No Buses but School Continues!

Well that was quite the weather we were having today! Wow!

Thank you so much to the families who did their best and to get all of the students into school on time. Even though the buses didn't run this morning we kept going as usual.

Instead of doing a new story this week we are spending time working on test taking strategies for the upcoming CRTs. Today we did our first practice with extended response. Tomorrow we will be talking about the results of those, though they look pretty good from what I have seen so far! I believe it is important for students to have a lot of practice with the types of questions they will be seeing on these state tests so that when it comes time to actually do them, they aren't anxious or nervous about what they are seeing since it has been seen so many times before.

Today we also got our new spelling words for the week (see the previous post) and we are focusing on homophones again. It is important that the students not only can spell the words but can use them correctly when they are writing outside of the spelling test. Students will have a standard spelling test this week (where I give them the words to spell) as well as a writing test where they are given the words spelled correctly and they have to use the words in a sentence correctly. Both ways are equally as important!

In math we learned our multiplying by 2 facts and we made pictures to help us remember those facts. We are getting better at our multiplication facts so great job on the practice! Subtraction and addition is also equally as important though! Don't forget them!

This afternoon we started our week with an art lesson that will be a series of art lessons for the week. We discussed the difference between observational and imaginary drawing. We talked about how imaginary drawing can be ANYTHING we want it to be because it is in your imagination. But, observational drawing is drawing things exactly like we see them. We spent some time doing drawing centers and practicing drawing things exactly like we see them. Tomorrow we will continue that and discuss the shading aspect of the drawing. Wednesday is the culmination of these art lessons and I can't wait to see how this goes... but it's a surprise! :)

Tomorrow we have library so remember to bring your library books with you so that you can check out new books. Have a great night, stay warm, and we will see you tomorrow!