Top of the mornin' to you!

The wearing of the green!

It's always fun to have an excuse to dress for the day, and Friday was no exception as many of our friends arrived in school in shades of green. Each desk had 5 'gold' coins to greet them as they arrived, and we had some St. Patrick's Day fun with our read-aloud, Leprechaun on the Loose, and with leprechaun wind socks we made.

Have you seen a leprechaun?

Leprechaun friends

Have you seen my gold?

Ready to blow in the breeze!

Leprechaun fun!

We tied our persuasive writing into the leprechaun fun as well. After reading about a choice the boy had to make in Leprechaun on the Loose of whether to let the leprechaun go free and save the class party, or keep him but have no party, the kids wrote what their own decision would be and supported it with persuasive reasons.                                  

Our persuasive reasoning got results in Spanish this week as we wrote to Mrs. Frechette requesting an online Spanish reading of a Mo Willems book. She responded to us in the affirmative, and we watched the Spanish reading on Monday!

Hooray!

As we continue learning about plants and animals in science, we observe the plants we have planted each day, noting their growth. We also made a lift the flap book about the parts of the plants (roots, seeds, leaves...) and described how the plant uses each part to survive.

Science booklets

Topic 11 in math this week focuses on subtracting tens and ones using 100 charts, place value rods and cubes, and vertical subtraction problems. Everyone is on a roll with this!

Our class library has a new look- the American West! We have loads of new books to read about cowboys, Native Americans, horses, and other western themes. In social studies we learned about two famous Americans, Lewis & Clark, who first explored the west all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Reading How We Crossed the West- The Adventures of Lewis & Clark was very exciting and highlighted the dangers, excitements, and discoveries along the trail. During writing, we wrote about one adventure or part of the journey, pretending to be one of the explorers. We were introduced to another famous American who joined up with Lewis & Clark - the Native American, Sacajawea. Next week we will read a book all about her life and about her contributions to the journey west.

Illustrations of the Lewis & Clark expedition

Our new library theme

With all this snow, we have had a couple of indoor recesses. Everyone is quite industrious setting up dinosaur lands, petting zoos, marble runs, block building, and puzzle making!

Wow - as tall as us!

We made the USA puzzle!

A couple of notes: Due to the snow days, report cards are being sent home Wednesday. Also due to snow days, absences, and a tricky spelling pattern list of words on the homework (/ou/ vs. /ow/ words), we will keep those words to test next Friday. I have a homework packet for Monday that has the same spelling list but different papers for the rest of the packet. This will give us time to practice and really learn these words.

Where oh where is the spring? It is a long time coming! never-the-less, the sun is out, so enjoy the weekend!

Mrs. Dagley