Weekly Update 12/2

Hi Families,
It's been a fun week back at school after the holiday break. Students got right back into the swing of things and we did some great work this week!

Barrows Weekly Newsletter
Here is the link to the latest Starburst from Principal Gallegos.

​Important Upcoming Dates:
Saturday 12/3: Barrows Winter Craft Fair, Festival of Trees
Sunday 12/4: Festival of Trees
Monday 12/5: Art Enrichment class with Ms. Hurley from 9:00-9:40am.
Wednesday 12/7: Field trip to the Discovery Museum in Acton. Please pack a peanut-free, tree-nut free, and sesame-free lunch and snack for your child.
Friday 12/9: Special guest Mr. McCormack, software engineer (and Emma's dad), will visit to teach students about what a software engineer does and a little bit about how to write code for a computer (that will play tic tac toe!)

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Above, check out some pictures from our fabulous visit from Mr. Varas, Amelia's dad, a robotics engineer. He brought in an actual robot that he programed to move about our classroom. It was amazing! I also included a picture of our class getting ready for the Turkey Trot.

Below are some highlights from this week.

Community Building
This week we are experimenting with flexible seating for classroom instruction. Students are allowed to sit on the rug, at their desk, or even on their desk for instruction so long as they are listening and participating. We'll see how it goes!

We had to review bathroom use expectations this week, emphasizing the utility of the bathroom for personal needs and privacy. We also discussed a strategy for solving social problems with friends, classmates, and peers. Students can use this 3-step strategy to help them resolve differences respectfully, fairly, and (hopefully) quickly.

Literacy 
I continue to read aloud from A.A. Milne's classic, Winnie The Pooh.
This week, we launched a literary investigation of migration and immigration, reading books to learn more. This ties into our social studies unit on Migration and Culture. 

• I read Dreamers by Yuyi Morales, about an immigrant mother from Mexico who finds hope and inspiration through books at the public library.
• We had a special guest visit from Lienn's mom this week, and she read aloud a lovely story, Saffron Ice Cream by Rashin Kheiriyeh, about an immigrant girl from Iran who finds new things to love about her new home in Brooklyn, NY.

Writing
We began learning how to write nonfiction by researching a topic --libraries. We watched some videos and read an article, taking notes about the history of libraries, what they are used for, and how they help the community. Next week we will write a short text to inform others about libraries and share our learning. We'll also create informative posters to hopefully hang up at our library.

Phonics
We worked on suffixes, particularly -s, -es, -ing, -ed, -er, and -est. We learned what these suffixes mean when they are attached to a base word. We also learned about the sounds they make; for example, the suffix -ed makes 3 sounds: /id/, /d/, and /t/. We made words with those suffixes and practiced spelling with those suffixes, learning to recognize when a word has a suffix attached. For example, we're trying to recognize even though we hear "trasht," we spell it "trashed." We also practiced spelling and reading trick words throughout the week.

Next week we'll take our Unit 4 Phonics Test.

Read more in the Fundations Home Support Packet for Unit 4! 

Math
In Math this week we worked on modeling 2-digit addition and subtraction and "composing" or "decomposing" a 10. We wrote equations to show our thinking. I also concocted a fun game we named "Addition Race," to practice fluency with addition within 50.

Next week we'll tackle some addition and subtraction word problems and learn how to break down what such problems are asking us to do.

Here are the Family Support Materials for this Math unit.

• Illustrative Math Family Support Materials Unit 2

Science
In Science we learned about Landforms like bays, peninsulas, plateaus, valleys, etc. I had students use Play-Doh to create mini models of landforms. Then, working in cooperative groups, students combined their landforms to create little continents. From their models, students drew maps using their cartography from our previous Social Studies unit. It was a fun, hands-on way to combine Science and Social Studies learning!

Next week we will switch to Social Studies to learn about Geography and its effect on people.

Below, check out students playing our Addition Race math game, as well as their cute Play-Doh landform models.

​​Thank you for reading! Please reach out with any questions or feedback. Have a great week!