10/7 – 10/9

We have a very short week this week. Just 3 days at school! Just because it is short does not mean we won’t be busy. Last week we worked on the standard algorithm for addition with numbers up to 1 million. Please encourage your children to practice this skill by making up problems for them to work on at home. This week we are moving to subtraction with the standard algorithm. We will need to work on this for a while, but the concept does not take long to learn. Our biggest struggle right now is simple addition and subtraction facts within 20. These need to be memorized as kids are still using their fingers or miscounting. 

We received our mealworms in science and have been able to make some observations of them. Some of our mealworms have even turned into pupa! Our goal in science is to learn about the complete life cycle of the mealworm and what structures and behaviors it has, and how these structures and behaviors help it survive. Soon we will move into environments and be making our own little ecosystems in our classroom.

Last Friday we stared Second Steps, which is our social-emotional curriculum. We will be working on empathy for the next several weeks. In the first lesson students were asked to make observations of classmate’s facial expressions when they were really happy and disappointed. This curriculum is intended to help students identify their feelings, learn how to problem solve difficult situations, and be an advocate for themselves! Some of these skills really to need to be learned and practiced!

I will not send homework home for this short week. On Wednesday, I might send home some extra credit work for the long weekend. Have a great week!