Weekly Update for June 5th-9th

Hi Families,
Can you believe it? It’s the last week of school! We had a busy week last week; still going strong with the learning!

We had a special visit on Thursday from Dr. Milascheski who joined our class for a short Literacy block. It was great to show him what we’re learning. On Friday, we spent the morning watching the Talent Show, which students will be able to participate in next year as 3rd graders.

​Important Upcoming Dates

• Spirit Week: See below for the schedule.
• Thursday, June 15th: Move-Up Day -meet the teacher team for next year.
• Friday, June 16th:  Report cards issued. Last day of school! 11:00am dismissal.

Barrows School Spirit Week
Please show your school spirit as we approach the end of the 2023 school year!
For this special week children are asked to choose between wearing two different themes.  Pick the theme that works for you! 

• Monday, June 12:  Sports vs. Spectator
• Tuesday, June 13:  Fancy vs. Casual – (Fifth grade graduation ceremony)
• (clothing you wear to relax in vs. fancy clothing you wear to look your best!)
• Wednesday, June 14:  Hero vs. Villain – No weapons or anything “too scary” please!
• Thursday, June 15: Neon vs. Pastel
• Friday, June 16: Stars vs. Stripes

Thank you for showing your love for Barrows! Have a wonderful summer vacation!
From the Barrows Student Council

---

Community Building
With a few reminders about being a respectful audience and letting teachers teach and learners learn, students kept our class community strong. The end of the year excitement often unravels behavior, but we are holding it together. We enjoyed our last All School Assembly on Wednesday where many students in our class received certificates for completing the Kindness Challenge. Congrats! And thank you for bringing that kindness into our classroom.

Literacy 
We are learning about Greek Mythology. Highlights:

• Read 4 myths this week: “Prometheus and Pandora,” “Demeter and Persephone,” “Arachne the Weaver,” and “Theseus and The Minotaur;”
• Learned and practiced new vocabulary words, such as “unraveling,” “vaulted,” “flatter,” and “sneered;”
• Answered literal, inferential, and evaluative questions about each text, such as, “How did Theseus show he was heroic?” and “Do you think Zeus made a good deal with Hades to return Persephone from the underworld?”
• Keeping all of the characters straight has been a challenge, so we have a character chart that we refer to regularly.

Writing
We wrapped up our Opinion pieces this week. Highlights:

• Published our opinion essays on insects, which included opinions such as, “You should respect insects,” and “Ladybugs are the coolest insects.”
• Some students wrote opinion essays about school, which included opinions such as, “Recess should be longer,” and “We should serve ice cream at lunch.”
• Wrote silly stories using phrases from our Phonics worksheet.

Phonics
We wrapped up our abbreviated unit 15 on the sounds in the words “school” and “book.” We then tackled an abbreviated unit 16 on the sound “aw.” Highlights:

• Practiced reading and spelling single-syllable and multisyllabic words with “aw” and “au,” such as author, hauling, astronaut, and outlaw;
• Read a new decodable story and practiced our fluency;
• Learned new trick words and compared their sounds to their unexpected spellings: daughter, enough, and August.

For at-home Phonics information and practice:

• Next (and last!): Fundations Home Support Packet for Unit 17
• Review:  Fundations Home Support Packet for Unit 16

Math
We are learning how to add and subtract 3-digit numbers in our Unit 7 on Addition and Subtraction within 1,000. Highlights:

• Added numbers within 1,000 using place value strategies that included composing a ten or hundred;
• Modeled addition and subtraction using base-10 block manipulatives and drawings;
• Reviewed subtraction with 2-digit numbers by decomposing a ten;
• Acted out subtracting from a 3-digit number when you need to decompose a hundred and/or a ten;
• Decomposed hundreds and tens to subtract.

For at-home Math information and practice:

• Current:  Illustrative Math Family Support Materials for Unit 7
• Review: Illustrative Math Family Support Materials for Unit 6

Science
We wrapped up our Organisms and Their Habitats unit. Highlights:

• Finished our video on Animals Around Us;
• Discussed how animals rely on their habitats for food, shelter, and space, and how plants are an important part of meeting those needs.

​​Thank you for taking the time to read the entire update! Please reach out with any questions. Have a great weekend!