Weekly update 4/4/14

Hi Families,
I think it might actually be Spring!  The snow has finally disappeared from my front lawn and the sun has been shining to make the days feel warmer!  We only have 2 more weeks until April vacation!
Important information:
* Monday, April 7, is our field trip to the Chinese Cultural Center.  We will be having lunch there so students need to bring a bagged lunch where everything can be thrown away.  Bringing lunch boxes is bulky and there's chance of them being lost or mixed up when we're out.  To avoid this, send in a bag lunch with their names on it.
* After school creative arts starts next week.
* Don't forget to check out "What did we learn this week?"  We wrote about our biographies and what we've learned so far.

What's been happening in room 235?
* In literacy, we've been working on biographies and focusing on important versus interesting information, picking out events for a summary, listing information about the person's life in a written timeline, and determining ages.  We've also continued to work on writing our book recommendations to share with each other.  When they are complete, we'll post some for all to see.  We also wrote our pen pal letters back.  Next week, we will keep working on our biographies and complete a poster showing the person's life.
* In math, we've been working on measuring.  I really like unit 9 because it's very hands on for the students to practice measuring with centimeters, inches, feet, and meters.  The loved measuring each other and different objects in the classroom.  We'll finish up unit 9 with story problems and the test next week and then begin unit 10 on place value.
* In social studies, we've been working on China.  We've been learning about the location of China, buyers and sellers in China, and the capital city, Beijing.  We will learn about the important rivers and the Great Wall next week.