This week in our classroom:
In math we have been working with adding and comparing fractions and finding equivalent fractions. During number corner, we have continued finding the area in square units of different geometric shapes, and adding three quarters of a dollar at a time to find the final amount of money. We have also been working on multi-step division number problems.
In Reading, we have been talking about how authors connect the beginning and the end of their stories, how the characters create contrast in the narrative, and how figurative and descriptive language makes the reading richer and more interesting.
In writing, we have been organizing the sequence of our stories to have a clear picture of what we want to talk about. And in Science we have had a great surprise since Mystery Science videos are now completely in Spanish!!! We have been learning about whether a volcano could pop up in our back yard, and have found the volcanos in a World Map that make the Ring of Fire.
During this week students have also been been taking the iReady test in both English Language Arts and Math, although we will need another day next week to get it finished.
And finally we have celebrated kindness week with fun outfits and reading a bunch of books on kindness and good manners.
Take a look at this week's slideshow. The kids are having a blast playing board games!
Have a cozy snowy weekend! Hopefully nobody will lose power :)

This week during Math, we have been learning a lot about fractions, like equivalent fractions, improper fractions and mixed numbers, adding fractions with the same denominator and with different denominator. We have played games and used manipulatives to see how many objects make a fraction of a group.
During Spanish reading, we have been learning about the audience, understanding that authors think about the people that will be reading their books, and make sure their vocabulary and topics are appropriate for that audience. We have also learned about the sequence of the story, and how the author expresses their feelings in the voice of their characters. Since those are the same lessons that we are going to apply to our personal narrative writing, looking at what other authors are doing can guide us in our writing.
In Writing we have been exploring how to stretch our narration, so that we don't reveal all the important information first, but start building up tension in the story to keep the attention of the reader.
And on Science, we have started a new unit titled The Birth of Rocks, with an anchor phenomenon about an interesting fossil site in Nebraska. 
Finally, we have been decorating our door for Kindness Week with the message "Kindness is a Universal Language", and we will be doing the following activities next week:
Kindness Spirit Week
 Monday, January 24 : Kicking off Kindness: Wear crazy socks or mismatched shoes
Tuesday, January 25:  “Be the Sunshine on Someone’s Cloudy Day” - Wear bright colors
Wednesday, January 26: Hats off to kindness - Wear a hat to school 
Thursday, January 27:  Team Kindness: Wear your favorite sport gear or  school colors
 Friday, January 28:  Dream” of Kindness - pajama day (Because it has been a while since my students had a reward for their behavior, I think this would be a good time to do something fun, so with the fourth grade teachers, we have decided to do a board game and bring your special snack day for the afternoon)
Throughout the Kindness Challenge week of January 24 - 28 we will be collecting items for the Food Pantry, see the flyer here for more information.
Take a look at this week's slideshow and at our Kindness Door.
Have a great weekend!