Your Trash Is Our Treasure - Reduce, Reuse...Recycled Toys

Hello families! We can't believe we are reaching the end of week 4. Reading and word study groups are under way and we've found our groove in Math, Social Studies and Science too!

Remember, creating patterns with shapes and numbers is our foundation for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Practice skip counting by 2's, 5's, 10's...even 3's, 4's, 6's and 7's. 

Please continue to read with your child every night. Your child can read to you, himself/herself, a sibling, or you can read to him/her. Also, don't forget to practice a few sight words every night. It is our hope that these words will be automatic by the end of the school year. A great way to practice is by creating flashcards, or even your own word wall at home. The repeated readings will help your child recall the words more easily.

In Science, we explored motion. Force (push, pull, twist) creates motion (or movement). Within a group, your child had to figure out how to make a box move without touching it with their hands. Wow, did we have some creative ideas!! Many used their knowledge of magnets, iron and opposite poles to attract - making the box move (pulling). Others pushed the box with a pencil, marker, or glue stick. Next time you take your child to the playground, start up a conversation about swinging on the swings. Pumping their legs (using their muscles) or having you push them are both forces that create motion. There are so many teachable moments you can utilize with your child. You are their greatest teachers!

We also enjoyed some buddy reading time, using books from our Science basket. Thank you, Mrs. Lutter, for taking a trip to the public library to find great books on motion, force and energy for us.

In Social Studies, we are learning about how community helpers contribute to our communities and what character traits community helpers possess. The students came up with their own lists of character traits and helpers, then shared the lists with the class. After this, the groups each voted on one helper and are currently creating their own skits, equipped with a script (written by them), props and costumes (designed by them). We can't wait to see them act out a scene involving a community helper. Reader's theater is so much fun, especially when we get to be the writers, producers, directors and actors. Good thing we have a theater major on our green team - Ms. Morgan :)

We love our DaVinci STEM project days - every Friday, where we can apply the concepts we learned throughout the week to assemble our toys.

Thank you for continuing to send in recyclables. Please send in masking tape if you have some at home. Magnetic tape would be great too! We started building our toys last week and look forward to incorporating our magnet and motion knowledge this Friday!

Starting September 8th (next week is a short week), we will be sending home a packet/sheet of suggested homework assignments to be completed throughout the week. The packets will include word study activities/words, and ideas for math. Plus, a reminder that your child should be reading for 15-20 minutes a night. If you'd like to borrow any books from our class or school library, we'd be happy to send books home. You do NOT need to send this homework in to school. These activities are meant to be a great way for you to practice what we are working on in school with your child at home. We have active weeknights, and know there isn't always time to complete nightly homework with sports, cub scouts, etc. We are hoping this list of suggested activities will give you the flexibility to practice on your own time schedule. Plus, so many of the best teachable moments are spontaneous.

Have a wonderful and relaxing holiday weekend :)

Cheers!
The Green Team
(Ms. Morgan, Mrs. Emmel & Mrs. Browning)