Happy New Year!
Here is a quick rundown of what will be happening in the 3T classroom during the month of January…
Reader’s Workshop: We will be focusing our energies this month on Mysteries. What is an accomplice, a red herring, a sidekick, or a motive? We will be learning these vocabulary words and many more as we tackle mysteries and learn to read closely. Some of our favorite mystery series include Cam Jansen, A-Z Mysteries, Nancy Drew, Encyclopedia Brown, the Calendar Club Mysteries, and the Capital Mysteries. Many of these books will be appearing in our Weekly Reading Logs as we investigate and use our detective skills!
Writer’s Workshop: January will be a month of writing our Informational books. What nonfiction topics do we know a lot about? Some of our topics will include sports, animals, hobbies, places, activities, and games. We will be learning about nonfiction writing and how it compares to fiction and personal narrative writing. At the end of the month, our informational books will be available for viewing on our bulletin board outside of the 3T classroom!
Mathematics: Multiplication is here! We started our discussion today with what we already know about multiplication. We know that it is a faster way to add, and the “X” means to multiply, groups of, rows of, and times. We brainstormed many items that comes in groups of 2′s (hands, feet, socks, shoes, mittens), 3′s (sides on a triangle, tennis balls in a can), 4′s (chair legs, car tires, animal legs, sides on a square), and 5′s (fingers, toes, sides on a pentagon). As we think of groups of numbers, this will help us to visualize multiplication. It is essential that all students start to practice their multiplication facts as we learn all of them in class. Don’t forget… keep practicing addition and subtraction too! We don’t want to lose the knowledge that we have already gained this year!
Social Studies: For the first few weeks of January, we will be focusing on History and Immigration. Most of our families have emigrated from another country to the United States. As we learn about Immigration in class, each student will be coming home with a doll that they will need decorate. Directions will be covered in class, and will be sent home with the project. More details will follow…
Science: Toward the end of January, we will be visiting with Mrs. Hotchkiss to learn about Rocks and Minerals. There will be a number of experiments that will take place in her classroom as we learn about the rocks and minerals that make up our Earth, as well as those found naturally right here in Darien.
Cursive: As second graders, students learned the cursive alphabet and we will be doing a review of the uppercase and lowercase letters. Please check out the link on the right side listed under “Blogroll”, Cursive- Animated. Each letter can be clicked on with a mouse to see how it is correctly formed.
Dismissal: If your child is not going home by his/her regular routine, please send a note into school in the morning. If there is an emergency change in departure, please contact the Main Office as soon as possible so that the change can be noted before the dismissal bells ring at 2:45pm. If you child has a playdate, please write a note clearly stating who the playdate will be with, and the mode of transportation that he/she will be using (including bus numbers) to leave Hindley School. Notes are required for a change in dismissal.
Yikes, it is getting cold outside! We will be going outside for lunchtime recess as often as possible, so please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately. Coats, mittens, gloves, hats, and scarves will help to keep the students warm while they are outdoors for the 20 minutes of lunchtime recess!
