Hello and Welcome back,
I for one enjoyed a little break, but am happy to be back to my routine. I can't thank you enough for the class gift of the night out. I went to Coco Cabana for dinner and watched Walter Mitty. I even snuck a Starbucks Coffee into the movies! (that's about as naughty as I get) These are two of my favorite things to do. Thank you for your generosity, I was so touched with a full heart and tummy by the gifts.
We have a very busy month ahead of us and here are a few things we are focusing on:
Reading and Writing - Our focus in class now will be on the
reading of nonfiction. The students will be reading nonfiction in class while I give specific lessons on how we go about reading nonfiction texts. At home they are to read nonfiction texts as well for at least 30 min. This can even be on the Internet. You may want to help them find a few websites that explore their interests and that are age appropriate, so they can have a quick reference to online reading material. I have explained to the kids that 30 min. of reading doesn't mean 20 min. of looking for something to read and 10min of actual reading. I shared with the class today a neat site called
www.wonderopolis.org . We will then dive into the writing of informational texts.
Math - We are now diving into our study of plane geometry for the next few weeks.
Social Studies - We will now be learning about the California missions. The oldest buildings in California. At the end of February we will be going to the Sonoma Mission. This field trip requires a good deal of parent support. I will need several parents to commit to not only driving, but also running stations. The following are the stations we will be rotating through: cooking, candle making, basket weaving and wool spinning. I will be having an informational meeting on Jan 30th at 3:00 in the classroom for all parents that are willing to help. I will need at least 3 parents per station. This will be such a fun day!
