Ms. Vanderwel's Room

Hello! This Sunday is Father's Day. We want to wish all the dad's out there a relaxing day spent with family and friends. The students have made a cute card and gift to share with you. Enjoy! --------------------------------- This week the students have been working on building words using letter tiles listening for words that end with less common letter patterns (e.g. -ind, -old, -olt, -tch) to develop their familiarity with and ability to recognize and read these words when they see them in print.  Students have also continued to learn about non-fiction books and many students have been noticing non-fiction books in our classroom library. They are quite excited to realize that a book about spiders or trucks is actually a non-fiction book and has many of the text features we have discussed in class!  In math, we continued to learn about 3D shapes and their characteristics. Students learned how to draw these shapes, determine the number of faces, vertices and edges and made 3D...

Hello and Happy June : )  Here's a look at our week! ----------------------- This week in ELAL we have been learning about non-fiction texts. The students learned about the difference between fiction books and non-fiction books. They worked in groups to match various text features (e.g. maps, glossary, table of contents, captions, bold print, diagrams, labels) to the correct label and then worked with a partner to find examples of each text feature in a book.    In math, students continued to learn about geometry (2D and 3D shapes). They learned the names of the shapes and also went on a shape hunt looking for examples of each kind in the classroom or outside. Finally, they learned how to sort 2D shapes based on various criteria and they began learning how to draw some 3D shapes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkMcboPCg7A In science, students learned about various plants and animals around the world and the different environments that they live in. Students discussed why...

It is hard to believe that the month of May is now passed. As we look foward with anticipation and excitement to the month of June, here's a look at our learning this past week : )  ------------------------------------------------------- In language arts students have continued to hone their elaboration skills learning a variety of new vocabulary words to use in their writing in place of more general or ordinary terms. Students listened to a video about 'triple scoop' words and brainstormed a list of words that can be used in place of more everyday words. For example, in place of the word 'big' students can use 'huge, enormous, gigantic, humungous, ginormous' to make their writing more interesting and engaging.  Students also learned about the different sounds for the /-ed/ suffix: -t, -d and -ed (-ud). Students watched a video explaining the different cues or clues that let us know when to use each sound. Students also worked in small groups to sort words b...