Welcome Back!  I hope you all had exciting or restful vacations.  I was lucky enough to be able to visit both my parents in Tampa and my son in Miami.

This week we hit the ground running.  We only have about 42 days left!  We are in good shape for covering all our topics but I do get nervous that something might slip by.

Reading:  We are learning the process of Close Reading.  The students are given difficult passages and asked to "read with a pencil".  They put marks next to new info, unclear info, or important info.  This is to help them read with a purpose.  We discuss the reading by asking about the marks made.

Writing:  We are continuing to use the OREO approach to persuasive writing.  Ask your child about it.  They are becoming more adept now and addressing their reader, stating opinions, giving reasons and examples/evidence and restating their opinion as a request.

Spelling:  This week I gave the grades 2 and 3 priority word tests again to check progress.  Most students are moving along beautifully.  You received the December assessments this week.

Math:  We are working on 3 digit addition and subtraction with regrouping.  There are different strategies but most of the children like the models or straight forward paper and pencil approach.

Science:  We are continuing work on our soils unit.  The students were given different mystery mixes.  They were asked to examine and experiment with the different mixes to thoughtfully determine their compositions.  It is a really messy unit and they love it!

Thank you to all of you who participated in the Healthy Kids Week activities.  We received many cans of food and many slips of healthy choices made.  Two young ladies from Five Rivers came in to school to talk to the class for Earth Day.  They talked about how habitat changes can cause increases and decreases in animal populations by playing a game about deer.  It was a very cute, intuitive activity.  They loved it.  My only sad news is that Dani Moz was voted off "The Voice" on Tuesday evening.  Drat!  Have a great weekend.