Welcome Back 302!

Dear Families,

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful and refreshing holiday season. I have loved seeing your children again and hearing all their stories from the time away. It’s nice to be back into our routines. We’re hard at work again in school.

We are currently immersed in nonfiction in both Reading and Writing. In Reading, we are working on understanding the main idea of a text. Often the main idea is different than we think it is when we begin reading, and we have to revise our thoughts as we go along. The children are learning to make connections across a text by putting all the pieces together as they read. Later this week, we will do some work around the author’s perspective and recognizing when the author’s point of view on a topic may differ from our own. At home, you can encourage your children to read nonfiction books and articles in addition to fiction. We’re keeping a balance of nonfiction and fiction in class, and book baggies should have a wide variety of reading material. 

In Writing, we are getting prepared to draft our nonfiction books. We’re spending time this week thinking about the format and organization of our books. We are looking at examples of books on the same topic by different authors (for example, dolphins) and comparing the information authors have chosen to include. We are also thinking about the format of our books- question and answer, compare/contrast, sequential, etc.- and choosing the format that fits best. We will be doing some of our writing before conducting research, since most kids already know a lot about their chosen topics. However, it would be helpful for kids to bring in books on their topic, as we do not have books on every topic in the classroom. Each student should bring in 1-2 books. Please send in books as soon as you can. 

In Math, we have finished our early multiplication unit. We ended with a look at factors and products. Take a look at some of the things students noticed about factors! 

This week we will investigate area and perimeter, including areas of irregular shapes. At home, your child should begin to practice their multiplication facts with the goal of fluency by the end of third grade. Here are some articles with ideas for how to make the process fun:

https://www.scholastic.com/parents/school-success/learning-toolkit-blog/making-math-facts-fun.html

This article is written for teachers, but many of the ideas can be used at home as well. I plan to try out some of these activities in class!:

https://www.weareteachers.com/22-fun-hands-on-ways-to-teach-multiplication/

In Social Studies, we are coming to the end of our Egypt unit. This week the students are working on creating a tourist map with information about some of the most popular cities and landmarks in Egypt. If you have a chance to visit a museum, the Brooklyn Museum has a wonderful Egypt exhibit. Please let me know if you attend, and I’ll be sure to have your child share about the experience in class!

Finally, Scholastic book orders are due on January 31st. If you have not sent in your child’s permission slip for our trip to the Botanic Gardens, please do so as soon as possible.

Have a wonderful week!

Best,

Ms. Anne