News from Room 103

April 4,  2008

We like to look at our worms!

Reading

This week we started a new reading unit called Special Friends.  We listened to a story called, When I Was Little Like You.  We read another story called, When I Am Old With You.  The children interviewed their own grandparents.  We shared the interviews on Friday.  The children liked hearing what they have in common with their grandparents.  Zoe said that she liked hearing what her grandparents had in common with other grandparents. 

Next week we’ll read a story called The New Friend by Maria Puncel. 

Phonics

Next week we’ll talk about adding –es to naming words like boxes, beaches, dresses, and dishes.    

               

Math

In math we started a new chapter called Subtraction Facts Through 12.  This chapter continues the work of subtraction from earlier chapters.  The children practice finding differences using the part-part-whole model.  They also learn to relate addition and subtraction to find the answers to subtraction facts.  It is important to remember that because addition and subtraction are inverse operations, there are families of facts for addition and subtraction.  Most fact families consist of four related facts.

Science

This week we started a unit about soil.  During this unit your child will

• explore the properties of soil.
• investigate how worms function in decomposition.
• identify three basic components of soil (humus, sand, and clay).
• investigate how humus, sand and clip support plant life.
• investigate how water affects humus, sand and clay.
• explain what is meant by erosion and how it affects the earth.
• investigate the properties of local soils.