Monday, December 9th: Puffins to Forest Grove Public Library 2pm-3pm
Students may return books from our last library visit - please bring a tote bag!
Chaperones Welcome! If you would like to join us, please send Ginny an email: [email protected]. On library day, check in first at the school office, and then meet us in the classroom at 1:55.
Monday, January 16th NO SCHOOL
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Friday, January 27th NO SCHOOL
Teacher Grading Day
Monday, January 30th NO SCHOOL
Teacher Grading Day
Math Homework
For January 9th-13th, focus on these Apply homework pages:
For 4th graders:
Work on finishing up ALL lessons in the Module 2 workbook. Keep an eye out for new workbooks for Module 3 coming home in backpacks on Monday, Jan. 9th. Students may begin and work on lessons 1-3 in the new Module 3 book.
For 3rd graders:
Work on lessons in the Module 2 workbook up to lesson 21.
Also strongly recommended: daily practice with multiplication facts for 2-10's
Check out these multiplication fact practice apps:
What's happening in the Puffin Nest:
Writing Workshop
To prepare for our Informational writing unit, we continue to focus on the composition and structure of an informative paragraph. This week, we finished our work with composing topic sentences, selecting "Star Ideas" to support the topic that are parallel/related to each other, providing details/examples, using transitions and composing strong closing sentences. We put our skills to work by planning and drafting an informative paragraph about our winter break experiences.
During Reading Workshop we explored another important reading skill: understanding cause & effect. Whether we are reading fiction or non-fiction, cause and effect are are important elements of a text that can help us to identify relationships. We learned that cause is the reason things happen, or WHY something happened, and effect is the result, or WHAT happened.
Our Novel Study Read Aloud
The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
We are exploring a new genre: Science Fiction!
Lights shine in the city of Ember—but at the city limits the light ends, and darkness takes over. Out there in the Unknown Regions, the darkness goes on forever in all directions. Ember—so its people believe—is the only light in the dark world. And now the lights are going out...Is there a way to save the people of Ember?
Out & About & Science
On Wednesday, we headed with students to the District office to meet our new Sphero robots. These small programmable robots will be keeping us company all month as students teams engineer chariots for the Spheros to pull. Students will have to use their design skills, physics knowledge, and coding skills to compete in a glorious chariot battle! This week, students got started by learning how to control the robots' movement using their Chromebooks.
Thanks to the Education Foundation of Forest Grove for funding this project!
Social Emotional Learning
As we return from the long winter break, we take time to review our routines and expectations. We are looking forward to the second half of our year. In group meetings, we talked about how we can bring our BEST to the new year here at school. We plan to continue to join in, work hard, have fun, be kind to others!