MARCH THEMES AND CONCEPTS

This month will be a busy month for the little leprechauns in Room 35.  Due to snow days, we may be a bit behind.  Here are some of the highlights for the month.  I will frequently update this page with new information.  Please visit as often as you wish. 

                                             MATH

      Money - Counting pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.  Counting mixed coins for a total amount of money.  Counting by fives and tens.  Counting from the largest number on (example, dime, (10) nickel (5) penny (1) would be ten, fifteen, sixteen.  Using addition and subtraction in money problems.  Finding combinations of coins to make equal amounts. 

                           Social Studies

  Patriotic symbols - United States symbols such as the Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, Flag, Capitol.  Concepts of citizenship and laws.  Historical events in Virginia and famous landmarks.  Map skills in our daily geography problems and activities.  Students should now know a compass rose, key terms for a map, directions, and using a basic map to solve problems.  Our field trip to Kenmore will be this month.

    St. Patrick's Day - Multicultural concepts and legends from Ireland.

                      Health and Science

  Dental Health - The importance of dental hygiene and professional dental care.  Parts of a tooth and what causes tooth decay.  How eating healthy foods are good for your body and teeth.

    Life Cycles of a frog. Our tadpoles should arrive this month.  We will observe and learn about the changes in the life cycle of tadpoles. 

                           Language Arts

   Reading - After we complete the book, Look Out, Washington, D.C. this month, group A will begin a new book, Lazy Lions, Lucky Lambs.  Group B. will continue to read books in their book bags.  Students in Group B may have a different book every day.  They are beginning to read easy chapter books.  Reading logs should be completed each night for the book your child is reading.  Group A will NOT have reading bags. Only the chapter book.  All students will work on the following concepts:

    *  Story elements (characters, setting, problem, sequence of events and resolution).

    *  Cause and Effect

    *  Making predictions

    * Making inferences

    * Strategies to develop strong reading skills (what to do to problem solve when you come to a word you do not know)

     *  Comprehension - Summarization of text. 

     *  Phonics and Word Study - compound words, long vowels to include ee, ea, ai, blends and digraphs, and contractions.  Learning word patterns.

     * Book talk groups - discussing story with peers using guidelines specified in group talk agenda books.

     *  Graphic Organizers - using graphic organizers to web story elements, character traits, etc.

     *  Weekly Spelling-Word Work packets relating to the phonics skills will be sent home with your child each Monday. Students return completed packet each Friday. 

      Written Language - Daily modeled writing by teacher to reinforce concepts of written language mechanics and content.  Students will write daily about diverse topics using different genres.  Weekly writing pieces will begin with a plan, rough draft, revisions, editing, and final publication.  Students will continue with their research projects learning how to organize information.  Mechanics of language concepts will include parts of speech with emphasis on adjectives and verbs.  Reviewing and reinforcing concepts of capitalization, punctuation, and sentence structure.

         More information will be posted on this web site as well as hard copy for parents this month.  We are really going to be busy before Spring recess.

            Miss Froehlich