April 13-17

24 days left until we are officially second graders....time really flies when you are having fun!  This week we started the last of our new units and are getting very excited for the warmth and sunshine that seems echo signs of spring time at Barretts.

Reading

In reading this week we continued on with our non-fiction expert unit.  We learned about....

• RAN charts (reading and analyzing non-fiction)
• Thinking about "what I know" before I read
• Thinking about new learning before I read
• Noticing wondering as I read
• Noticing new learning after I've read

Question: How does a RAN chart help me think about non-fiction books before, during and after reading?

Writing
In writing we spent three days completing a cold write to assess where students non-fiction independent writing skills were as compared to district expectations and grade level peers,  We also learned about two non-fiction mentors...

• Seymour Simon 
• Gail Gibbons

Question: What did you notice that was different about Simon books as compared to Gibbons non-fiction books?  How are nonfiction authors like fashion styles?

Math
Our math lessons focusing on attributes of shapes.  We learned...

• The definition of a defining attribute
• The difference between open/closed shapes
• Attributes of 2-D shapes

Question:  What is one defining attribute of a square? What about a cube?

Science
In science we spent time exploring our new unit on organisms.  We discovered...

• Organisms are living things
• All organisms require food, water and air
• Organisms are able to move,reproduce, and go through a life cycle
• Parts of seeds
• explored the inside of a seed

Question:  What are the parts of a lima bean seed?

Upcoming dates:

5/8 Field Trip to Botanical Gardens

5/14 JA in a day

5/15 Edible Botany
5/15 Summer School Registration closes

5/20 Flip Day

5/21 Last day of school (half day)