Ms. Vanderwel's Room

 Hello Parents! Happy Friday : )  I'm hoping that this cold weather moves off soon especially before our field trip! This is a reminder that if your child has not handed in their field trip forms yet they will need to do so by Monday. Students without signed forms will not be able to attend the field trip.  ----------------------------------------------------- This week in reading we have been reviewing consonant blends (sn, cr, pl etc.). The students have been building words and identifying the blends in various words. They also created some fun Flower Blends which we will be putting up in the classroom. In writing, the students began working on a new Small Moment about a time they played in the snow. They could write about a time they went sledding, skating, made a snowman etc. The students did a 5 Finger Touch & Tell with a partner outlining their small moment. Then they drew pictures to represent each part of their small moment and began writing a short sentence t...

Hello Everyone! Here's a look at our work this week. Also, please note the important information about our upcoming field trip which is posted below. Thanks! -------------------------------------------------------------------- In reading we have been learning about 'King ed' or the 'silent e'. We learned that when a word has a 'silent e' at the end of it the vowel has to say its name. We practiced making words using our moveable alphabet with 'silent e' in them. We also read some books in our reading groups that had 'silent e' words.  In writing, we continued to add to our 'Small Moment' story. This week we talked about 3 different techniques that author's use to bring their stories to life. For example: talking (dialogue) and movement (action). We also learned that author's "Take Small Steps" in their stories to build suspense and create pictures in their reader's minds.  Link: https://youtu.be/8jOzhiACB68 In m...

Hello Families! We have had an interesting week! The cold weather was an unwelcome surprise but we got through it! Take a peek to see what we have been up to this week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Language Arts, we continued to work on our Small Moment writing. We also learned about Groundhog Day and its origins in Europe. Students then wrote facts in their journals explaining the significance of this holiday.  We also checked in with a couple of these furry prognosticators (a.k.a. groundhogs : ) to see what they are predicting this year. It appears we have a 50/50 chance of either an early spring (according to Balzac Billy) or six more weeks of winter (according to Punxsutawney Phil)! About as accurate as the actual weather report!  We also had fun completing a Making Words Mystery Word sheet. The students are given the letters to a word but they are all scrambled up. They use the letters to create as many words as ...