New Friends!

This week has been all about friendship. We welcomed a new student and friend to our class...Kaharu. She's going to be a great addition and we are very happy to have her. We celebrated the birthday of a very good friend, Winston. 

We also welcomed some unusual friends. To support our understanding of animals we welcomed a frog, a beetle, two turtles, goldfish, and crickets. We were even lucky enough to have a guest visitor...Chris' hamster! Our "Student of the Week" Hyeon was chosen because of the great job he's done this year cultivating friendships. Please continue reading to get a glimpse at all we've done this week and all we hope to accomplish next week. If you have any questions or comments you can email me at joshuajoseph.his@gmail.com. Until next week please enjoy the slideshow below. 

Reminders: 

• Oct 6-10: Awareness Week
• Oct 8: Dress in BLUE

This Week
Reading: We learned how to retell and share our stories by using our fingers, summarizing at the end of every chapter, etc. 
Writing: We learned how to avoid using the same word repeatedly and made synonym cards by using a thesaurus. We began revising our narratives by developing the most important part. Finally we learned how to revise and edit our writing by using a checklist. 
Math: We learned how to estimate sums by rounding numbers. We also learned how to add 2-digit and 3-digit numbers by breaking apart numbers and by using place value blocks. 
Science: We learned about vertebrates and welcomed some vertebrates and invertebrates into our classroom. William told us that vertebrates are animals that have backbones and Takahiro told us that there are five different classes of vertebrates. 
Art: We finished our seedlings in glue. 

Next Week:
Reading: We will learn how to better understand the characters in our books by becoming them, by understanding how they feel and think, by making connections, by making a mental movie, and by jotting down notes as we read. 
Writing: We will continue revising and editing our writing and begin drafting our final drafts in preparation for our Publishing Party!
English: 
Math: We will finish Topic 2: Adding Whole Numbers. Students will learn how to add three or more 2-digit and/or 3-digit numbers by regrouping. Students will also learn how to solve word problems by drawing a picture. After finishing Topic 2 we will review and assess everything we learned and begin Topic 3: Subtraction Number Sense. 
Science: We will learn that invertebrates can be grouped according to their traits. We will also learn that if an animal's needs are not met they can become endangered or even extinct. 
Art: Students will tell us about themselves by creating a watercolor resist.