Another busy week of learning!

Team Esprit continues to work hard on our adapted fairy tales.  We are now writing adapted versions of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  Students will soon be choosing their favorite drafts to publish.

In Reader's Workshop, we are focusing on the climax of a story and we are noticing how the main character is tested.  We have been having many rich discussions about our main character, Opal, and the other supporting characters in Because of Winn-Dixie.  We look forward to finding out how this book ends!

We have continued learning about perimeter and area in math and are now using geoboards to build our understanding of unit fractions.  We are learning more about equivalent fractions and comparing two fractions with the same numerator.

In Science, we have been working hard creating passports, Flat Stanleys and suitcases to send on an adventurous vacation to a different climate.  We are using our knowledge and understanding of different climates to make choices about clothing and other items we will bring on our imaginary trips.
Have a great weekend!

What's the Weather?

Esprit has been learning about weather and climate this week.  We have been tracking high temperatures in Shelburne and other areas of the world, and have been exploring different climates and their characteristics. We learned about tropical, dry, continental, temperate, and polar climates.  Which climate would your child like to visit? We will use this information to do a "Flat Stanley" project next week!

In Writer's Workshop we are continuing our fairy tale adaptations unit.  We are now reading a variety of versions of Little Red Riding Hood and getting to know that fairy tale well.  We will begin drafting our own adaptations of Little Red Riding Hood next week.  Be sure to ask your child how he or she could adapt or change this fairy tale!

We have been discussing how stories are shaped like a mountain in Reader's Workshop. We learned that characters have small problems that build throughout the story until the character reaches the climax, or the real big problem.  We have also been thinking about the character "Opal" in Because of Winn Dixie, what challenges she faces and how she reacts to those challenges.  We are also considering secondary characters and the roles they play as advisor, sidekick (friend), and challenger to the main character.

In Math, we continue to explore geometric shapes and their attributes.  This week we have also focused on perimeter and area and explored several real life situations when we would use perimeter and area to solve problems.  Next week we will focus on shapes and fractions.

It was great to see so many of you during Parent Conferences this month.  It was nice to have conversations to celebrate accomplishments and make goals for the remainder of the year!
Have a great weekend!

Fairy Tale Fun!

We are fully immersed in fairy tales this week!  We have been reading adaptations of Cinderella and talking about ways that authors adapt stories.  We observed, as we read these adaptations, that authors change the characters, the events/details, and the motivation.  After reading, we then acted out adaptations using our bodies and voices to demonstrate the changes.  The children then came up with their own adaptations and created storyboards, making a plan for their adaptations.  Ask your child how he or she has adapted Cinderella!  Next week we will be reading versions of Little Red Riding Hood and making adaptations.

In Reader's Workshop, we continued to read Because of Winn Dixie and discuss our theories about the character Opal.  Just like strong readers, we used the information we know about Opal to make predictions about what actions Opal might take further along in the book.  We learned that Opal is the kind of child opens her heart to everyone and is kind and friendly.  This has helped us to predict that she will continue to make more friends in her new town of Naomi, Florida and that she will not be lonely anymore.  After practicing this strategy as a class, the children tried to make predictions about their characters in their independent reading books.

In math, we have continued to work with polygons and their attributes.  This week we used geoboards to build and create polygons with different attributes (ex. parallel lines, obtuse angles, acute angles).  Then we played a game called Guess My Quadrilateral.  The children were given clues and they had to sort through sets of shapes to find the quadrilaterals that match each clue.  Next week we will be making our own shape riddles based on attribute clues!

Both classes had Nearby Nature this week! This month's focus was on owls. We learned that owls have different characteristics from other birds.  They have adaptations that have allowed them to survive and thrive in their environment.  The most exciting part for the children was when they had the opportunity to dissect an owl pellet.  An owl eats small prey whole, and after digesting, what it can, the owl coughs up a pellet containing indigestible bones, fur, and feathers of its dinner.  By looking closely at these pellets, we are able to learn what an owl has eaten.  The children were amazed to find rib bones and even tiny skulls!  What did your child find?

In theme, we are still studying weather and are moving into studying climates.  We learned the difference between weather and climate and next week we will learn the characteristics of different kinds of climates.  We are also charting the daily high temperature of locations in different climates. Ask your child about our temperature collection!

Have a great weekend!

Spirit Week!

We have earned a school-wide celebration for positive behavior!  There will be an SCS Spirit Week next week.  Below is the schedule...

Welcome Back!

Our first week back from Winter Break has been a busy one!  We had a special recyling presentation by "Recycling Rhonda" and we have begun new units of study in every content area!

In Math, we have begun a geometry unit and have spent our week exploring the attributes of a variety of two dimensional shapes.  We have been building upon our previous understanding of geometric shapes and determining the defining attributes of shapes such as squares, rectangles, trapezoids and parallelograms.
In Reader's Workshop we have begun a character study unit through which we are studying the characters in Because of Winn Dixie.  We have been reading the book together and discussing what we notice about what the characters say and do and how those observations help us create ideas about the characters.  We have been looking for character patterns and using those patterns to help us create theories about characters.
We have begun an Adapted Fairy Tale unit in Writer's Workshop.  This week we have been reading a variety of adaptations of Cinderella.  We have been creating story boards and practicing retelling the story of Cinderella to get to know the story really well.  Next, we will begin creating our own adaptations of Cinderella.
In Science we are beginning a Weather unit.  We will begin this unit collecting weather temperatures in Shelburne and another climate in the world and will use that data to create a line plot to compare the data.
Jeff Badillo, our technology coach, has begun to teach us how to create google sites.  We spent this week creating our sites and will spend next week beginning to load some of our technology work onto our sites to create an electronic portfolio to share with families.
Finally, we have created new groups for Word Study based on data from our recent Developmental Spelling Assessment.  Our new groups met for the first time this week and will continue for the remainder of the school year.
Have a good weekend!