Week at a Glance

Week of 2/26/24-3/1/24

Math: We will start Chapter 7 of our Math textbooks, which centers on 3-digit subtraction. Students will work to mentally subtract hundreds, subtract 10 or 100, regroup tens for ones, and regroup hundreds for tens. Please continue working with basic subtraction facts at home to help your children’s fluency.

Phonics (Fundations): We will start the week reviewing words with ai and ay syllable patterns. Students will take an assessment on Tuesday. Then we will move to decoding and encoding long e syllable types with vowel teams ea, ee, and ey. Trick words for the week are: whose, won, son.

Reading and Writing (Wit & Wisdom): Students will be able to compose informational paragraphs about lessons we can learn from The Legend of the Bluebonnet. Their paragraphs will include introduction statements, topic sentences, two pieces of evidence, and conclusions. Students will also experiment with using adverbs that end in -ly. Later in the week we will move on to another folktale as we read and discuss The Story of Johnny Appleseed.

Science: As we continue our unit on plant adaptations, the question we will investigate is “Why do seeds have so many different shapes?” Students will explore how the structures of seeds enable them to disperse, with a focus on seeds that utilize animal structures to aid in their dispersal.

Social Studies: None - see Science

Religion: Next week’s chapter focuses on the topic of reflecting. Students will identify the importance of reflecting, explain how God’s presence makes church a holy place, explain how we ask for God’s mercy, and discuss the story of Moses and the burning bush. We will be in Chapter 3, and we hope that you will follow along with the “Together” magazine at home for discussion topics and activities that accompany what we are learning in class.

Tests and Quizzes:

• Phonics Unit 10 Assessment = Tuesday, 2/27

Additional Reminders:

• Thank you for your generosity to the Food Pantry and to the McTeacher fundraiser.
• Please take your children to Mass this weekend to celebrate the second Sunday of Lent. This is a wonderful opportunity to prepare our hearts for Easter, and it is also the best way to prepare your children for First Communion.
• Saturday = 5pm
• Sunday = 7am, 9am (with Children’s Liturgy of the Word), 11am, 5pm
• All School Mass = Tuesday at 8:30am in the church
• This past Tuesday the students did much better following directions, participating in the prayers, and sitting/kneeling quietly during the appropriate times. Thank you for your help with this at home!
• No school = Friday, 3/1 → Teacher professional development day
• Field Trip = Wednesday, 3/13 → Thank you all for sending in your forms and money. We are looking forward to an enjoyable show!
• We finished up the book James and the Giant Peach on Thursday. It was made into a Tim Burton movie (rated PG). You can find a copy at your local library or on Disney + if you and your child want to watch this prior to attending the show.

Please reinforce the following at home:

• We have been struggling quite a bit recently as a class to work at an acceptable volume level (in class with me and with several of the Specials teachers). More specifically we have been reviewing the following:
• Keeping hands (and feet) to self - This helps ensure that no one gets hurt accidentally.
• Level 0 (no talking) or Level 1 (whisper) during independent work time - This allows for everyone to focus and do his/her best work.
• Level 0 during directions - This makes sure no one misses or misunderstands what is expected of everyone.
• Quieting down the first time a teacher signals (in our room, that signal is a doorbell) - This means that an activity is ending and it’s time to listen to the directions or that it has become too loud and students need a quick redirection for their behavior.
• Students are given ample opportunities to talk during the day (lunch, recess, frequent brain breaks, and classroom activities that either involve pair or small group sharing), so we have reviewed that the need to work quietly at these other times is very reasonable.
• We are a class family and a team, so we all need to work together for the good of the class, which means following directions the first time and creating a positive, peaceful learning environment for everyone. 🙂 
• Thank you, as always, for your help and support with this at home.