January 17-20

Welcome to our four day week. I hope you enjoyed your long weekend. Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of Martin Luther King Junior and the difference he made in the lives of so many people. He was a man who stood for equality and braveness. He was a role model and an inspiration to many.

Last week the students learned a little about the life and work of Doctor King and the great leader he was. The students listed various character traits associated with Doctor King and compared it to traits associated with themselves. This work lead to us looking closely at the Shorecrest Honor Pledge, and ways we can be good role models. This inspired the students and I to create a Voice Thread (which you will see at the top of my blog) about the Shorecrest Honor Pledge. As stated on the Shorecrest website, "Honor" has many meanings, and at Shorecrest, we emphasize those that place value on honesty, integrity, individual responsibility and on the development of relationships rooted in respect.

Some Important Dates to Mark on Your Calendar:

* Grandparents and Special Friends Day - Friday, January 27th (noon dismissal)
* Science Week - February 27-March 8
* Parent Reader - Mrs. George (January 20th) and Mrs. Crupi (January 27th)
* Professional Development Day - February 17th - School Closed
* Current Events - Tuesday: Emma, Caden; Wednesday: Zara, Cian; Thursday: Luke, Lizzie; Friday: Genesis, Maverick

Here is our week at a glance.

Language Arts
* Phonics - Vowel Diphthong oi, oy
* Spelling - choice, voice, join, noise, enjoy, loyal, avoid, annoy, point, destroy, light, inside, great, dark, enough
* Reading: "Ah, Music!" by Aliki (Non fiction)
* Fluency: Good readers read each word correctly. It they make a mistake, they go back and reread so that the sentence makes sense.
* Comprehension: Answer questions
* Grammar: Number words
* Writing: Editing and proofreading a small moment narrative; speaking and thinking bubbles making characters come alive
* Handwriting: Capital and commas; Writing a paragraph; y slide down y

Mathematics - Unit 5 - 2D and 3D Shapes
* Define, name and draw line segments
* Introduce the concepts of parallel and parallel line segments
* Review names and classify polygons

Your child will be bringing home their latest math quiz on Wednesday. Please review with your child (as we did in class), sign and return back to school on Thursday.

Social Studies - Australia
Most Australian mammals are marsupials. Female marsupials have pouches in which they carry their babies. The babies are usually very small and undeveloped when they are born. They crawl into the mother's pouch where they stay until they grow larger and stronger and can take care of themselves.

The students will choose an Australian marsupial to read and write about using the teacher created Symbaloo (you will find this at the top of my blog).

Science - Changes - Gas in a Bag
Students will observe the changes that occur when they put an effervescent tablet into a bag of water; Students will discuss their observations and describe how the tablet and the water change; Students will then observe and discuss the properties of a gas and read about carbon dioxide and how it is added to soft drinks

This week the students will plant their own tomato and/or sweet peppers that we will observe in class. They will also pick the beans from our garden and keep the seeds for growing at a later time. We are getting ready to move into our new science unit entitled Plants.

Have a wonderful week - Marion O'Mullane