The Week of January 29

NEWS
Next week promises to be exciting with our Mini Academies and 100th Day of School celebration!

As readers we have been busy reading informational books and learning how to use different text features to locate information.  We’ll begin our week reviewing how to unlock new vocabulary by using context clues.  In addition, we’ll begin working on how to summarize our reading.  We’ll practice identifying the main idea of a chapter. Throughout the week, students will be reading informational books to learn more about the topic they are writing about in their Writer’s Workshop.

As writers we have just finished our first informational books and students are setting goals for their next piece of writing.  With the completion of this book, we now turn our focus to our next book.  Students have identified a topic of interest and selected some books from our library and from online sources to help them learn more about their topic.  We’ll start by reading for information and identifying the important vocabulary words and information from our reading.  From there students will begin planning their new book.  They’ll start by breaking their topic into subtopics, mapping out what they already know about their topic, and then drafting their book section by section.

As mathematicians we have been working with plane and solid figures this week.  We continue practicing how to use attributes to describe plane and solid figures.  Last week we introduced the vocabulary words, square corners and parallel lines.   These terms are essential in identifying and describing the plane figures we work with in class.

UPCOMING
Our Mini Academies are scheduled for Monday, January 29.  Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to lead an activity.  These are always special events and the children love learning from our very talented parent community.

Our 100th Day of School is Friday, February 2nd.  We have some exciting events planned to help us celebrate the day.  I’m looking forward to seeing the creative hats that the children make!  We’ll have our Hat Parade in the morning before recess.  Please remind your child to bring his or her hat to school on Thursday, February 1st.  Linked here is the 100th day of school letter.

IMPORTANT
Swimming will start again this Monday, Day 2 during PE.
These are other swim dates in the semester:
Monday, January 29, 2018
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Monday, February 19, 2018
Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Friday, March 9, 2018
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Thursday, April 12, 2018
Friday, April 20, 2018
Thursday, May 3, 2018

Students will need to bring their swimsuit, towel, and long hair needs to be tied back.  Goggles and swim caps are optional. There is no "ISKL school swimsuit". Appropriate swim attire (one piece swim suit or swim bottoms and rash shirt).  If students forget their swim gear, they can borrow a swimsuit if available or they can use their PE uniform. If students cannot swim for any reason, a detailed email or note must explain why.

DINNER QUESTIONS
What are some nonfiction topics that interest you?  What do you know about them?
What is the topic of the book you’re writing?  What text features will you add?
What shapes do you see around our home?