Our phonics focus this week was on words with "ui" and "ew". The five words we worked with throughout the week for shared reading practice and writing were: new, chew, threw, fruit, and juice.

The students were very excited to have two blocks of time this week to use the iPads. They were given time to explore the website PebbleGo and choose an animal or insect to research. We also had some time to explore a few of the learning apps for word and number work that are installed on our school iPads. We will have one or two more blocks of time with the technology next week to work on the research project. The students will begin work on their animal habitat diorama Monday and will make their animal out of plasticine. 

** Please ensure your child has their shoebox or similar-styled/sized box from the dollar store at school by Monday to begin their work.**  You may want to talk with your child about other items they would like to include in their dioramas that are appropriate for their animal's habitat. They may want to collect pebbles, grasses, small twigs, Lego or Playmobil trees and bushes, etc. I will provide paints, paper, and plasticine. Thank you for your support of this work. See below for an example of a diorama.

We have been learning the function and importance of the parts of a plant this week. Our classroom garden boxes are bursting with life and it will be exciting to see what's come up when we return on Monday. We planted tomato, zucchini, kale, cucumber, and many other seeds. Every morning, as soon as they enter the classroom, the students go to the windows to see the changes. :)

Today, our buddies taught us how to use the educational program Minecraft Creative on the desktop computers in the library. The students were very engaged as they took instruction from their older buddies. They learned how to navigate the program and started to create treehouses. 

With the weather being so nice these days - and the energy levels so high :) - we will plan to do 1 or 2 more community walks next week. Please ensure your child wears good walking shoes to school each day.

A Father's/Grandfather's Day card came home in your child's backpack today. Happy Father's Day on Sunday to all of the Dads and Grandpas!

MTS News!