February 2017 Class Newsletter

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Integrated Units:  
Community Systems and Weather Systems

Mathematicians at Work

Daily Five and Writer's Workshop

Celebrations! 
Valentine's Day, 100th Day of School, and Birthdays

Our Local Community,
Learning and Growing Together

     Late winter brings us to a time of transitions. We are looking towards warmer weather, and it seems that your children have grown so much in our time together. It is hard to believe that we are only about halfway through our time together, and yet we've grown so strong as a classroom community.
​        Students wrapped up their study of Community Systems by completing a non-fiction book to share the many ways in which our North American Community System has changed over time. We ended the unit by comparing and contrasting Beaufort today and in the past. We learned that farming has been important to life in Beaufort and in our State. One crop which has historical significance is indigo. Students sewed South Carolina symbols on pieces of hand-dyed indigo. We will also head to the Civil Rights Museum in Savannah to participate in an interactive tour designed to help us understand that life was not always fair and equal for people in our state. Students shared individual family stories with each other as we continue to build understanding between students and also appreciation that our diversity brings strength. We are beginning a new unit on Weather Systems, and were fortunate to arrange a studio tour of the WSAV Television Station. Meteorologists Lee Haywood and Ariella Scalese will be our guides as we seek to understand the parts of the weather system.

​                        Equal Groups:  
                      Foundations for
            Multiplication and Division

​      Our math work focused on metric measurement. Students estimated and compared things in the classroom using meters and centimeters. We are moving into a foundational study of multiplication and division by exploring equal groups in the coming weeks.

               Writing Like Scientists

​     We've published informational writing pieces like "how to" essays and lab reports. We can't wait to share our latest writing with you. The children have grown so much in their ability to edit, revise and publish work!  ​We have just begun our third writing unit, OPINION WRITING.  We are preparing our opinions on graphic organizers and will soon give an oral presentation in a debate form.  More to come with our opinion writing studies...

Dear Mom and Dad,
    Let us count all the ways and reasons why we love you!

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