The big news is that the playground expansion has begun! The children have enjoyed watching the construction at recess time. It is scheduled to be complete by the end of March.
Our focus during math time last was addition and subtraction. The children played a variety of games to practice these skills.
To start off the week they played Hiding Bears to practice finding combinations that add to 10. Later they played "Growing and Disappearing Train" to practice addition and subtraction using manipulatives and "Frog Hop" to practice adding and subtracting using the number line.
We started Reader's Workshop last week reviewing the difference between fiction books and non-fiction books. The children cut pictures of books out of extra book orders and sorted them. Then we shifted the focus to non-fiction books. We filled in a graphic organizer about spiders after reading a book about them.
We have also started learning about the features of non-fiction books. So far we have focused on bold words and diagrams. This week we will be learning about the table of contents and close ups.
In Writer's Workshop the children started writing All About books. We started the unit writing a class book, "All About Rowe School." Then students started books of their own. I have taught them that good writers learn from what they read. I have encouraged them to include diagrams and bold words in their writing.
