Recycle Rhonda!

It was so wonderful to meet with you all this week and have a chance to share and discuss your child's accomplishments thus far!  It's hard to believe we are already in mid-March. I am looking forward to all the learning we still have before the end of the year!

We had a visit from Recycle Rhonda from the Chittenden Solid Waste District this week.  She reminded us about the rules of recycling and visited the cafeteria during lunch to help remind us what is recycling, compost, and trash.  Be sure to ask your child about any new recycling rules they learned!





On Wednesday, Jane and Jess visited our room for Nearby Nature.  This month's theme was birds and nests.  We learned about different types of birds and the varied nests they build. First we investigated and made observations about what the birds use to make their nests and then the children then had the opportunity to engineer their own nests out of sticks, burlap, yarn, ribbon, paper strips, and string.  They all did a great job trying to weave like the birds do?  Did your child tell you about his or her nest?

We also began our next Science unit this week: Exploring Weather!  We have been observing the weather throughout the month of March and recording it.  Ask your child if we are having "lion weather" or "lamb weather"!  We also brainstormed all that we know about weather and came up with wonderings about weather. After brainstorming about weather, we read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and made our own artwork depicting some unexpected food weather. What kind of weather was in your child's picture?  Pizza? Cake? Carrots?  For the next six weeks, we will be exploring weather by learning about precipitation, types of weather, seasons, clouds, and the job of a weather forecaster.  We are hoping to have some sunny skies and warm temperatures to go along with this weather study! 

We read another Red Clover book called Wolf in Snow.  This was a beautifully-illustrated wordless book about a little girl who gets a little lost on her way home from school and finds a small wolf pup. After reading the book, the children illustrated their favorite part of the story.  Be sure to ask your child how this story ended!

At Reader's Workshop, we continued with our small reading groups and practicing reading strategies with our just-right books.  We also learned about how patterns in the books we read can sometimes have a break in the pattern.  We practiced using sound power and picture power to help us when the pattern changes.  Ask your child to show your some of their reading powers at home this weekend.

In writing, we continued working on our opinion pieces of writing.  The children have been brainstorming problems in our classrooms, writing why it's a problems, and providing a solution. This week we learned what to do if you think your writing is done.  We found that strong writers add more reasons to their work, add colors and details, and check their punctuation and spelling.  How is your child's writing coming along? Be sure to ask them what they are writing about!

In math, we worked with more 3-D shapes.  We played a game of I Spy in the classroom and looked for spheres, cubes, rectangular prisms, pyramids, and triangular prisms.  This would be a great game for you to play at home too! We also played a 2-D and 3-D Shape Bingo Game, listening to the attribute clues about each shape.

Lastly, you will notice a new addition to our Friday Folder: Baggie Books!  Each Friday, your child will bring home 2-3 books that are at his or her "just right" reading level.  These are books that they can read mostly independently, but may need a little support at times.  Please have your child read these books multiple times over the weekend and then return them in the baggie on Monday.  I will refill the baggie and send more books home next Friday.  Thanks for supporting your child in this reading adventure!

Have a great weekend!  Please note next week is a four-day week.  There is no school on March 22nd.