April News 2012

We have a very busy month ahead. We will be continuing to learn about Features of Communities Around the World in Social Studies. We are currently learning about Air and Water in the Environment in Science and will be starting our next unit near the end of the month. We have started a new writing unit focusing on composing fictional narratives. We are hoping to post our stories on-line for sharing during Literacy Work Stations. We have read and talked about the two different types of stories – “walking stories” and “climbing stories”. We are examining a variety of storybook characters this week to identify their 'special trait' so that we can work on developing and describing our own character so that our readers can get a “picture in their mind”.
We continue to add reading strategies to our CAFÉ menu. This month we are focusing on recognizing literacy elements, using main idea and supporting details to determine importance.  This strategy should help us identify these features in our own narratives.
In Mathematics this month, we will continue to work on addition and subtraction but within the context of money. Solving problems within meaningful contexts will be our primary focus. We will also revisit measurement – learning to measure area, mass, capacity, and volume.
As part of our recognition of Earth Day this month, I am encouraging the children to try and bring snacks with less packaging and to make healthy choices. A reusable drink container for juice or water is preferable to all the juice boxes that are usually half full, even after our second nutrition break. We will continue to reuse and recycle as much as we can from our lunches.


Our Latest Addition

Has your child told you about our new iPad? We now have an iPad in our classroom that we are currently using during Literacy Work Stations.
We have been using it for some Word Work activities and for video taping our partners reading poems from our classroom anthology. We are working on developing FLUENCY and using expression when reading aloud.

Dates to Remember

• April 5 – ME to WE movie day (periods 2 and 3)
• April 6 –Good Friday (no school)
• April 9 – Easter Monday (no school)
• April 11 – Day of Pink (acceptance of diversity)
• April 15 Cherrywood Family Skate at the Gale Center
• April 19 Grades 1 and 2 visit the Niagara Safety Village
• April 24 Primary Literacy Night
• April 25 Litterless Lunch Day
• April 25-27 Scholastic Book Fair
• April 29 DSBN Road Race