Weekly Update

Dear Families,

We have so many new and exciting things to share with you from this week.

First of all, our first field-trip together to Waterbury for the “Science on the Green” workshops was a huge success. The students had the opportunity to work together in smaller groups while investigating and exploring various aspects of water. They learned about the importance of the Water Cycle in an interactive game as they “traveled” as water molecules between various stations. They also learned about invasive species and how scientists use the dichotomous key to not only assign attributes to animals and plants but also to quickly identify them from each other. They explored plants using this key and by checking their answers with a microscope! Lastly, the students saw a show with the marine educators “Mr. and Mrs. Fish” and learned about different sea creatures. Thank you all parent volunteers for joining us on this very special trip!

In Writer’s Workshop, we continue our work on how we can make our writing more interesting as part of our revision. We learned that we can add interesting details and even suspense and tension to our stories by adding details about our senses. We practiced how we can add details about what we see, what the characters of our stories hear, or what the narrator feels. Ask your child to share our exploration on this topic and how my own story about weeding suddenly became interesting when I added these details. We also learned how we can add details by using adjectives and interesting verbs. Ask your child to describe our group activity when we worked together to describe a pumpkin, a leaf, an apple and a sun!

In Reader’s Workshop, our work on reading strategies continues. We are almost ready to publish our first resource and reference guide, which will guide our reading comprehension as we move ahead. Students practice choosing “just right” books, while exploring many different genres. We continue using our Reading Pencils and practice many different ways to remember our reading using our own words. Ask your child about our growing Mailbox, filled with postcards, and “Hooked on Reading” center.

In math, our work on number sense and data collection continues as we prepare ourselves for the NECAPS next month. Please look for further details in the first week of October. As part of our math curriculum, I send home many interactive games as a way for students to practice math facts in a fun and engaging way. I also hope the students begin to view math as a social activity; something that is around us all the time and is fun to talk about!!

Ask your child about:
• Warm Fuzzies
• “Around the World”
• Postmaster
• Wigwassawigamig
• Wigwams and Longhouses
• Our new read aloud “The beginning, the Muddle, and the End” by Avi.
• Link

Once again, thanks for all of you support. Have a wonderful weekend!
Regards,

Maria McCormack