What's new in room 16

This week in math we will have a test on multiplication concepts.  We have been working on multiplying using number lines, arrays, and pictures to help conceptualize the idea of multiplication.  We have had many conversations around the fact that multiplication is just a more efficient method for repeated addition. We have made flashcards with arrays and two number sentences on each card. The children should be practicing these each night.  We will continue to work on memorizing facts throughout the rest of the year.  IXL and Xtra Math are two excellent websites that provide fun ways to learn facts.

In reading we are learning different strategies that we can use to understand a book better while reading Granny Torelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech.   Our focus has been on asking questions, investigating new and interesting words, making connections to the text (text to self, text to text, and text to world connections), summarizing the most important facts in a story, and making pictures in our heads while reading.  These strategies will also be used as conversation starters as we start talking about books in small groups after February vacation.

Portfolios went home today.  The children have completed an informational writing piece on a topic that they are an expert.  Be sure to read these and note the use of different text structures and text features to help display the information in engaging ways.  Next, they will be writing an additional informational writing piece on a topic that they will be researching.

We just finished two weeks on a bonus unit in Fundations.  The children learned many prefixes, suffixes and latin root words.  Next we will be working on changing y to i when adding suffixes, as well as the exceptions to that rule.  Be sure to ask your child to explain what we talk about each day because if they can explain it to someone, it helps solidify their understanding, and can also enable you clarify something if they are confused.

We are finishing our sound unit this week.  The key points are that sound is caused by vibration, and the larger the sound wave the higher the pitch.


We will be placing a book order on Thursday.  Here is a quick link if you would like to order online.