February 17, 2012

• In language arts, we practiced the strategy of summarizing and identifying the main idea and details of a story.  We also continued to practice with recognizing beginning sounds and ending sounds.
• In writing, we drew a picture of what we wanted to be when we grow up.  We then wrote a speech bubble telling what we want to be.
• In math, we continued with sea creature story problems.  This week, we individually solved some sea creature story problems on white boards.  We also began creating our own story problems.  On Wednesday, we celebrated the 100th day of school.   We had fun counting to 100 several different ways.  We also counted out 100 pieces of snack.
• In social studies, we began our unit on neighborhoods.  We decided to turn our classroom into a city.  We brainstormed different businesses we needed in our city and what people might do at those businesses.  We also learned about the difference between needs and wants.
• During community centers, we "opened" many of the businesses we brainstormed.  We have a construction zone, Pizza Hut, a vet, a post office, a school, an art museum, a library, a bakery, a fire station, and a police station.  We are learning about some of the different things we can do at these jobs, as well as developing our social skills.  We are also working on some literacy skills by writing down orders, writing down why an animal was visiting the vet, giving tickets for students "caught being good", etc.  We are also practicing some math skills by exchanging money in the city.
• Heart word of the week: you
• Special theme of the week: "Neighborhoods"