Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!! Today was an amazing day.  The students really enjoyed Forts and Flashlights!  Make sure to check out Twitter for pictures.  Remember, if you don't have Twitter, you can always checkout the sidebar on the right of this blog!

Check Our What's In Your Child's Friday Folder!

• Student Teacher:
• We will have a student teacher this semester.  Her name is Sam Easter.  There is a letter in your child's backpack with more information.  We are super excited to have her!
• Six Flags Read to Succeed:
• When does 6 hours of reading = a ticket to Six Flags?  Six Flags Read to Succeed!  Coming home on a golden sheet of paper is a  book log.  Once your child has read six hours and has filled in the book log, the paper will be turned into Mrs. McKinzie by February 27. 
• Information on Fundations & Math:
• We finished up Unit 7 in Fundations today and will be finishing up Unit 5 in math next week.  Coming home in your child's Friday Folder is information about both of our next units in Fundations & math.
• Published Personal Narrative:
• There is a published personal narrative in your child's Friday Folder.  This is the story that we made into an electronic book.  Make sure to keep this piece of writing!  On the back of the story is a QR Code.  If you have not had a chance to listen to your child's story, this would be something perfect to do on a snowy weekend!  
• The QR Code will be active for a while, but if this is something that you would like to ensure that you have in the future - I would download it.  Please let me know if you have any questions about this.
• Lots of Other Student Work!
• Make sure to check out everything that we have been doing! :)

Upcoming Events!

• January 18 - Hat Day (children can wear any hat of their choosing)
• January 21 - No School (MLK Jr Day)
• February 8 - Decade Day (children can dress up from any decade of their choosing)

What's Been Happening in Moss World!

• Math
• We have been focusing on different strategies to help us solve word problems.  We will continue to work on this next week, and our plan is to test over this unit on Friday.
• Writing
• This week, we worked on editing and revising our first informational writing.  We also came up with creative headings for each of our paragraphs, and decided which text feature would be best for each of our paragraphs. 
• Next week, we will start publishing this story. 
• Fundations
• In Unit 7, we learned about open syllable words (when the vowel makes a long sound at the end of the syllable like hi or remote - re in the open syllable).  We have also learned about the suffixes -y, -ly and -ty.
• In Unit 8, we will be learning about the r-controlled vowels of ar and or.
• Reading
• This week, we started learning about the importance of comparing nonfiction texts as we researched.  We learned that some facts can be found in multiple sources and others might only be in one.
• Next week, we will continue to focus on comparing nonfiction texts.
• Science
• Before Winter Break, we had been talking about things that cause quick changes to the Earth's surface (example: volcanoes or earthquakes).  This week, we started learning about a slower process that can change the Earth's surface - weathering, erosion and deposition.  The students learned a song with hand motions to help them know what each means.  We tweeted them singing the song out on Wednesday - check it out if you haven't already!
• Next week, we will finish up the unit on Earth's changes.

I hope that you have a safe and warm weekend!