We Are Learning...

The students are having fun learning our current units. Here is an update of what we are currently learning...

In reading, students are learning to ask questions to deepen their understanding of a story. We have a really fun song that we sing - ask them to perform it for you! The students have learned about question words and have practiced asking questions. We are currently focusing on sorting questions into "quick questions" where the answers are found in the book and "deep thinking questions" where we have to use our heads (eg. prior knowledge and clues from the text to infer an answer).

In writing, students are writing procedures. They really enjoy writing about how to do something properly! We have written some together and they have practiced writing a couple independently (eg. how to wash your hands, how to log onto the computer). We've also introduced a success criteria checklist for the students to self-assess their work and practice making it better before submitting to the teacher for feedback.

In math, we finished up our unit on measurement and have started learning about money. Students are learning the names of the coins and their value. We are practicing counting money in various combinations (eg. how much money is 2 dimes and 1 nickel) and by practicing making a money amount in different ways (eg. 25 cents can be made up with 1 quarter or 25 pennies or 2 dimes and 1 nickel). We'll be practicing making purchases and figuring out how we can pay for the items we want. They are having a lot of fun with this!

In social studies, we have been learning about community helpers. We've talked about many jobs in our community, how they help meet our needs and wants, the buildings they work at and the tools they  use in their jobs. Each student made a community building and we put it together into a mini-city in our classroom! They loved it! We'll be moving on soon to our Science Unit on Living Things.

In art, they have been learning about the life of Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet and replicating some of their work using oil pastels. Our room is decorated with their versions of Van Gogh sunflowers and it has us all happy are ready for Spring :)

In gym, we have been learning how to throw and catch various objects.  We have been practicing this skill in order to play a variety of cooperative games.  Our next few units will focus on balancing poses, obstacle courses, and soccer skills.