The weather is getting warmer! Please make sure your children wear their P.E. shorts and Tshirts for P.E. and bring a water bottle! Also hats! Please put their hats in their backpacks!

This week in our unit ' Listen Up'we have explored values, feelings and beliefs found in folktales on different continents and countries. We learned about legends from Lake Michigan in the US, and took a look at La Fontaine's Fables. Our travels around the world took us to Australia, Japan, Ghana and Venezuela. Come in and take a look at our map! The children have been busy exploring different types of folktales and working on mini books about legends and fables.

This week the story 'Here comes the bride' was introduced and the focus was on /r/blends. In our Unit of Inquiry we have been reading folktales and discussing not only morals but the beginning, middle and ending of stories. The children are picking up speed and fluency as they read and have grown confident with their knowledge of long vowels, sight words, strategies used when decoding unknown words. They are writing with ease and applying their knowledge when writing sentences. Please ensure that they read and write regularly at home.

This week in maths, we explored subtraction in story problems. We also reviewed strategies and partitioning. Understanding story problems took time and reviewof 3D shapes will take place next week alongside multiplication as repeated addition.

I accidently removed the links on my page when I tried to add a new link. It will take me some days until I list them again. Update from the Library : Check out this website for younger children http://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/

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Our new Unit of Inquiry is entitled "Listen up". We have been exploring the central idea " Folktales teach us values, feelings and or beliefs in an entertaining way". The children are quite enthusisastic about this unit. We brainstormed the meaning of folktales and the children came up with interesting 'I wonder' questions! "Why are there animal characters in folktales and why do animal characters talk?" are a few of the questions the children constructed. We started the week exploring folktales from different cultures. Thus far, we have travelled to China, Finland, Ukraine, Liberia and Mexico! We discussed and explored the characters, setting, as well as the beginning, middle and end of stories. We also investigated the morals/lessons found in the stories. Come by and take a look at our illustrations of 'The Dragon Painter', a folktale from China and our book of 'The Mitten', a folktale from the Ukraine. Next week, we will begin taking a look at legends and fables ! If you would like to come in and read a folktale to the class, please let me know!

This week the story 'Brag.Brag' was introduced and targeted /r/blends; gr/cr/kr/pr/dr/fr/and /tr/. Some children are confusing /dr/ and /br/. Blends are difficult for English and non-English speakers just as /d and /b/ are still mis-spelled by many children learning English. Some children are reading 'Glub,Glub' and reviewing /l/ blends. We are reviewing, reading and writing words with the long/a/e/i/o/u/ vowel sounds. Application of our knowledge of long vowels and newly acquired blends occur daily when writing sentences and creative stories. Please ensure you consistently and regularly review the long vowels when reading with your children. Ask them about the vowel sounds in words; are they short or long vowels? Ask you child to explain his/her understanding. The children should be able to differentiate between short vowel /a/ and long vowels/ai/,/a-e/ as well as give an explanation. Understanding how words are formed, having a knowledge of sight words, make for strong reading skills which translate into stronger writing skills!

In mental maths we reviewed missing numbers on a number chart and number bonds. We explored strategies used when adding ( 8+1+3+9) and strategies used in solving story problems! We investigated the vocabulary, clues and numbers presented in each problem. The focus was on addition problems and explanations of how they solved their problems. When working at home with your child on math skills, ensure they explain the processes involved in math concepts and not only the rote answer. Next week we will focus on strategies used in story problems involving subtraction as well as review 3D shapes.

I hope that everyone had a peaceful and relaxing spring break. We completed our Unit of Inquiry 'Toys n'Time' and the children were able to visit the chidlren in Yr 1A and yr 3L to do a presentation on their toy creations. They thoroughly enjoyed this activity! Take a look at the slideshow and view our creations! In math we ended the week reviewing partitioning and in reading we read the book 'Glug, Glug' focusing on l blends in the initial positio of words. The 3-Way conferences went smoothly and the children were very proud to share their progress with their parents! Thank you for attending the conferences.