This week has really flown by!  We celebrated Taniya’s birthday on Tuesday and had a tornado drill on Thursday.  We finished the week with Celebration this afternoon. 

Morning Meeting

These are the Daily Data questions that we answered this week.

*Do you sleep with the lights on or off?

*Where do you like to play?

*What is your favorite Pat Hutchins book? 

Shared Journal

We are really working on details in our writing.  As the children work, they are writing the events as they think of them.  The result is that their details are often out of order and their story doesn’t make sense.  So, this week, we are trying to make sure that we are writing the events in the order that they occurred. 

Theme

We are continuing to research elephants.  With our research, we found out the differences between African and Asian elephants.  We also found out that African elephant males average 11 feet tall while Asian elephants average 8 feet.  We took out our feet and discovered that an African elephant could not even fit in our classroom!  We also learned about the many uses of an elephant’s trunk.  Ask your child to tell you what they know about elephants.  Next week, we will begin the construction of our circus elephant!  

Shared Reading

We finished our Pat Hutchins author study this week.  We looked at her web page and found out some really cool facts about this author.  Did you know that she lives in England and that she gets the ideas for her stories from her own children?  You can visit her web site with your child.  http://www.titch.net 

Here are some of the books that we read this week:

*The Doorbell Rang:  This is a great book where a group of children must share a batch of cookies.  After dividing the cookies, the children settle down to eat when the doorbell rings and more friends come in.  With this story, we figured out the number of cookies that each child would get as more and more friends came to visit.

*The Wind Blew:  In this book, a strong wind blows through town.  On its way, it picks up several items and carries them away.  With this book, we worked with the /bl/ blend.

*Rosie’s Walk:  As Rosie the hen walks around the barnyard, she is followed by a sly fox.  As we read this book, we used the pictures to make predictions about what would happen next in the story. 

*What Game Shall We Play

*The Surprise Party

Important Dates and Notes:

We still need Band Aids and also hand sanitizer.  Thanks to everyone who sent in Klenex and class snacks. 

I have made several updates to our class web page.  Please check it out! 

 Friday, March 2: Read Across America Day!  Wear your PJ’s to school.

March 12-15:  Spring Bookfair

Wednesday, March 14:  Family Lunch

Friday, March 16:  No School-Teacher work day

March 26-30:  No School-Spring Break