News from the Shocking Sugar Gliders!

Important Dates
March 5th - Field trip to the food bank
March 19th - Field trip to the food bank
March 22nd - 26th - Conferences/Half days - 12:00

Friday Workshops
March 12th
Maggi
Sequoia

March 19th
Jack
Zachary

Math

Last week, on the hundredth day of school, we enjoyed playing with the hundred board and using math logic. We were given a short story and several clues that helped us discover a mystery number. The first couple were a little tricky for some of us as we learned that the clues given helped us eliminate certain numbers (meaning sometimes we needed to cross out the opposite of what the clue suggested - a little confusing!). This week, we created our own math logic stories and clues and solved each other’s mystery numbers. They were very tricky!

We continued with multiplication this week. Some learned a new game called "Flashing Factors" which involves identifying different factors for the same product. For example, if the card flashed read 3 x 4, someone could say 2 x 6 to get the card. Other played "Possible or Impossible." This was a fun game with a twist of chance. We rolled 4 die and decided if it was going to be possible or impossible to create an equation with the numbers rolled. As we shook the die we would choose and then hopefully either be able to make a multiplication equation with the numbers rolled or hopefully not! We are wrapping up our focus on multiplication and moving onward to division next week!

Language

Our first writing project this week was a personal narrative in our journals. Our inspiration, the snowshoe trip (or time at home during those days)! We thought of the most crystal clear memory from the trip and described everything we could about it, down to the tiniest detail. We thought about great leading lines to our narratives and how to make the narrative interesting without it sounding like a list. We tried describing a tiny memory (maybe it was only a minute long!) so we could really focus on showing the moment in as much depth as we could. Our journal allows us to experiment with different kinds of writing as well as hold ideas for future Writing Workshop stories.

For some, word sorts this week involved looking at turning "y" to "i" then adding "es"(like in pennies) and when "y" stays when adding "es" (like in monkeys). Others worked with short e and long e (ee) or long a (ai, ay) or "er"and "ear" words.

We finished Fablehaven this week! For our book response we wrote letters to characters that we really admired or that we really didn’t like (although our letters still needed to be respectful and use giraffe talk!). You can read our wonderful letters on the door to our room. Our next book is to be decided soon!

Theme

It sure is dark down here on the forest floor! Did you know only two percent of the sunlight reaches the forest floor?! We ventured up to the understory and it is still pretty dim with only two to fifteen percent sunlight! But, we did find many more plants and animals in this layer of the rainforest. Ask your child what they know about the forest floor and understory layers of the rainforest!

**Spelling,reading and math homework routines are back in action! Next book response is due by March 29th (they can always be turned in early!)***