Welcome to the second half of the school year!

In literacy, we are finishing up our unit on Thinking Like a Scientist. We will finish this week learning about the Titanic, focusing on facts, vocabulary, and cause and effect. I am also continuing to do mid-year testing with Fountas & Pinnell to find their current reading level. Next week we will start our American Idol unit about famous people/biographies.

Last week I tested the students with the spelling inventory tests. Based on the information I got from the tests, some students moved to new group colors and some stayed the same color. Based on the testing some students need some refreshing about the sorts/patterns to help them become a better speller for life, not just the weekly spelling tests. High frequency words this week are: country, father, let, night. 

In writing, we are moving onto persuasive writing. This week we will focus on what that means, think about the audience, what opinions we have and think about an action plan.

In math, we are continuing to work on multiplication and division facts, as well as word problems, some with multi-steps. Please continue to practice the facts with your child so they can feel successful when working on these concepts.

Happy Birthday Manning on January 16!