This week we are starting unit 10.  We are reviewing money concepts and refining our skills in money notation.  This includes a lot of place value work as well as counting money.  Students will be getting new math grouping again to help focus on skills they need to develop and work on.  We will also be using our 'SMART' goal work to help them begin creating goals during our independent time.  I will be supporting them in continuing to write, work on and finish goals. 
In science we are working on rocks still.  We have been working on a new thinking routine called "The Explanation Game."  If you'd like more information, please see my write-up about it in the Early Release section on the website.  It's been a lot of fun and the students have taken a liking to it. 
Don't forget we have our field trip on Thursday!  Please make sure to send a lunch with your child and a warm jacket as it is supposed to be cold. 

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great Spring Break!  This week we will be continuing our unit about measurement.  The specific skills we are working on this week are perimeter and capacity.  The students will be making a 'capacity bot' to help them remember the equivalencies.  If you have a chance, a great way to practice this is to have your child help you cook some recipes as they have lots of volume measurements. 
Looking for a simple, fun and great way to use up all those plastic eggs from spring celebrations?!  I found some really discounted ones and bought a bunch because I saw a great idea on pinterest-and the students are LOVING it!  :)  What you'll need is a sharpie, and the eggs- that's it!!  All you do is seperate the eggs and write a math problem on one end, and the answer on another.  The kids can time themselves to practice their math facts and see how long it takes them to match them up. In our classroom I did multiplication, but you could use addition, subtraction, even division (whichever facts you think would most benefit your child).  I also color coordinated them so they could easily find the ones they were practicing.  For a real challenge you could make it so the colors don't match at all, or if you don't have all the sets of eggs you can put extras in to make it really hard!  Here is a photo of our class set.

In social studies we are continuing our study of rocks and minerals.  We are eager to share the rocks we are finding (even ones over break!)  and reading books and articles to learn about the huge variety found on earth.  We are also going to begin experiementing to discover about hardness, substance, streaking, and other rock properties. 
Don't forget that next Monday, April 8th are tryouts for
Have a great week and let me know if you have any questions!