Happy Sunny Friday!  This weather is super exciting, especially after the exciting snow from earlier in the week.... Let me just say that our moods have definitely been affected by our weather -- lots of excitement all around!  It has been really nice to have our windows open and be outside the past few days.

Here's the brief rundown:

In math, we continue working on 1-digit by 2-digit multiplication.  The focus is to break the larger number into smaller chunks, either using a model (an array) or equations. I gave an exit ticket this week and was pleased with the results. Next week we will move onto division, which is a little tricky at first. We'll be mastering long division before we know it!

We have not done a lot of new work in literacy this week since we had Tuesday off and focus on math on Wednesdays. The students are still reading, writing me letters, thinking about the characters, and writing their first drafts of their narrative stories. Next week we will focus on debating to develop rich ideas and also on revising our stories to make them even better.

We have started having phonics instruction twice a week. One group is working on suffix rules (doubling consonants and dropping silent e) while the other group is reviewing/learning a variety of patterns for spelling long vowel sounds.  We have learned about patterns for long a and long e, and we will do long o and long i next week.  I'm excited about this work and think it will help the students as spellers AND as readers!

We made terrariums today!  Thank you to the parents who bought supplies for us!  Most of the students put 2 plants into their terrariums, but some chose to only put in one plant. They are all watered and ready to be put in a sunny location. They shouldn't need to be watered very often.  I ordered some fun little figurines to put in them, but they have not arrived yet. I will send the figurines home when they arrive. Our study of plants is over, but we have moved onto learning about the interesting structures of various animals and their functions. Stay tuned!

Don't forget to check out the video dictionary from time to time so you can see our new vocabulary words. This week we only had 1 new word -- blatant. I hope you can find ways to incorporate it around your dinner table!

Original Works and order forms are coming home today. I believe you all got directions for how to order in an email. Let me know if you have questions.

I am so enjoying this class! They are curious and engaged and excited about learning. We laugh a lot each day, and they make give me hope for the future of our planet!

I hope you all enjoy this sunny weekend!