September 3-13

MATH
We have been learning about place value, working with larger numbers, and rounding numbers. We will be starting with money this week. The skills we have been learning and practicing will be used when working with money and throughout the year.

SCIENCE
We have started an unit on animals. We have started discussing invertebrate and vertebrate animals. After learning about life cycles, habits, habitats, and adaptations of animals the students will be doing an animal report and sharing it with the class. They will be given time to work on it in class, but will also need to outside of class to work on it. When finished they will share their work/projects with the class.

SOCIAL STUDIES
On September 11 we discussed Patriot Day and that it is the observance day for September 11, 2001. We listened to the speech President George W. Bush gave to the people the night of the attacks, read some facts about the day, such as how many people were in the plane crashes and what times the planes hit the Twin Towers. The students were given 15 minutes to look through children's non-fiction books of the event from September 11, 2001 as well as some of the events that happened afterwards, such as candle vigils and other remembrance services. The books also discussed the remembrance pools created at Ground Zero and the headstone for Flight 93.

We have started introducing the 50 states of the United States. We watched two music videos listing the 50 states in song. The kids have filled out a full map of the U.S., and had to fill out the Midwest region this week. In the next few weeks we will be studying the rest of the regions. The kids will have a test on where the states are located and if they list the abbreviation of the state they will receive an extra credit point for each correct one listed. To help the students learn where the states are located they will fill out maps, put US states puzzles together and play games to recognize the shape and place the states are located. 
After finishing with the states we will discuss the continents and oceans of the world, and then discuss the types of maps and how to use them.

ART
The students created bubbles using oil pastels for their first art project; they turned out great! They look amazing in the hall!
The second, very small project they did was create a birthday card for Father Walter.
This week we will start a fall art project to hang in the hall before sending home.