Reader's Workshop:
In School:
Unit 1 is all about building good reading habits, increasing reading stamina, building fluency and meaning and attending to print. We will accomplish this by choosing just right books and increasing our reading to 20 minutes of read to self time during our reading rotations. We are also learning how to be problem solvers by learning what to do when we come to an unknown part in the text. We are focusing on story elements by retelling stories to partners. We are improving our fluency rate, phrasing and intonation by rereading familiar books.
At Home:
Your child should be reading at least 10 minutes daily to an adult. It is important to listen to your child read so you can ask comprehension questions. Your child can read books, read on Compass Learning, Raz'Kids or MobyMax. Please complete the reading Log calendar and return at the end of the month. Please sign and write the total number of minutes ( if you are keeping track) at the bottom of the sheet. I write the minutes on a chart and it becomes a bit of a competition to see who reads the most minutes in a month.
Writer's Workshop:
Unit 1 is all about revisiting the writing process, procedures and partnerships in writer's workshop. We are reading many mentor texts to learn about characteristics of small moment stories and generating story ideas. We are focusing on using our writing strategies we have learned in first grade to write more focused and engaging pieces of writing. We will then choose our best piece to revise and edit to fit the needs of our audience. We are working on becoming a community of independent writers.
Math:
Telling Time:
In this unit students will learn how to tell time on analog and digital clocks, to the nearest 5 minutes, using am and pm. I like to teach elapsed time, as this is a third grade expectation and some students are ready for this.
Money:
In this unit students will learn how to solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies using the dollar and cent symbol appropriately. Students need to know how to identify both the front and the backs of each coin and their values. I teach a strategy called Touch Money. Each coin can be counted by 5's except the penny.
Nickel- 1 touch in the middle (say 5)
Dime - 1 touch at the top and 1 touch at the bottom ( say 5, 10)
Quarter- 1 touch top left, 1 touch top right, one touch bottom left, one touch bottom right, one touch in the middle (say 5,10,15,20,25)
Penny- slide finger under penny (say 1)
Science:
In Unit 1 we will be learning about insects. We will be caring for and investigating several different insects to discover secrets of their lives. Some of the insects that we will be observing will undergo complete metamorphosis, and others will reach maturity by going through a less dramatic sequence of stages in a process known as simple metamorphosis. We will be developing a deeper appreciation for the diversity of life and cultivate a sense of respect for all living things.
Social Studies:
In Unit 1 we will be learning all about a community. We will be exploring characteristics of communities, the reason people live in communities and different types of communities. Students will investigate common characteristics of communities including location, physical characteristics, history, government, people and businesses. We will ask ourselves "How would our lives be different if we lived in a different community?"