Weekly Update January 3rd-7th

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a fantastic winter break. It was a great time to catch up with family and friends. I know we were busy at our house playing with all the toys that Santa left for Charlie and Nick!

A special welcome to Elizabeth! Elizabeth is joining our class this week. We are so excited to have her in room 221!

Here is what we will be doing as we ease into 2011!


Math: This week we will begin Chapter 12. Multiplying two-digit and three-digit numbers is officially here! Remember that the math book is online
http://www.eharcourtschool.com
Log-in : tfourth
Password: pass
I will be providing students graph paper to work these multi-digit problems. The biggest problem I anticipate is keeping the numbers neat and organized! Hopefully graph paper will help!

Reading: All groups have finished their book club books. Not all groups were able to meet before due to the snow day and winter party. We will begin new book club groups and guided reading groups this week.

Writing: This week we will begin our expository writing piece. We will be doing some prewriting activities. Each students will choose one person to research and write about. More details will be given in class.
Students will continue to write 10 minutes a nights for homework. I have decided to modify this requirement to be 3 days a week instead of 4 days a week. On Fridays I will check the journal for 3 10 minute entries.  

Word Study: This week I will be giving students a word study inventory. This inventory is a 20 word test but it does not count for a grade. It is a tool to help me better place your child in word study groups based on their individual strengths and weaknesses. Do not expect words and contracts to come home until late in the week or early next week.

Science: We will begin studying electricity this week!

Enjoy the last few days of break! See you soon!