Room 20 Update!

Congrats to Jack & Cullen who were named celebrity singers!

What we've been up to:
Room 20 has been quite busy these last few weeks!  In reading, we've shifted back to fiction.  Along with that, we've started using a new bookmark about author's craft.  We are paying attention to the decisions authors have and why they choose them, especially point of view (first or third person) and figurative language (like similes, metaphors, alliterations, etc.)

We've started doing  Word Study each day.  We use our Wordly Wise words and sort them lots of different ways, add suffixes to make new words, and then we create artistic projects like word art, shades of meaning wildflowers, and cartoons out of our words!  We've been having lots of fun with words!  Check out the pictures below.

We explored shades of meaning, or synonyms, of our Wordly Wise words!

Check out our Word Art!

In writing, we just finished typing our final copies of our nonfiction books.  Soon, we will be meeting and sharing our writing with partners before our nonfiction party on Thursday!  We enjoyed using the laptops to insert photos and add cool fonts and text boxes.  Check out the blog later for pictures of the big celebration!

In math, we have been working on measurement, specifically elapsed time, area, and perimeter.  We are practicing solving measurement challenges, showing and explaining our work, and labeling our answers with the proper unit.  Check out the pictures of us working together on open responses to learn lots of ways to show / explain thinking on measurement questions.

In science, we have been learning about dominant and recessive genes and how they help determine the traits of the offspring or children.  We used Skittles to help us create a Gene-o-worm family!  We were surprised to find that, because of dominant and recessive genes, sometimes the baby looks just like the parents and sometimes the baby looks NOTHING like the parents!  We have also started to learn about the adaptations, or changes, animals make over time to survive in their environments.  We've learned about physical adaptations (parts of their bodies that help them survive) and behavioral adaptations (actions they do to help them survive).  We have started to research animals with a partner to find out more about specific adaptations in the animal kingdom!  Be on the lookout for a cool project we'll complete soon!  Check out our work with gene-o-worms and more in our heredity study packet coming home soon!

Stay tuned for more updates later this week!

What's coming up / Notes from Mrs. Adams:

• Report cards are being distributed on Friday, 3/28.  Please sign and return the envelope early next week.
• Conferences will be held 4/3 and 4/4 (next Thursday and Friday).  These are half days for students.  If you would like to schedule a conference and I have not gotten in touch with you, just email me and we can set up a time that works for both of us!
• If you have old paint samples at home (the strips or squares with different paint colors on them) and you don't want them, we would love to adopt them!  Send them in for our Word Study work - thank you!