math this week, we have learned about the ‘Turn Around Rule’.  The children learned how to solve basic addition questions, check their answers by using the turn around rule, and explain why the sum remains the same amount when the digits being added are reversed.  This concept is very important for understanding the purpose of each digit, whether it is the starting number, changer or sum.  The children practiced using white boards, and bears who were having a teddy bear picnic and then explaining their answers to their classmates.   

 

Writing

Writing was combined into our reading this week, where we had the opportunity to not only learn about reading skills but apply our writing skills to answer comprehesion questions.  The children are beginning to learn how to write opinion pieces.  The children have been learning about writing ‘superheros’ who help us make our writing strong.  This week we have focused on Mr. Incredible Opener!  He teaches us how to use a different word or phrase to start each sentence, and how he often gives us a clue to what genre of writing we are reading by the words he chooses to start the story with; eg, Once upon a time is how fairytale stories start; One day, is how a narrative story starts; and In my opinion, starts off opinion writing. 

 

I wish you all a very happy weekend!