Room 4 News... Wow, December came quickly! We continue to stay busy in Room 4! In Reading, instruction continues to take place as a whole group and within small groups. Children are reading in small groups and some change classrooms to read with other children at a similar reading level. This model is called "Walk to Read." Groups will be determined by results from Benchmark Tests administered at the end of each unit, as well as informal assessments and fluency checks. Our theme for Unit Two is WORKING TOGETHER. We are currently working on week 4 "Bremen Town Musicians." We are focusing on the question...When should we work together? When should we work alone? We will focus on Author's Purpose with this story. *Please continue to read for fifteen minutes each evening and mark it on the chart in your child's agenda. In Math, we are finishing Unit 4. We will review money, place value and telling time, and begin two digit addition with ballpark estimates and partial sums algorithm. Please continue to practice facts with flashcards or games to improve instant recall. Start with facts to 10 and then move on to facts to 18 as your child begins to demonstrate mastery. Timed math facts quizzes will be administered each Friday...so keep practicing! In Writing, we are working on our "Daily Fix-Its" as we practice proofreading and editing skills. We will continue to practice writing complete sentences and identifying subjects and predicates in sentences. We are reviewing telling and asking sentences, as well as commands and exclamations. We are also learning about nouns in sentences. We are beginning to write paragraphs using the "Hamburger" model. In Spelling, we are working on plural words with -s, -es and -ies. Please continue to review previous lists inside agendas. In Social Studies, we are reading and discussing "Our Ancestors." We are learning about where our families came from before the United States. We are reviewing continents and map skills. In Science, we are finishing a unit of study on Animals. We have been learning about and comparing different animals and habitats. We have learned about Forest, Grassland, Desert, Pond, Ocean and Polar habitats. Our Animal Habitat projects were due on December 2nd and they are amazing! We will have parents in to view projects at the end of December. Happy Holidays! Mrs. Newcomb ***If you have any questions, feel free to email me a l_newcomb@stoughtonschools.org