August 16th, 2016

Dear Parents,

Today was another great day filled with lots of learning. Students remembered to follow our classroom agreement, and tried their best to be considerate members within our classroom community.

To begin the day students had art class. Once they were finished, we looked at our new unit. I had the children try and guess what our unit was by showing them a variation of pictures that acted as clues. It was great to see everyone thinking of different ideas about what we could possibly be studying. Only a few students figured it out. Our unit is all about signs and symbols, and how they express different messages. As a class we brainstormed many different signs and symbols. Students then worked independently to think of some more on their own. Everyone now has a book for unit.

Unit One: How we express ourselves (An inquiry into: the ways in which we discover and express ideas, feelings, nature, culture, beliefs and values;)

Central Idea: Signs and symbols can be used to communicate different messages through different media

Lines of Inquiry:

- How signs and symbols convey messages (function)

- Signs and symbols can be interpreted in different ways (perspective)

- Different ways that the same messages can be communicated (change)

After break time the students did some Daily 5. We worked on choosing books that matched our reading levels, built our reading stamina (the length of time we can read alone), and we also learnt the comprehension strategy of ‘check for understanding’. To check for understanding we need to think about our understanding of each page we read. If we don’t understand, we may need to think of other ways that will help us do so or pick a new book. Overall, we had a very successful Daily 5 sessions and are reading with 7 minutes of stamina.

To end the day, we did some place value. We used a flip chart, blocks and mini whiteboards to display numbers in different ways. All students demonstrated a great understanding of numbers.

Questions you can ask your child:

- How many tens are in the number 30?

- What are some signs and symbols that you drew in your book today?

- How can I check for understanding while reading?