Happy chilly Friday! We were indoors all day today, but the sunshine certainly helped!

We've had another busy week this week. We made a 10,000's chart, which meant we had to make 100 one hundreds charts! The students discovered that 100 X 100 is 10,000, and that working with those large numbers is hard. A few of them jokingly accused me of child labor, but they got the chart more or less finished in only 3 days -- a record in all of my years of teaching! Today we started adding and subtracting using large numbers, with story contexts about stadiums and seating. This is a whole new level of conceptual understanding, and I plan to take my time and make sure we all understand before we move on to our next unit -- fractions. Gulp.

Since we are between reading and writing units, I gave the students the opportunity to free-read this week. They had been doing some independent research on a topic of their choice, and many of them opted to continue that reading during their research time. I love seeing them choose to read nonfiction!  During writing, we started learning about figurative language. We learned to recognize and to write similes and metaphors, and I am hopeful that these will start showing up in their own writing soon!

We continued learning about the government this week. We learned all about the 3 branches and what each one does, and how they all work together to create a balance of power. Today we made 3 Branches Cootie Catchers, and I asked the class to bring them home to test their grown-ups. Please ask your child to show you this fun activity! Next week we will learn about the difference between Republicans and Democrats, how a bill becomes a law, and what our Vermont government looks like. We will wrap up our civics unit before February break and move back into science.

Valentine's Day is coming up, and here are a few things you need to know:

• Nobody has to participate at all, but if your children want to be involved, they need to give a Valentine to everyone in the class.I will place a class list on the Bitmoji classroom so that your  kids can access it.
• Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, we cannot have any candy or food items, even if sealed and store-bought, handed out for Valentine's Day.
• I plan to have another crafting hour -- next Friday-- and the students can use that hour to make Valentine cards for their classmates. I have plenty of materials that they can use, and I plan to keep it simple. If your child prefers to buy Valentine's cards or make them at home, that is also fine. They can also start their cards here and then take them home to embellish or finish them. I am flexible, but I wanted to give everyone materials and opportunity to participate, and to take one more thing off your plate at home.

Please let me know if you have questions or concerns about this. 

Finally, we got back to our class dictionary this week, Our new words are extract, elusive, anguish, and wrath. Enjoy using those around your kitchen table or on the slopes!

Have a wonderful weekend, and stay warm!