It's hard to believe we hit our last full month of the school year. May always proves to be a blur as we look to finish strong with our teaching and learning, assess year long progress, and fit everything in both in and out of school. My wife and I always feared May (as parents) because of how much gets jammed into one month. I wish you all the best with it!
It was nice to get back into the swing of things and we had quite an eventful week. It started with our science. Before we dive into our erosion unit (our final science unit), I used the week to design a STEM challenge that focused on boat building. The students spent Wednesday testing objects and their buoyancy. They then worked in teams of two to build their own boat that could float and hold some passengers (rocks). Needless to say there was quite a bit of energy and excitement with this project. I also tied in our read a loud titles to this theme. The week's books were all about male and female inventors and scientists. Make sure to check in with your child about how their boat did.
In writing we read the book I Want a Dog by Don Agee. This is a humorous picture book about a determined young girl named Daisy who visits the Happydale Animal Shelter to find a dog but is offered a series of absurd, non-dog animals by a tall shelter worker instead. The story highlights her persistence, with witty dialogue and illustrations, before she finally finds the perfect pet. The students then wrote an opinion piece about what pet they would want. This is the final practice piece of this writing unit. Next week they will complete their final assessment in the opinion writing unit. You may have already heard your child talking about this task. They will each be creating their own Pokemon card and writing about why it is the ultimate Pokemon card. They started their illustrations this week.
In math the 1st graders focused on skip counting by 5s and 10s as well as adding groups of ten to off decade numbers. is crucial for first graders because it builds essential number sense, strengthens place value understanding, and acts as a foundation for mental math. It helps students see patterns, understand regrouping, and move beyond counting on fingers to efficient calculation. The 2nd graders focused on Learning two-step word problems and arrays. Focusing on this in 2nd grade builds critical thinking, logical reasoning, and conceptual understanding of math, moving students beyond rote memorization. These skills are essential for mastering complex problem-solving, improving fluency with larger numbers, and introducing foundational multiplication concepts.
NOTES:
*Our next science unit will have us working with Luke Foley again. As I mentioned our focus will be erosion. We will be outside every Wednesday morning and Friday afternoon. Please make sure your child dresses for the weather. We will be near the river for parts of this.
*There are no Weekly News Journals this week. We used our morning to finish our STEM challenge. The homework bags will come back home on Monday.
*Our school's Inspiration Hour starts this coming Wednesday. This is a great opportunity as it fosters intrinsic motivation, creativity, and autonomy by allowing the students to research topics they are passionate about. It transforms students from passive consumers of information into active creators, building 21st-century skills like critical thinking, collaboration, and perseverance. Your child knows what activity they are signed up for.
I hope you all have a great weekend. I hope to catch some games at opening day tomorrow.
Peace,
Mr. Young
