Week of October 14th

Greetings Owl Families!

This week in language arts we were hard at work editing our small moments stories.  There are pictures below for you to enjoy as they worked with their writing partners.  There are also videos of when they did their editing checklist--I was very impressed with how well they did!!

In math we finished up unit 2 and will start unit 3 on Monday.  This unit focuses a lot on stories problems.  To solve story problems, children first need to know which number is unknown.  Is it the total or one of the parts?  This program helps children focus on this important issue by using "math mountains" (picture below).  In a math mountain, the total sits at the top and the parts (or partners) sit at the bottom of the mountain.  Children can quickly see the relationship between the partners and the total when they look at the mountain.  Children can find the answer by drawing the mountain to see which number is unknown.  Then they count on from the partner they know to the total.  In this way, they can find the partner they don't know (see picture below).

In social studies, we have learned and studied ourselves, our families, and how a family is like a school.  Now we are moving on to past and present.  These lessons will be talking about how the past was different than today, and we will compare school, housing, travel, communication, work and play.  We will hit on what makes us a good citizen and study words like authority, rules, responsibility.

I wanted to quick thank those who are bringing in things for our Halloween party, and those that are coming to help!  I feel so blessed to be able to work in such a supportive community!  Thank you again!  This party will go very smooth because of the givers and volunteers!

Have a great weekend!  --Mrs. Vos