Happy Tuesday, now! Sorry, I forgot to post yesterday.Boy, how time is flying by. I can't believe it is almost winter break.

There are a few things I want you to review and work on at home. I also want to introduce you to our new pet hedgehog, Slim. Slim is a whole lot of fun for the students to look at and hold. I have them wearing garden gloves, because his spikes are a little startling.
We are focusing on Realistic Fiction in reading and writing workshop until winter break. We are reading stories that have a made up character in a real setting with real problems and solutions. This genre is tricky because based on anyone's interpretation, most stories could fit into this category. In writing, we are isolating one aspect of the story as fiction. For example this week we only wrote with fictitious characters in our stories but with real problems and solutions.

I am sending home the Unit 4 Checking Progress in Math. I am also sending home the unit 5 Family Letter. The students had a hard time completing the Frames and Arrows portion. Please practice counting backwards by 2's, 5's and 10's. Please also continue working on learning their math facts quickly, so they are not having to count on their fingers. They practiced making number combinations with double dice. Dice are great tools to get numbers from, for basic facts. Then they can always count the dots if they need to. As you can see, this skill is used when completing various activities. The Pringles cans are working beautifully in making a place for our Math Scrolls. The students are busy adding to their scrolls and making them as long as they can. They will not get to bring their scrolls home until the end of the school year. This week we will be studying the sun and stars. Our pajama party will be on Thursday December 20th at 8:15 a.m.. Please plan on joining us only if you wear your pajamas as well.