Topic One in Envisions math is Fluently Add & Subtract to 20. We had a discussion that fluency means being quick and accurate. We practice fluency in math, reading and writing. The goal is always for students to exceed their previous score. Your child is learning about addition and subtraction within 20. In this topic, students will learn several strategies for finding sums and differences. Some of the strategies include counting on, counting back, making ten, using doubles and near doubles, and using the relationship between addition and subtraction. They are exposed to a variety of strategies so they can find one that work for them. To assess their current fluency with facts, I assessed addition and subtraction facts.
In Wonder Reading, our essential question for the week was How do friends depend on each other? What a great topic for the beginning of the year! In Little Flap, his friends went first and cheered him on until he believed in himself. In Help! A Story of Friendship, we learned that you should not gossip or believe gossip but treasure your friendships. Vocabulary we saw across our stories this week included actions, peered, depend and afraid. Our skill of the week was key details which is the important information about the characters, setting and events. Our writing tied in with a journal entry about a friend and a paragraph about Little Flap needing his friends help. In grammar, we are learning that sentences are a group of words (like 7 or up) that are a complete thought that begin with a capital letter and end with punctuation. Friendly letters were introduced. Students learned that there are 5 parts to a friendly letter : date (because it is snail mail!), greeting (Dear...), body, greeting and signature.
Reading crossed over into social studies as we continue to learn about our responsibilities and rights. In our Scholastic News we discussed how to respond to different situations. We brainstormed what a good citizen looks like at home, school and in the community. Good citizens words must math their actions. Students came up with encouraging words like you can got it, nice try, you will get it next time, thank you and many more. Also, we made goals and hoped for the year that we put into a time capsule. We placed it back in the forest and will dig it out at the end of the year to see how we did! A group activity we did to build working together, not giving up and doing your best was the paper chain challenge. Each group had one single piece of paper, a glue stick, a pair of scissors and 15 minutes! Boy, did we learn about ourselves. Everybody was a winner in that they reflected on what they did right and what they would want to change. I can't wait until we do it again and see how the groups get better.
Coming Up...
No School Monday.
Wednesday we have our first visit to the Innovation Hour with Mrs. Brady.
Thursday we will take our reading MAP tests. In 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade, students take the tests in the classroom on the Chromebooks.
Happy Labor Day!
Marissa Wilhelm
