Interactive Blog Links for the week: (right hand column)

Reading Target Skills:

Fact - Fiction
Facts About Penguins

Explore Books:

Choose any link in this category
Social Studies:

Coming soon!
Top Tab: Pearson On-line books (access with student username and password)

Math Practice Sites:

Fraction BarsFraction PiecesFractionsFractions AddingFractions Comparing_1Fractions Comparing_2Fractions EquivalentFractions NamingFractions Parts of a WholeFractions Primary Games
Fractions Visualizing

Writing:Persuasive -
This past week in writing we finished our unit on writing persuasive paragraphs and making posters. After that, we went to the computer lab and brought laptops into the room to create persuasive presentations using a Prezi. Prezi is a cloud-based presentation software that opens up a new world between whiteboards and slides. The zoomable canvas makes it fun to explore ideas and the connections between them. The result: visually captivating presentations that lead your audience down a path of discovery. You may take a look at your child's Prezi by going to:

prezi.com
Log in: kim_brouch@ipsd.org
Password: maywatts (no space)

If you would like to save your child's presentation, you may download it onto your computer at home.
Many students have expressed an interest in creating their own prezi accounts. If you would like your child to have his/her own prezi account (free) you can easily go to prezi.com and create an account using your own email and password.

Expository Reviews
Our next unit is Review writing.  This week we will begin to explore various reviews - book reviews, music reviews, restaurant reviews, etc.  Then we will look at what they have in common.  As the unit progresses, the children will try their hand at writing a review.

Math:We will finish our unit on fractions with our review on Monday and our assessment on Tuesday.  Then we will begin unit 9 which deals with measurement.
The unit goals include:
Reviewing measurement with yards and meters
Measuring longer distances
Area and Perimeter
Learning units of Weight

Science/Social Studies:We ended our science unit on Sink and Float with a big splash on  Thursday and tested the boats that the children had constructed at home.  We tested them to see which held the most cargo.  It was fun to see all the various types of boats that were constructed.

We will begin a unit on Economy.  The essential questions we will cover include:
What is Income?
What are goods and services?
Where do goods come from?
Who are producers and consumers?
How does a map assist in transporting goods?

Citizenship:
Our citizenship lesson for this week will be on doing our personal best at school. We will talk about what that looks like in the classroom and in various areas of the school.
Next week we will talk about Honesty.

Reading:
This past week we read the story called The Emperor's Egg.  It discusses how a father penguin takes care of the egg from the time it is laid until it hatches.  It continues the story of how he cares for the chick until the mother returns from her time in the sea.  Our focus skill was discerning between fact and fiction. We will have our assessment on this story on Monday.

Our new story this week will be Pine Park Mystery.  It is written in the form of a play.  In this story, a mynah bird steals a number of shiny objects from various characters. The two main characters try to figure out who the thief is.  Our focus skill will be on narrative elements (characters, setting, plot) with a special emphasis on plot (beginning, middle, end).

News from Mrs. May and the LMC:
Young Authors
We are looking for parent scorers for Young Authors entries. Reading will be done during the school day on Mon-Wed, Mar. 5-7. Parents can sign up to read at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0D4DA4AB2EA13-readers

·       Book Fair 

      The Book Fair is Coming! Preview will be on March 7-9, with sales March 12-17. We will be open during the Fun Fair! Flyers will go home next week.  Our online homepage can be accessed directly by going to http://goo.gl/7jFU4 or go to www.scholastic.com/schoolbookfairs and follow the path to May Watts.

 March Reading Incentive

Our March Reading Incentive will be sponsored by the Chicago Slaughter Professional Indoor Football Team along with Buffalo Wild Wings and GameWorks. Students who meet their goal will receive 2 ticket vouchers to a 2012 Chicago Slaughter game, a free kid’s meal courtesy of Buffalo Wild Wings, a free game card from Game Works, and other prizes. Since all reading must be done before Spring Break, and the month is shortened, the reading goals will be reduced:

Grades K-2     200 minutes