Reading- This week we will finish up our informational writing genre, and move onto opinion/persuasive. Tomorrow (Monday) there will be a homework assignment to bring in a small collection of items. Please understand that these will be used to help your child formulate ideas throughout a portion of our unit and may remain at school for some time. Therefore, if it is anything of great value, or importance, please reconsider sending it to school. This week we will focus on visualization while reading. This is similar to making a movie of what's happening in your mind while reading. This helps children think about what is happening even if the illustrations are not on the page. You can practice this at home, by simply reading aloud and having your child close their eyes and tell you after a page what they imagined, or draw a picture. When they are able to visualize, it helps them dig deeper and have a better grasp of the text. Your child will also begin to learn about inflected endings this week. We will focus on the endings of -ed and -ing. We will investigate the two sounds that -ed makes at the end of words as well.
Science- The water cycle is the topic for this week. :) We are continuing to learn about how water travels from the earth, to the clouds, and back to the earth again in a form of precipitation. This past week, we made water cycle baggies and hung them in our window. Everyday the children eagerly approach the bags hoping to see some condensation fall down the side. They are also very intrigued by our water gauge that sits outside our classroom window. I bet after today's rain, we will have something to measure tomorrow. :)