March 21

Dear parents and guardians,

I want to start out by saying a HUGE thank you to everyone who sent in supplies for our Leprechaun traps. We received an enormous amount of supplies and still have quite a bit left over for our upcoming projects. The kids were so excited about the traps and we couldn't have done it without your help :).

We had a very exciting and busy week of learning last week! We continued to work on our sight words, including some words from the second hundred list. Please note that at this point, students should know between 65-75 of the first 100 words automatically. 

On Monday, we did our journals, which continue to focus on using descriptive language, spelling sight words correctly, using multiple sentences to describe events instead of just listing them, and editing work for proper capitalization and punctuation. It has been amazing to see the growth that the students have made from September to now! 

In social studies, we covered three topics: "K is for Keys to Good Citizenship", "L is for Landforms"(how they have changed over time) and "M is for Maps." For Keys to Good Citizenship, we discussed and wrote about ways that we could be good citizens at home, in our school, and in our communities. For L is for Landforms, we discussed what landforms are, which ones can be found in Alberta/Calgary, and how they may have changed over time. For M is for Maps, we discussed how people use maps in their lives and why they might be useful. Then, we drew a map of our heart. Ask your child what a map of their heart is, and to tell you about theirs.

In math, we have continued working on addition to 20. Students are expected to be using strategies such as doubles, near doubles, and counting on to answer addition questions. They are also expected to show their work when answering word problems, by drawing a number line or a picture. We have recently worked on finding the middle number in an equation, for example 4+__=10.

Have your child solve the following:

5 + __ = 7
6 + __ = 11
8 + __ = 14
1 + __ = 10
2 + __ = 9

The most exciting part of our week was building our Leprechaun Traps with Ms. Mann's class! It was very cool to see all of the different designs that the students came up with and watch them come together. We also got to make some new friends in the process! Unfortunately, we did not catch a leprechaun. However, he did leave us a note on the board and a mess in the classroom! Oh well, better luck next time! Ask your child about the fancy pens the leprechaun left in our classroom!